Question on Yellow tangs

[mikersx02]

I have had my 75 gallon up for a few months now with some damsel fish (5). I recently removed the agressive ones after the tank cycled.

Amonia- 0 (or close enough)
Nitrite- 0 (barely a hint)
nitrate- (5-10pm)
ph-8.2
temp 78

I have 3 damsels (2) 4 stripe- (1) yellow tail
2 f'percula's
lawn mower blenny
skunk shrimp
6 turbo's
10 smaller smails
10 smaller hermits

Penguin 400 HOB filter
Eheim Ecco 80 gal canister loaded with bio balls
And seaclone skimmer- pulls about an inch of slime every 3 days.

I have been eyeing a yellow tang after doing a week or two research on them- and I finally got the OK from the "boss" to go get one. She wanted to tag along to help pick him out.

We get to the LFS- and they have 2 there swimming around together pecking at stuff and getting cleaned by a skunk shrimp. Fiance fell in love with him but got sad because she didnt to seperate the "buddies." I was a little uncomfortable with getting two because I am getting close to capacity- but did it anyways.

I got some of the frozen food they had been fed at the store- and they ate before I bought them and they ate an hour after I put them into the tank.

They seem to be a little skiddish- but in general- they seem to get along well. I dont think I should have any problems with them fighting as they were introduced at the same time- and are the same size.


I do have some questions though- is it normal for their bellies to be a little sucked in? Ill take pictures- but Im guessing they didnt have much to eat in the fish store. Are the frozen capsules the best? How much should these two eat a day? I have been reading about Nori or spinach- I have a 2 leafs of spinach (one in the rocks- other on the mag float) They havent touched it yet- they may still be a little scared- any advise?

 

[Mad Scientist]

Bad move getting two - sooner or later they will fight in a tank that small.

Sorry to say that it is a bad sign that they have sucked in stomachs. These guys should eat a good deal in one day. My yellow tangs eats 1/2 a sheet of nori + a day and a good deal of formula two flakes. It's pretty hard to overfeed a tang (they graze all day long in the wild). Basically, if the fish looks skinny it's not getting enough to eat and needs to feed very agressively. Since your tank is underskimmer you will need to increase water changes to counter this increase in bioload. You should have nori in the tank 24/7 and offer high quality flakes to the tangs atleast 5 times a day until they fatten up.

Again, there's a potential for a big time diaster to develope in your tank in the next 3-6 months. Watch out for ick.

 

[Reefcherie]

IMO most tangs (yellow or otherwise) that I've seen in stores have that sunken look because they haven't been fed enough or enough of the right foods. If you ever see tangs swimming in the wild, you will see that they are SO much fatter than what you'd see in stores or in most tanks.

I have two yellow tangs and a doliatus rabbitfish that love Nori. I didn't notice where you live, but if you have an Asian grocery store within driving distance, you should be able to buy packages of dried Nori (look for brands w/o additives or flavoring) cheaply. Seaweeds Selects (a Two Little Fishes product I think) is another form of dried seaweed. I would think that either of these is a better choice than spinach, simply because they are marine algaes such as these fish would eat in the wild.

There are also some darn good frozen marine fish foods that have a high proportion of sea veggies that you will want to check out.

Best of luck w/ your new fish!

BTW - [welcome]!

 

[mikersx02]

Heres an update-


Thanks for all the post- I really appreciate it.

The piece of spinach has definately been munched on. I would say its 1/8 of the way consumed and really ragged around the edges and mouth marks in the center. I saw them eating it- so I know it was them.

I fed them the frozen veggie cube this morning-

I stopped by the fish store on the way back from work today before seeing this post and picked up a seaweed clip and some two fishes red seaweed. I also picked up some spinula (spelling) pellets for them- the main ingredient is kelp, and the second is spinula.

I think one is bullying the other. The play follow the leader (which I read is normal) but when they take a break- the one doing the "chasing" swims up beside the leader and shakes his tail at him like hes trying to stab him with that blade. Is THAT normal?

I have a sneaky feeling that I should take one of them back. What do you think?

 

[Reefcherie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6819063#post6819063 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikersx02

I think one is bullying the other. The play follow the leader (which I read is normal) but when they take a break- the one doing the "chasing" swims up beside the leader and shakes his tail at him like hes trying to stab him with that blade. Is THAT normal?

I have a sneaky feeling that I should take one of them back. What do you think?

That would be my advice. A 75-gallon tank seems like a lot of tank, particularly if your tangs are still small. In the wild, however, these fish are long distance swimmers, so they want a lot of space. Two identical tangs or two tangs of similar body shape will almost always squabble. I have two yellows in my 180 and they have established a truce over the last three years - for the most part. When the nori clip goes out though, they still have issues w/ each other.

 

[mikersx02]

*sigh* any advise on catching one of these buggers? Should I take the "nice" one back- or the one that is doing the chasing?

The one doing the chasing actually has a pailer yellow near his forhead then the one being chased.

The one being chased is beautiful.

