orange shoulder tang?

[Breathe13stars]

I have decided to make this my first fish for my 180 gallon tank, I had my LFS order me a juvi today and it should be here Friday (that is if it makes it through DFW Airport). Anyways this would make it the second time owning a Acanthurus species, first time didn't go so well with the powder blue as he ended up getting ick and killing a few of my other fish with it. So I've decided to try it again with a different type and a much bigger tank. My question is how are the orange shoulder's as far as keeping healthy and relatively stress free? Should i do a long drip acclimation on him? Tank parameters are all in order but I still planned on adding Stability with him just considering he is the first fish in the tank to help with any water parameter offsets if any, I figured it couldn't hurt anything. But I would love to hear some feedback on this fish, what you did to keep this fish alive and healthy.

 

[TampaReefer79]

From my experience, the tang isn't good to be the first fish in the tank. On top of that, they aren't good in newly setup aquaria. I personally feel the tank should be up and running and stable before a fish like this is added. It will also need qt'ing, as you already found out, fish not qt'd can cause havoc. "Tank parameters are all in order" is wonderful, but that should be maintained over a period of time before I'd add this fish.

HTH!

 

[lhm nole]

After my 300 was cycled the first tangs I added was 5 yellows still doing great minor aggression and a orange shoulder tang he could care less about anything but food since then have added a pb and achilles with no issues from him he has grown a inch since having him and is very mellow and great algae eater even eats from the sand, keep in mind some tangs have a mind of their own.Have even added other species with no issues.

Acclimating same as any fish and imo they are less prone to ich than all the other tangs.

Working on my 900 where all these guys will be going into probably by the end of the year.

 

[GoingPostal]

As with any tang or new fish QT should be done, otherwise you stand a good chance of adding ich with your first fish and having the same cycle all over again. What all are you planning to add? Given tangs aggressiveness I wouldn't add a large one first IMO. Might lead to issues down the line.

 

[scubarob]

Orange shoulder tangs are on the hardier spectrum of tangs that you can get. It should be just fine and if the size is between 3"-4" it should be fine. Larger ones sometimes get roughed up during collection so they can catch infection from bacteria, but let us know how it goes!

 

[Gogandantess]

Yep Orange shoulders are one of the more hardier tangs just like Nasos. Unlike the ich magnets like powders/achilles/regals which I now avoid without a 2nd thought.

 

[Breathe13stars]

I've been thinking about adding a naso later down the road. Are they also fairly easy to keep? And how are they as far as attitude goes?

 

[Breathe13stars]

After my 300 was cycled the first tangs I added was 5 yellows still doing great minor aggression and a orange shoulder tang he could care less about anything but food since then have added a pb and achilles with no issues from him he has grown a inch since having him and is very mellow and great algae eater even eats from the sand, keep in mind some tangs have a mind of their own.Have even added other species with no issues.

Acclimating same as any fish and imo they are less prone to ich than all the other tangs.

Working on my 900 where all these guys will be going into probably by the end of the year.

Lol wow 5 yellow I had one that hated any other fish around his same size, but of course this goes with the fish have a mind of their own. I really like angels also is there any that you can recommend that are fairly easy to keep?

 

[TampaReefer79]

Naso tang attitudes are usually pretty mild. 4 fixed scalpels will do that for ya. Sadly, a 180 won't house a naso long term, it would need at LEAST an 8 foot tank eventually.

 

[lhm nole]

Lol wow 5 yellow I had one that hated any other fish around his same size, but of course this goes with the fish have a mind of their own. I really like angels also is there any that you can recommend that are fairly easy to keep?

Flame, coral beauty and pygmys are all very hardy just make sure they are eating before purchase and qt is a must if you want to go with the bigger angels queens, french, imperators asfurs and maculotus are very hardy they just get very big and I would start with a juvenile they are hardier and adapt alot easier and not as aggressive as the adults.

Maintain good water quality and a varied diet ( nori quality flake angel formula and fresh seafood).

Be careful if using cupramine I found out the hard way .I love the color of yellow tangs they are very inexpensive and hardy so I decided to add all 5 at one time to curve aggression tried the have one and add another and did not work at all even had 1 and tried adding 3 and it was warfare. Best of luck to you.

BTW all the years of keeping fish I have never seen a naso bigger than 14 inches in captivity if someone has one please post pics.Streamers do not count.

 

[mal1099]

I have a medium size orange shoulder tang. think he is about 7 inches. got him 2 months ago like someone posted above eats like a pig and doesnt really bully my other fish in my tank. Have plenty of nori on hand mine eats 1/4 sheet easy a day.

 

[TampaReefer79]

BTW all the years of keeping fish I have never seen a naso bigger than 14 inches in captivity if someone has one please post pics.Streamers do not count.

I'm not saying this statement is accurate, someone may post pics of one, but lets just say it is. My guess would be that 99% of the tanks in homes aren't big enough to keep these fish happy and healthy long term and they die before they reach the size you mention.

 

[Breathe13stars]

I understand that I will need to eventually upgrade, that is why I'm starting with juveniles. I do have plans of going to a much larger tank 500+ gallons in shortly under 2 years, this time the tank is going to be acrylic! lol I'm doing my best in planning ahead for the future but for right now the 180 works great for me and should allow for juvenile tangs and angels to be able to swim around comfortably. When i did the aquascaping in the tank i tried to go with a minimalist theme with arches and open spaces for allowing non stop swimming through the tank.

 

[Breathe13stars]

Well turns out my lfs couldn't get a orange shoulder this week they were already sold before he could get one.......... but i did pick up a new addition a sailfin tang. They had him for a little over a week and was eating fine and looked very healthy so i decided to go ahead and get him. He's acclimating right now so hopefully everything will go ok.

 

[Breathe13stars]

well i finally got an orange shoulder tang he is hanging out with my sailfin tang, and they seem to be getting along okay the sailfin seems kind of annoyed more than anything. I hope the new adjustment goes okay with him, right now he's swimming around and not staying hidden so I was actually surprised with how well he took the the tank and the sailfin. He seems to be in the transition from a juvenile into an adult or at least i think he is.lol

<a href="http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/Breathe13stars/?action=view&current=orangeshouldertang002.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/Breathe13stars/orangeshouldertang002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/Breathe13stars/?action=view&current=orangeshouldertang001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/Breathe13stars/orangeshouldertang001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[leemajors]

well i finally got an orange shoulder tang he is hanging out with my sailfin tang, and they seem to be getting along okay the sailfin seems kind of annoyed more than anything. I hope the new adjustment goes okay with him, right now he's swimming around and not staying hidden so I was actually surprised with how well he took the the tank and the sailfin. He seems to be in the transition from a juvenile into an adult or at least i think he is.lol

<a href="http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/Breathe13stars/?action=view&current=orangeshouldertang002.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/Breathe13stars/orangeshouldertang002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/Breathe13stars/?action=view&current=orangeshouldertang001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/Breathe13stars/orangeshouldertang001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

:bounce3:

 

[laurie hayes]

looks great, good luck im sure the sailfin will change his mind about wanting to be friends in a few weeks when he finds out he is loosing food to the other tang