Powder blue tang primer

[Finsky]

Well fed PBT three years in my tank.

Well fed PBT three years in my tank.

My PBT has been in the tank for three years along with one Purple Tang in the tank for 2 1/2 years. They get along famously along with my Regal Angel in the tank for 20 months and Blue Girdled in the tank 14 months.

I admit I overfeed them although I do so while maintaining water quality. I run two Rena XP4 canisters each of which supports up to a 265 gallon tank and an Aqua Medic Turboflotor protein skimmer rated for a 250 gallon tank. Of course 150 lbs of live rock with one 3,250 gph Hydor 8 propeller pump on each end along with the canister outputs give real good biological filtration, places to hide, and things to pick at.

 

[LKGRenegade22]

Ok here's a pic to show how thick my PBT is:

 

[Finsky]

Lateral line bone showing through from the head to tail

Lateral line bone showing through from the head to tail

I would think it is better to have the lateral line bone not showing from the tail to the head.

I know my Powder Blue Tang has a rounded belly from daily visual inspection and this is the result of my purposely overfeeding with food soaked in Selcon and Kent Marine-C. Of course a little bone will push out just in front of the tail blades.

From there forward I would think you want a chunky monkey with just a full smooth stomach and body showing.

 

[slumlord]

I just read this and put my PBT up for sale I now realize my tank isn't big enough for him and it wouldn't be right to keep him. It makes me sad because he's such a neat fish and he's so healthy. But I know unless I upgrade to a much larger tank very soon he's not going to be happy for long.

 

[michaelkittrell]

I have a 4"ish PBT that I got with an established tank. He's been living with 2 clowns and a chromis in 150 gallon rubbermaid for 3-4 months. I feed them flake food and he goes nuts.

I probably have about 600 gph of flow total, no sump, no filtration, no bubbler. I haven't done a water change yet, added about 5 gallons a week for evaporated water.

I had no idea he was so hard to keep alive.

He does definitely rule the tank and he loves to patrol the tank. Last week or so I've noticed him going right up to one of the power heads and letting it blast him in the face like a dog in the back of a pickup. He probably would prefer stronger flow.

 

[prickles]

SDguy, perhaps you should consider putting your pbt on a diet...he's looking kinda chubby!

 

[110galreef]

My PBT has been in the tank for three years along with one Purple Tang in the tank for 2 1/2 years. They get along famously along with my Regal Angel in the tank for 20 months and Blue Girdled in the tank 14 months.

I admit I overfeed them although I do so while maintaining water quality. I run two Rena XP4 canisters each of which supports up to a 265 gallon tank and an Aqua Medic Turboflotor protein skimmer rated for a 250 gallon tank. Of course 150 lbs of live rock with one 3,250 gph Hydor 8 propeller pump on each end along with the canister outputs give real good biological filtration, places to hide, and things to pick at.

Finsky.....How are the Regal & blue girdled beahving in your reef tank towards things like SPS, LPS, clams or feather dusters, shrimp & other fish etc......

I have a 250g that I am going to add a few tangs and have really looked into adding a Regal Angel as supposedly somewhat reef safe and in my size tank shouldn't really do longterm harm to corals since there would be plenty if he nipped here & there.

I do plan some clams, a feather duster or two, SPS primarily, then LPS.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[jbanks]

Picked up this guy from LA in January.. He's from the Maldives.. I have to give it to LA.. He had to be one of the most beautfiul specimens that I have seen and about five inches.. They had them on sale at the time for about $55.00. When I saw him in the bag, my mouth dropped at his size, coloration and beauty.. Well, everything was great during acclimation until he jumped from my hands just as I was about to let him into the DT (I tool a risk and decided no QT) He hit the metal frame at the bottom of my cabinet and bounced off... I thought &^$&%^$!!!!!!. I really messed up.. Well, he went through his paces and didn't seem affected by the fall other than a small bruise.... ich came, but not fully.. He only ate Nori and bloodworms, but would skip the blood worms at times......... Until just the other night, I looked at him when I got home and he looked more beautiful than I had ever noticed. I thawed some blood worms and mysis to feed the tank and to my surprise, he started to gobble up everything in his path.. I was over joyed!!!!!! I think this guy is going to be just fine... He's fat and happy!

 

[MIKE NY]

...they are a great fish and my favorite..I've had mine for over 12 years now....a varied diet of small meaty foods and veggie matter along with lots of swimmming room, will keep them happy...

