Everything Stated Below is first hand experience.
My Powder Blue Tang has been with me for just shy of 1 year.
The fish was purchased through Live Aquaria- Diver's Den.
Tank Size: 90 Gallon AGA
Circulation: 2 Vortech MP40W on Lagoon Mode (Set to about 85-90%)
Lighting: Tank is lit by a T5 6Bulb Tek Light.
Filtration/Other: The tank is skimmed by a MSX160 Protein Skimmer. The tank also has a 15 gallon refugium w/ Chaeto. Oceanic Salt has been used since the tanks inception. Vodka is dosed in the tank, and a 5 gallon water change is performed once a month. Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates are 0. I have about 90 LBS. of live rock in the tank as well.
Tank Mates: Sixline Wrasse, 2 Mated Ocellaris Clowns, 1 Hawaiin Yellow Tang, 1 Yellow Watchmen Gobie, 1 Pincushion Sea Urchin, 1 Sea Cucumber, 1 Crocea Clam, and various snails/hermit crabs. I also have a wide variety of corals from all 3 main categories (Softies, LPS, SPS). The tank is mainly LPS dominated though.
I've noticed slight aggression at feeding time towards the Yellow Tang during feeding time, and right before lights out. Never has the scuffles ended in any torn fins or bite damage. 1 fight resulted in a nice gash on the side of the yellow tang, which healed fine in a couple days.
Suggested foods: My tang will only eat Nori. I feed 1/2 sheet a day, mostly green. I will supplement with brown and purple nori occasionally as well.
I would recommend getting the smaller end of the spectrum on this fish. I started with a medium sized one, and while I didn't have any problems... I think my case might have been in the minority in terms of aggression.
My quarantine procedure lasted only 2 weeks. I wasn't expecting to get such a large fish, and my only quarantine tank was a 29 Gallon tank. The fish would not move or eat, so I made the decision to move him to the display. I drip acclimated for 45 minutes, then added him after the lights were out for a bit. The next day he was all over the tank picking at the rocks.
Please note this fish really should not be kept in a 4 FT tank for the duration of its lifetime. My fish will be moved to a 6' Long 180 Gallon Oceanic in the next couple weeks.
Now for my opinions on this fish:
This fish is really no harder to keep than any other tang, the key is to get a healthy specimen. Please read the quoted material below in regards to this situation. The quote is from Kevin Cohen (Director of LiveAquaria):
BrianD had asked in our Vendor Forum if I could come here to post in this thread to possibly shed some light on the chain of custody of Acanthurus leucosternon.
Powder blue tangs are found thought the Indian Ocean from the East African coast east to Sri Lanka, over to Sumatra, and down to the Western side of Denpasar Bali in the Western Pacific Ocean. The range of these fish ends there and they are not found in the Central Pacific, South Pacific or in Hawaii. If an exporter in Hawaii has these for sale then they have been purchased from an exporter somewhere in Bali, Sumatra, Sri Lanka, or the Maldives.
Most Powder Blue Tangs offered in the aquarium trade in the US are from exporters in Bali. The main issue with these fish is the chain of custody itself. For a Bali exporter to acquire these fish, they themselves either have to import them from Sri Lanka, or acquire them from collectors who have to make very long trips to the collection sites where the fish are harvested. Some of these boat trips can last for a week or more before they are tanked in filtered water at the exporter’s facility. During this time the fish are maintained in bags with pure oxygen. Good collectors will change the water on these fish daily, but they have a long journey on rough seas before they hit the shore in Bali. The fish may then be sold to brokers or middlemen, who consolidate other species and offer them to the multitude of Bali exporters. After all of this work, these fish are then exported to the US for sale in the aquarium trade.
We choose to offer Powder Blue Tangs from the Maldives as opposed to the Sri Lankan or Bali Powder Blues. In the Maldives there are only a few exporters, who have a very short distance from their facility to the collection site so the time from collection to the exporters tanks are very short. Once the fish are rested and purged they are then exported weekly to the US on flights out of Male to Los Angeles California. Powder Blue tangs from the Maldives are much hardier, and we have very little problems with these fish, both at our facility on Rhinelander Wisconsin, or at the holding facility in Los Angeles California. Maldives Powder Blue Tangs have proven themselves to be very strong fish when maintained in large aquariums, and offered the proper diet.
To conclude, in my opinion the handling and chain of custody plays a critical role in how well a Powder Blue Tang will do in our aquariums. I would encourage everyone to find out where your Powder Blue Tang came from before you make that purchase.
The original text can be found here:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1188063&highlight=Acanthurus+Leucosternon
