powder brown tang (Acanthurus japonicus ) questions

[Bucktronix]

i was thinking of adding a powder brown (Acanthurus japonicus) tang to my tank. has anyone had any experience with them?

how hardy are they?
are the really ich magnets?
any feeding issues?

its tanks mates in my 90 would be a purple tang, convict tang, maroon clown, royal gramma, 2 pj cardinals and a lawnmower blenny. would there be any conflicts there?

anything else i forgot to ask?

tia

 

[Mouse]

90's way to small for 1 tang let alone three. You cant keep tangs in anything less than a 150 g and thats pushing it.

Oh you allready do....

Time for a bigger tank

[ February 01, 2002: Message edited by: Mouse ]</p>

 

[danmhippo]

Can't help you in your case.

Even if you have 150G, the purple will be the problem of getting him introduced. I had that problem and it took almost a week for the purple to reclaim it's territorial dominance. Better to have neon gobies ready at all times.

I think your tank is too small to add another tang.

 

[Bucktronix]

wow thanks for your advise.. well i have had my purple and convict for almost 6 months together and have never seen any aggression from either of them (they actually swim a pattern together), they are healthy and eat well (a little to well) and never seem to knock the coral over. so i figured it would be ok to add a third. maybe not.

thanks

 

[NoriMuncher]

I have a powder brown. Never any ich, eats everything (except nori soaked in zoe... but that's for another thread). Can't say how hardy he is, I haven't stressed him much water quality wise, though I've moved the tank twice.]

That being said, it's probably a bad idea to put three tangs in a 90 gal. They tend to fight each other. The likely result of that is all the tangs getting sick or dead.

 

[jrodrig692]

I tried to introduce one into my 120, what a mistake. Currently have 1 yellow tang and a 6" clown tang, and lets just say they were pissed when the new tang hit the water, and had to pull him out. Purple tangs are also aggressive, so now I follow the aggressive rule, least first, most last. Pretty fish, when I get a bigger tank, want to get one. Good luck

 

[scooterr]

I have a powder brown. Never had ich, has been hardy so far.

It is currently about 7 inches. I think thats to big for a 4 foot tank. I recently added a sm purple tang to HIS tank and we had a 2 day fight. The purples are so aggressive and the p. brown was holding out his territory. Finally the purple submitted after getting a gash 1/2 the lenght of it's body. now they get along just fine. BTW this p. brown hasn't ever fought anyone else over anything. Always peaceful till this.

I'd get rid of the two other tangs if you want a p. brown. For reasons of size, food, and aggression.
HTH

 

[Tony Quinn]

The Powder brown is a shy tang at first and I had to remove him after trying to introduce him into my 300 gallon tank. I do have the following tangs which all get along fine so don't take the 'you cant have more than one tang theory to heart!'. 2 Yellow Tangs, 1 Purple Tang, 2 Regals (1 is 8", the other 2"), 1 Sohal, 1 Lipstick, 1 Clown Tang, 1 Powder Blue. Always add the most agressive last is my theory and it has worked to date except for the Powder Brown experience.

 

[npaden]

Tony,

Any pics or tank specs? That's a lot of tangs in a 300 and several of them are regarded as some of the more difficult to keep ones. How long has the tank been up and how long have all these tangs been in there together.

I've only got a yellow tang and clown tang in my 415 and was only planning on adding 2 or 3 more at the most.

Nathan

 

[Tony Quinn]

Pics are being developed at the moment. All the tangs mentioned share the algae from the clips (as well as grazing all day on the 250lb of live rock in the tank) in an orderly fashion. I feed them by hand and they will even let you stroke them they are so tame. The tank is 8 ft long by 3ft by 2ft and has only been set up since May 2001, they were previously in a smaller tank and the live rock is a few years old I've just moved it. I have angels, butterflies, triggers (including 2 picasso's who are best buds and have never in all their years attacked an invert). If you want more info contact me on [email='tony.quinn@clivetomes.com]'tony.quinn@clivetomes.com[/email]'

 

[Bucktronix]

thanks tony.. i appreciate a positive tang enthusiast! i actually read the other day in another thread that people don't believe that it's even appropriate to even have a tang in a reef tank. imo it seems to be perfectly suited for a reef and completely natural. my tangs also eat from my hand and are very docile. i suppose i should look for a larger tank if i want to keep adding them though.

if you want to talk about something that isn’t reef appropriate lets talk angels. btw does anyone have any good methods for removing an ebili