Acclimation boxes help a ton with any size issues if you have current tang. We're also happy to help alleviate any shipping concerns you might have, our DOA/DAA is near 0%
Purple tang or Biota Yellow?
- Thread starter aaron186
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Got a purple tang and yellow from Biota introduced at same time when starting my tank last Nov/Dec. Actually 2 yellows and 1 purple. One died after awhile (smallest yellow tang) while other has grown and florished but Purple by far has grown the largest and rules the tank...so much that he's harrassed most tang additions with particular attention to my powder blue a convict tang and an achilles all of which did not survive..due to an ich outbreak I believe. So yes they can all subsist with each other but PT by far are the most aggressive I've seen between the two.
Heck no. You need a submissive tough to handle the establishment. I would go with the “weaker” Yellow from a captive population.
Either way is a toss up but putting an equal size Purple is great if you’re going to sell Pay per View tickets to a brawl.
I agree that tangs are pretty competitive fish in a tank. Purples are the pit bulls of the tang world. Eventually it will dominate the tank because they live for the brawl, ime.
And when they grow up they may fight until there’s only 1. If you feed heavily that might happen inside of a couple of years.
Excellent choice!! I have a captive bred one arriving tomorrow for my 72g display!
adittam
Valuable Member
I have exactly the same size and dimensions tank. Had a two spot bristletooth as the only tang orignally, and added a baby yellow tang from Biota, Jeff Goldblum. The captive bred yellow was the king of the tank within a week, even though it was a baby. The bristletooth lost its mind, and had to be rehomed. I’ve since added a bigger purple tang, and the purple and yellow get along great. Some posturing from both of them on a daily basis, but no injuries at all. The purple is now the king. I believe an important thing in keeping the peace is making sure they all have their own caves to hide in and feel safe. Take a look at my tank videos on the last page or two of my build thread to see how they behave together. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
grimcarnage
New Member
TL;DR - Get a PT, and stay away from Biota.
I have some anecdotal, as well as first-hand, information about Biota YT's. I have wanted a YT for years, but didn't have the tank size until they became unavailable. I got mine a couple days after they came in at my LFS. Picked the brightest and most active one. He was about 2". I asked if they were eating nori and/or algae pellets, and he threw some tdo chroma pellets in the quarantine tank. I asked about other foods, and he said he'd spoken with Biota, and this is what they'd been feeding them. I can't confirm they said this, but he's the owner, and he'd never given me a reason to doubt him. I should have looked closer at the ingredients since they're only coated with algae, and not a great option for Tangs IMO. They were small enough for his tiny mouth, so I didn't think about other foods during quarantine other than nori.
Wouldn't eat much nori, but would peck at the algae in the quarantine tank. HLLE came on quickly. Read reports that other Biota YT's were having the same issue. No other signs of disease. As I only had clownfish and a Ritteri anemone in my display (they're spoiled), and I couldn't find any evidence that clowns could be affected, I moved him out of quarantine after 6 weeks to give him more room, thinking it might be stress from a smaller tank.
It's now been a year, and the scarring is likely permanent. He's just gotten worse, no matter what I've done. I alternate four different types of nori (two green, one brown, and one red) Omega and Sushi nori. New strip twice a day. He gets Hikari seaweed extreme algae pellets, and since I can't keep him from eating the clown's frozen foods, I dose those with a couple drops of selcon. He eats well, and he's plump. I can't see any sign of the stringy spironucleosis feces, but I'm about to add Metronidazole flake food temporarily. So that'll make 10 different foods I keep track of for three fish and the nem. Considering sending off an ICP test just to see if there's anything else I may have missed, but since the rest of the tank is solid, I gotta point the finger at Biota.
There's a grounding probe in the tank, and no stray voltage. I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. Weekly Sunday 10% water change. No high NO3 or PO4, and KH, NaCl, Mg, Ca are all stable. All-for-reef is dosed (mostly for trace elements). Everything else thrives in the tank (Ritteri, clam, zoas, torch, and gsp). The Biota Yellow Tang is the only variable.
I'm now about to shell out for a 230.6 Waterbox just to upgrade from 4' to 6' for more room to swim. I guess I have too much empathy for my pets, but having a 20 year old clownfish has turned me into a softy. Biota has cost me a ton of money at this point with no end in sight. I will never intentionally buy another fish from Biota. It's been heartbreaking.
