Zebrasoma desjardinii ????

[77railer]

Hey gang,

My wife and I are interested in purchasing a sailfin tang to help with algae control...We have read and heard from several people that the true Red Sea variety is hands down the best out of the three for eating algae...is there any truth to this and if so where might we find one?

Leroy

 

[john37]

It depends what kind of algae you have also, if you're feeding your tank enough the tang might just get used to you feeding and not be hungry enough for the algae. they are beautiful fish though. Get kinda big for a 75gal though so you'd have to find a really small one.

oh, i see you have a yellow tang. they are definitely not going to get along.

 

[77railer]

Yellow tang passed on us...need to update my profile...hair algae is what we are playing with...

 

[john37]

i dont know if the desjardini will eat hair algae.
a lot of people have been plagued by hair algae and it's pretty hard to get rid of. worth a try though.

 

[snorvich]

A sailfin tang in a 75 gallon tank????? You have got to be kidding.

 

[BrianD]

A 75 gallon tank is much too small for a sailfin. I doubt any fish you put in the tank would be better at eating algae than the foxface.

 

[jthao]

I second the foxface.

 

[mrwilson]

Another vote for a foxface, although I think a 75 is still pushing it (even though foxfaces are slower-swimming, slower-growing, and also considerably smaller when full grown than a sailfin). (The reason for the incredulousness of some of the above posters is that sailfins get to be about 18" long - try picturing that in your 75, and you can understand the response.)

Keep in mind, however, that foxfaces (and other rabbits) have venomous spines. Not a big deal, but I never put bare hands in my tank just in case.

 

[BrianD]

I mentioned the foxface because he has it in his profile. I was pointing out that he doesn't need to add a fish for algae control

 

[tony13]

My sailfin loves to eat bubble algae. I don't think he would touch hair algae.

 

[chrisstie]

With a foxface already in your tank the best method for algae control (unless its an invasive species like caulerpa peltata etc) is controlling the nutrients going into a tank.

Hows your phosphates? Are you feeding frozen or dry food? When you feed is it a lot or a little and how often? Using Ro/DI water? How often do you do water changes

I always try to start with those questions for general algae woes. While there are some really, really difficult species to fight, there are many like generic hair algae that will go away within a few weeks with manual removal, stepping up water changes, feeding less and feeding healther (Strained frozen is what I prefer) with good clean water for those water changes. The foxface should do the rest

 

[snorvich]

+1 with both tony13 and chrisstie.

 

[Clownfish29]

a kole tang does a very good job at algae control as well. A 75 gallon would probably be an okay size for this fish, as they are one of the smaller tangs. I put one in my big tang to control hair algae, and it sure did the job, grazing all day.

 

[77railer]

Foxface is no longer with us...wish he was...might add another...need to update profile...

In there now is Tomi Tang, 2 clowns, mandrin sorry for the confusion.

Leroy

 

[snorvich]

I would go with a foxface. There are some beautiful ones and they are excellent for algae control.

 

[BrianD]

Ok, you have lost a foxface and a yellow tang. I would start worrying about why you lost two very hardy fish.

 

[gohan23]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13024666#post13024666 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 77railer
Yellow tang passed on us...need to update my profile...hair algae is what we are playing with...

The Desjardin's Sailfin will not eat the hair algae at all!! Mine did not touch it when I had it! If you have Hair algae You might want to look at a sea hair or a lawnmower blennyl!!! I don't think any tangs will touch hair algae. IMO

 

[mrwilson]

I agree with the poster above who mentioned that after losing a foxface and a yellow tang, you might want to take a hard look at your water params, etc. Foxfaces in particular are practically bulletproof - what happened to it?

 

[77railer]

We were having some temp swings in those days due to heater malfunctions that we were unaware of..we have since put in two heaters...and all seems to be well.

Leroy

 

[snorvich]

Well you might get a ranco controller for those heaters. When heaters break, it is normally the control mechanism that breaks and it seems to always be in the on position.