powder brown vs. powder blue

[rgentry123]

so, can people with experience with both give me an opinion on the aggressiveness of both fish? i know that powder blues can get aggressive with age but was wondering if the same is true of powder browns. i would also like to know if one is any hardier than the other. i really like both fish but would probably go with th powder brown if it's not as aggressive and just as hardy/hardier than the powder blue.

 

[badbrady06]

ime i would say the only difference is the color

 

[rrcg50]

blue is not hardy at all. prone to ick

 

[Chibils]

I can't comment on browns, but I will tell you that blues are difficult fish to keep. Also, they can get very mean.

 

[Spooky208]

I have had both. The only one I was able to keep for a while was the powder brown but it always caught ick. I think the powder brown tangs are hardier because they are slightly more aggressive so they can hold their own with fighting for food and don't get stressed as easy because i feel they are more territorial. On the other hand adult powder blue will show the same territorial behavior. I finaly lost my powder brown to the evil green carpet I had. After it regurgetated half of the powder brown I sold the carpet.

 

[flyyyguy]

Powder blues are not difficutl to keep if you have a stable tank that is big enough to not stress them out

People say they are difficult to keep becasue most of the people who try them have tanks too small to house them......

jmo

 

[jnarowe]

I absolutely agree with flyyyguy. My PBT is remarkably healthy, vibrant, and hanging with the other 13 tangs in my tank. Space and PLENTY of vitamin enriched nori is a must IMO.

Mine caught ich very early on and in fact I really thought I was going to lose him. I could not catch him out of the tank so I fed him to he about burst. I used homemade food and lots of shredded nori soaked in vitamins and Garlic Guard. He survived and now has flourished for more than two years.

Regarding aggression: You have to place fish in your tank that are compatible. Failure to do this will result in fish appearing and being aggressive. Choose fish that have a similar size, but not similar shape and color.

 

[Outerbank]

I totally agree. Quarentine this fish and medicate in Quarentine if needed. Then add it to a stress free, large, tank with good parameters and you will have a beautiful fish. Ignore this advice, and you will likely have disease outbreaks and a dead PBT (and even other dead fish). That is just the way it is with this fish.

Unfortunately, IMO, a 110 is too small.

Scott

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13354545#post13354545 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flyyyguy
Powder blues are not difficutl to keep if you have a stable tank that is big enough to not stress them out

People say they are difficult to keep becasue most of the people who try them have tanks too small to house them......

jmo

 

[agreeive?fish]

With powder blues they do have a rep of being hard to keep.. to me the keys are finding a fat healthy one to start off with.. (i will skip the QT/No QT issue on this post as you will get various answers especially on tangs) have plenty of live rock for all day long grazing and secureity, feed good quality foods including nori / algae sheets and compatiable tank mates in a tank large enough for the tang to have plenty of swimming room and good water flow and thats how i have kept mine for the last 6 months yes i know six months is not a long time by any means and hopefully mine will live for another decade yet under theses conditions

I have no experience with powder browns

 

[SeeDemTails]

These tangs arent hard to keep at all. If you have a clean tank and feed good food they will be just fine. No one here knows if you have a clean tank besides you, so make wise decisions. I wouldnt put one in a new system. As far as tank size, as long as you are capable of keeping the fish healthy, thats your call. We all confine these wide ranging fish. The only private tank I have seen that I would want to live in as a tang is the February 2006 TOTM.

I have seen nice ones and mean ones....marine fish have unique personalitys. They can hold thier own no doubt....Ever see that footage on blue planet where two PBT's take on 300 convicts?

Not only will they ditch any ich they may have gotten but if you have a healthy tank their is no reason why any of your other fish should catch ich much less die from it. If you really want to make sure you never have any issues throw a fat neon goby in there......Tangs love to be cleaned by neons.

If your fish regularly have ich or you are loosing new fish to ich, then you need to take a good look at your maintenance routine.

 

[REEF-n-Chicago]

jnarowe> what kind of vitamins do you use?

 

[jnarowe]

Jordan,

I use a variety but teh majority are Selcon, H2O Life Line, and Vita-Chem. Unfortunately, this is done on a bit of a blind basis, since I cannot personally analize these products. I am also looking into adding L-Glutamine in a pure powder form.

 

[REEF-n-Chicago]

do you have a thread or any info on the glutamine?
Funny, I use this for weight lifting

On the other vit. it is tough to know how effective they are but better safe with them then without them

 

[flyyyguy]

All I feed my fish is Rods. Nothing else. Multiple times a day all they can eat. they are as fat and happy as can be.

I wouldnt ever put a PB in anything less than a 6 foot 200 gallon tank. If everyopne followed this PB's wouldnt have a reputation of being so difficult to keep diseae free and healthy. Please dont quote me and say you have a perfectly healthy one in a 90 or a 120. You are the exception not the rule.

On another note.......13 tangs jnarowe. Thats gotta be awesome to see. Im adding a buncha gallons soon....Im also moving your direction some.

 

[cham]

What nori have you guys been feeding your PBT's???

I've had good luck with the Julian Sprung's purple sea veggies. My PBT tears it up and has quite a belly.

 

[REEF-n-Chicago]

I use the nori from the asian market. They love it!
I also feed the puple from Julians line....

Flyguy, do you have rods shipped? They do not have it in my area and I have heard it is a bad shipper? For some reason????

 

[flyyyguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13357372#post13357372 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by REEF-n-Chicago


Flyguy, do you have rods shipped? They do not have it in my area and I have heard it is a bad shipper? For some reason????

I have but one tiny LFS within 3 hours of me......I talked him into carrying it.

I used to make my own for years.....Rods is very similar to what I made and if you factor in the fact that i would let every other batch of stuff I bought rot int he fridge before I would get around to making it........Rods isnt all that expensive

Ask your lfs. Rod is pretty willing to sell to any of them I believe. And he will ship small boxes to get them started.

 

[jnarowe]

I feed my tangs Kizami shredded nori:

 

[Spooky208]

I feed my tangs nori from the chinese store.

 

[jnarowe]

thre reason why I use the shredded nori is the fish suck it up like spaghetti instead of tearing it all up. This means much less waste, and much less stuck somehwere rotting.