 

[Reefcherie]

Here's a great fish-catching thread. My favorite method is actually draining the tank water WAY down (save it in a few barrels of course).

If both tangs appear equally as healthy, I'd keep the less aggressive, pretty one! It may come down to which one you can catch :rollface:

 

[mikersx02]

how does one post video's and pictures on this board? I just got done taking bunches of pictures of them and a video.

 

[mikersx02]

im betting its post count- so Ill make a constructive post or two-

Reefcherie- I saw a frog fish at the LFS yesterday- he was grey/black and brown. I thought it was cool how he stomped across the tank- looked mad

 

[mikersx02]

(the fish that is in your picture.

 

[mikersx02]

I have posted some pics of the tank and fish in my gallery if anyone is interested.

 

[mikersx02]

Here is a pic of the two tangs- The one on the right is the mean one- notice him swinging his tail.

 

[mikersx02]

I called the store where I got them- She said that tangs have to be in even numbers in a tank- so basically 1,3,5,7, etc...

She also said that yellow's will behave like this when they first get put into a tank. One trys to be dominant. She said I shouldnt worry too much as long as they arent damaging each other and arent constantly running from one another. They seem to be playing together 95% of the time.

Id hate to move them again and stress them more- I guess I will wait until one is picked on too much and go from there.

How does the tank look so far? Im slowly but surely adding up the live rock- trying to keep my hands out of it at the moment.


When adding seaweed to the clip- is it safe to stick your hands in there to get it? How are you supossed to do it?

 

[Mad Scientist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6819689#post6819689 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikersx02
I called the store where I got them- She said that tangs have to be in even numbers in a tank- so basically 1,3,5,7, etc...

She also said that yellow's will behave like this when they first get put into a tank. One trys to be dominant. She said I shouldnt worry too much as long as they arent damaging each other and arent constantly running from one another. They seem to be playing together 95% of the time.

Id hate to move them again and stress them more- I guess I will wait until one is picked on too much and go from there.

How does the tank look so far? Im slowly but surely adding up the live rock- trying to keep my hands out of it at the moment.


When adding seaweed to the clip- is it safe to stick your hands in there to get it? How are you supossed to do it?

Dude, make a note to yourself - NEVER Listen to anything they tell you at the store EVER again. Just the fact that they would sell you 2 yellow tangs for a 75 gal pretty much shows they are clueless. Just about anyone who has any experince at all with tangs knows that a you can't keep multiple tangs in a tank that small. It's pretty cut and dry. Sooner or later it will be a huge problem, there's just no way two yellow will live in a 75gal long term, period.

The smart move is to pull one tang now (keep the bully for yourself).

{and yes it's fine to put your hands in the tank - just rinse with plain water first}

 

[mikersx02]

well- to be fair- they did say, "for the time being." best to pull him out then- gotcha

I think I will keep the subordinate tang though- he is a more rich yellow and an overall better looking specimine.

They are eating like horses now.. bellys arent at full capacity yet- but they are much better then when I first got them.

Do you guys leave the lettuce clip at the top or bottom of the tank?

 

[Mad Scientist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6821359#post6821359 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikersx02
well- to be fair- they did say, "for the time being." best to pull him out then- gotcha

I think I will keep the subordinate tang though- he is a more rich yellow and an overall better looking specimine.

They are eating like horses now.. bellys arent at full capacity yet- but they are much better then when I first got them.

Do you guys leave the lettuce clip at the top or bottom of the tank?

I put the clip in the middle of my glass.

 

[mikersx02]

I was able to catch the bully pretty easily this morning. They kept swimming to a corner and I carefully netted him and brought him back to the store in a ziplock bag. They gave me a full refund (store credit)

They asked me what I had in my tank and made a couple recommendations. I really liked a fisher's angel. So i traded the tang for the fisher's angel. He was eating like a pig and had been in the tank for 3 months at the store. They had just reduced his price from 50 dollars down to 29.99. I put him in the tank, and he and the yellow tang are swimming around together.

 

[stykthyn]

given the horrible advice your LFS seems to have given you , I would refrain from going there in the future.

 

[mikersx02]

in my opinion- pretty much every pet shop wont give you accurate advise. People get burned at every pet shop.

Every fish I have bought from this place has made it- they have a huge viariety of fish that other stores dont- and they treated me well when I took the fish back. What store would give a 100% refund on a fish that a customer brought back? Im the fool for letting my fiance talk me into getting 2 I knew it could be done, but not the best case scenario.

The tang is doing great now- hes not terrified of much besides the magfloat or people or dogs moving quickly in the room. But hes eating- playing- and hiding in the rocks now.


Fishers angel seems to be doing great too- both fish are getting cleaned regularly by the skunk shrimp.

 

[Patchy]

If i didnt go to a store cause they gave me a wrong piece of info i wouldnt have any stores in my state to go to. LFS tend to tell you what will work now not in a few months time.

just research your buys and get a collection of ideas so you dont get dupped into some bad ideas from young in expeirnced LFS workers