 

[jbanks]

Wow Mike, that's a long time of success witn this sensitive fish. However, based on what I know of you and the care that you put in to your tank and its inhabitants, I am not surprised. :thumbsup: This guy has become my favorite as well.

 

[MIKE NY]

thanks Jonathan....it only got ich once in all those years and thought for sure it would when I did my upgrade last August, but it handled the capture, the holding tank and re-location well....and it's funny it really hasn't grown too much larger than when I first got it either.....the best of luck with yours.

 

[davez104]

The most recent pics of mine. I've had him for over 18 months, never a sign of white spot or any other problem.

 

[SDguy]

thanks Jonathan....it only got ich once in all those years and thought for sure it would when I did my upgrade last August, but it handled the capture, the holding tank and re-location well....and it's funny it really hasn't grown too much larger than when I first got it either.....the best of luck with yours.

Interesting. I'm going on over 4.5 years with mine, and it hasn't grown much as far as I can tell.

 

[SDguy]

Gorgeous picture! It's very "long" looking. I wonder if that means anything, such as sex?

 

[davez104]

Gorgeous picture! It's very "long" looking. I wonder if that means anything, such as sex?

Not sure mate. I've only ever kept the one PBT so can't compare. Be interesting to know though.

Here is a pic from when I first got it.

 

[Recty]

Here is my little 4" powder blue, he went through quarantine in a separate tank from all the other tangs I have, I quarantined and treated with hypo for ich and also prazipro in case of any flukes. Through the whole process, he ate just fine, although the initial couple days while he was getting used to me and my foods he was barely eating. It took 3-4 days before he became a chow hound.

I thought I'd share a couple pictures of him. At first he was a little skinny, you can see in the first picture that his vertebrae are visible down the entire length of the fish, although not real harsh.

After about 3 months now of solid feeding and a good diet which includes mainly NLS pellets plus Formula 1 and 2 pellets and the occasional sheet of nori, it has grown from a 2.5" fish to a 4" fish, which I think is actually a pretty amazing growth, my experience in the past with powder blues is they only grow an inch or two a year. I suspect mine will really slow down soon.

Anyway, here you can see he is fat and happy.

Even when turned at an angle that should bulge his vertebrae out, they still arent visible.

I never had any problems with ich with this fish but I'm glad I treated proactively just in case. I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who seriously wants to keep a powder blue alive for years, not just a couple months.

 

[jbanks]

Beautiful specimen recty!!

 

[sandwi54]

I have a 3" PBT in my 225 FOWLR and it's an amazing fish. I think I got lucky and obtained a strong and healthy specimen. During quarantine it went through ich and fluke outbreaks with a couple of other fish. He survived everything including copper and prazipro treatments, while some other fish didn't make it. he never stopped eating even during the full 2-week copper treatment and is really fat now.

he is very active and paces around the tank like crazy, sometimes swimming really fast from one side to the other. however, he's extremely aggressive towards the fish I added after him. he non-stopped attacked the 3" asfur angel and 4" false personifer angel the day i added them, so i separated the angels with a tank divider. the next day i woke up everything was fine. i think it's important to add much larger fish if you plan to add it after the PBT.

it's imperative to pick a healthy specimen to begin with, so it would survive diseases and treatments. also be very cautious with copper treatment on tangs. i treated my naso tang for ich with copper, and I guess it must have damaged the microfauna in his stomach, as he would keep getting thinner even though he ate like a pig. It could have been internal worms but i tried medicating with metronidazole (both externally and medicated food) without success, so i don't believe it's worms. eventually he died.

hopefully my PBT will be with me for a long time!

 

[Didac]

powder blue is a fish the a reef must have !!!

 

[Finsky]

Powder Blue Aggression

Powder Blue Aggression

I had an imaculate five inch Powder Blue Tang for over four years which I no longer have. He was always picking on the last fish in and he would initiate the new comer for at least one day.

I still have the goniopora he used to bite the ends off and spit them out. He was a a very fast swimmer and I would think you would want an eight to ten foot tank at a minimum with their jet like accelaration is unlike other tangs I have had.

Mine liked freeze dried brine shrimp especially in addition to seaweed.

Presently I have three medium yellow Hawaiin Tangs in my five foot 125 gallon mixed reef.