I have some anecdotal, as well as first-hand, information about Biota YT's. I have wanted a YT for years, but didn't have the tank size until they became unavailable. I got mine a couple days after they came in at my LFS. Picked the brightest and most active one. He was about 2". I asked if they were eating nori and/or algae pellets, and he threw some tdo chroma pellets in the quarantine tank. I asked about other foods, and he said he'd spoken with Biota, and this is what they'd been feeding them. I can't confirm they said this, but he's the owner, and he'd never given me a reason to doubt him. I should have looked closer at the ingredients since they're only coated with algae, and not a great option for Tangs IMO. They were small enough for his tiny mouth, so I didn't think about other foods during quarantine other than nori.
Wouldn't eat much nori, but would peck at the algae in the quarantine tank. HLLE came on quickly. Read reports that other Biota YT's were having the same issue. No other signs of disease. As I only had clownfish and a Ritteri anemone in my display (they're spoiled), and I couldn't find any evidence that clowns could be affected, I moved him out of quarantine after 6 weeks to give him more room, thinking it might be stress from a smaller tank.
It's now been a year, and the scarring is likely permanent. He's just gotten worse, no matter what I've done. I alternate four different types of nori (two green, one brown, and one red) Omega and Sushi nori. New strip twice a day. He gets Hikari seaweed extreme algae pellets, and since I can't keep him from eating the clown's frozen foods, I dose those with a couple drops of selcon. He eats well, and he's plump. I can't see any sign of the stringy spironucleosis feces, but I'm about to add Metronidazole flake food temporarily. So that'll make 10 different foods I keep track of for three fish and the nem. Considering sending off an ICP test just to see if there's anything else I may have missed, but since the rest of the tank is solid, I gotta point the finger at Biota.
There's a grounding probe in the tank, and no stray voltage. I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. Weekly Sunday 10% water change. No high NO3 or PO4, and KH, NaCl, Mg, Ca are all stable. All-for-reef is dosed (mostly for trace elements). Everything else thrives in the tank (Ritteri, clam, zoas, torch, and gsp). The Biota Yellow Tang is the only variable.
I'm now about to shell out for a 230.6 Waterbox just to upgrade from 4' to 6' for more room to swim. I guess I have too much empathy for my pets, but having a 20 year old clownfish has turned me into a softy. Biota has cost me a ton of money at this point with no end in sight. I will never intentionally buy another fish from Biota. It's been heartbreaking.
Attachments
Just curious if you run carbon?
grimcarnage
New Member
Only biological filtration in the quarantine and display. I previously ran chemi-pure blue in the display, but it has .8mm pellets, and is supposed to reduce the chances of HLLE. I wanted to eliminate any variables, so I removed it 8-9 months ago.
Hey Grim, we're sorry to hear that's the experience you've had with our yellow tang. You can find on our website the full range of feeds we do feed our tang in house as well as recommend to customers. One of the major things we suggest is nori as well as Hikari's Spirulina enriched brine shrimp to help give them the varied nutrition they need. The DKI pellets we suggest also have both micro (iso, tet, nano) and macro (nori, ulva, chondrus) in them to help give them a more varied diet. TDO is often recommended because it's more readily available through most local fish stores and is a great source for a protein based pellet but as mentioned is only top dressed with astaxanthin.
A wild caught or captive bred tang at the same age would be equally prone to developing MHLLE in a stressful environment because their lateral line is still developing, and a disruption or stress can cause MHLLE. Being that we sell the tang at a young age they are at risk for cosmetic issues like MHLLE through nutrition, carbon, stray voltage, medications, and even other stressors. Typically, if they've developed it at a young age and continue to develop it can be hard to reverse and would likely leave some scarring. So although it does sound like it has developed it is a cosmetic issue that doesn't impact the health of the fish long term.
Though we do recommend quarantine as good practice, we recognize that it's difficult to do for many hobbyists, and keeping fish in an immature quarantine tank greatly increases the risks of complication or death. We have a handy article here with some tips on keeping the fish happy and healthy in a quarantine tank: https://shop.thebiotagroup.com/blogs/news/the-secret-to-a-healthy-quarantine-aquarium
Again, we do apologize for the experience you've had with one of our yellow tang but understand that this isn't the common outcome for captive bred yellow tang which are genetically identical to their wild cousins.
Similar threads
New Posts
-
-
AIO Build steveschuergers 90 gallon Goni heavy mixed reef.
- Latest: Reefing_addiction
-
