Compatible w/ Powder Brown Tang

[bruce337]

Some ideas folks…. I have a reef tank 65g. Inhabitants:

• Maroon goldflake clown
• Wyoming/yellow dot clown mix
• Powder Brown Tang
• Zoe’s
• Red, green, orange mushrooms
• Red monti
• Asterospicularia Coral
• Rose BTA
• Sun coral
• Kenya tree
• Purple tip neon hammer
• Lepto’s
• Pink and green Duncan
• Galexa
• Favia
• Star polyp
• Orange tree georgonian
• Birds nest
• Torch
• 4 hermits
• 5 snails
• White LTA

About the PBT…he is quite aggressive. I had a clown tang who was added after the PBT and that did not go well. Plenty of caves and hiding spots in tank but he doesn’t want to share ANY of them and would attack clown tang ☹. I had to quarantine the PBT for flukes (he was the only one displaying) and when I did that, I rearranged the live rock in hopes of doing what I call a “factory reset” on the PBT in hopes that he’d be a little more accepting of the clown tang in unfamiliar terrain where he was the “new comer”. I even tried a small mirror in quarantine to get him used to seeing "other fish of his type" He would attempt to attack his reflection. Yeah, peaceful reintroduction lasted all of 3 days – I thought I had made it work.. I put 2 clips of seaweed, opposite sides of tank in hopes that would keep everyone happy. Yeah no, I went out of town for a week and my neighbor who came to feed everyone said they were fighting on day 4 reintroduction of PBT. I came home and PBT had just battered clown tang – tried to save him in QT but I think the stress/beating got to him. So my questions here are (I know it took a long time to get there) What are your thoughts on acclimation boxes (after quarantining new fish) for my situation? 2) what colorful fish can I add in, that are reef safe **& PBT safe**- I know no other sturgeon or tangs. more clowns are a no, the coupled pair I have will not have it. In the past I was able to keep multiple tangs but he’s just too aggressive. Feeding fish 2x a day (rotating AM/PM whatever is eaten within 1-2 min and a little extra for crabs – hikari Mysis (frozen); SF Bay frozen angel & butterfly; seaweed nori sheet (every other day) omega marine mini pellet mix (salmon, herring shrimp kelp spirulina; aqueon tropical flakes (spirulina squid shrimp.) frozen in am flake pellet in pm. Broadcast feed coral reef roids ¼ tsp (also spot feed prior to broadcast) 2x a week – although I may go 1/8 tsp 2x a week as my nitrates spike significantly after broadcast even 14 hours later. TYA

 

[vetteguy53081]

Some ideas folks…. I have a reef tank 65g. Inhabitants:

• Maroon goldflake clown
• Wyoming/yellow dot clown mix
• Powder Brown Tang
• Zoe’s
• Red, green, orange mushrooms
• Red monti
• Asterospicularia Coral
• Rose BTA
• Sun coral
• Kenya tree
• Purple tip neon hammer
• Lepto’s
• Pink and green Duncan
• Galexa
• Favia
• Star polyp
• Orange tree georgonian
• Birds nest
• Torch
• 4 hermits
• 5 snails
• White LTA

About the PBT…he is quite aggressive. I had a clown tang who was added after the PBT and that did not go well. Plenty of caves and hiding spots in tank but he doesn’t want to share ANY of them and would attack clown tang ☹. I had to quarantine the PBT for flukes (he was the only one displaying) and when I did that, I rearranged the live rock in hopes of doing what I call a “factory reset” on the PBT in hopes that he’d be a little more accepting of the clown tang in unfamiliar terrain where he was the “new comer”. I even tried a small mirror in quarantine to get him used to seeing "other fish of his type" He would attempt to attack his reflection. Yeah, peaceful reintroduction lasted all of 3 days – I thought I had made it work.. I put 2 clips of seaweed, opposite sides of tank in hopes that would keep everyone happy. Yeah no, I went out of town for a week and my neighbor who came to feed everyone said they were fighting on day 4 reintroduction of PBT. I came home and PBT had just battered clown tang – tried to save him in QT but I think the stress/beating got to him. So my questions here are (I know it took a long time to get there) What are your thoughts on acclimation boxes (after quarantining new fish) for my situation? 2) what colorful fish can I add in, that are reef safe **& PBT safe**- I know no other sturgeon or tangs. more clowns are a no, the coupled pair I have will not have it. In the past I was able to keep multiple tangs but he’s just too aggressive. Feeding fish 2x a day (rotating AM/PM whatever is eaten within 1-2 min and a little extra for crabs – hikari Mysis (frozen); SF Bay frozen angel & butterfly; seaweed nori sheet (every other day) omega marine mini pellet mix (salmon, herring shrimp kelp spirulina; aqueon tropical flakes (spirulina squid shrimp.) frozen in am flake pellet in pm. Broadcast feed coral reef roids ¼ tsp (also spot feed prior to broadcast) 2x a week – although I may go 1/8 tsp 2x a week as my nitrates spike significantly after broadcast even 14 hours later. TYA

Should be fine
Biggest caution is another tang

 

[nereefpat]

How long are you going to hold on to the powder brown?

 

[bruce337]

any ideas on reef safe (& i guess clown safe) fish to add with the PBT (beside sturgeon & tang) I like angels but they can nip at corals. Female clown is boss of tank so I'm hesitant with gobys if they get too close to her anemone its doneso for goby. she even went for PBT when he ventured near. She goes for my hand if I go near - goes after coral feeder tool.

 

[Dbichler]

In a 65 g it’s going to be really rough to add any fish with an already established pbt. You could try to add 3 fish more in order to try add split the aggression between the fish but then you risk losing 3 fish. You could also try catching the pbt and changing your rock scape.

 

[ReeferBud]

Tangs can be very aggressive with other tangs that have similar body shapes.

for example, I have an aggressive white cheek tang and it would relentlessly attack an Achilles and powder blue tang, but leave all other tangs alone (sailfin, purple, hippo, sohal, yellows)…

yellows only seem to be concerned with themselves and other yellows in my experience…

 

[threebuoys]

Colorful options other than tangs:

falco hawkfish (reef safe with caution, i.e. keep them well fed)
Melanurus wrasse
Banggai Cardinal pair
yellow-tail blue damsels

with a 65 gallon,as someone else pointed out, you will need to be careful to not overstock.

 

[i cant think]

IMHO, you’re maxed out already. Also it’s a 65 and an Acanthurus japonicus, that will never go down well. Now I hate to be that person but as you mentioned nothing about rehousing when he grows (And trust me, he won’t be slow about it) I had to think of the worst. The reason this guy is aggressive is tank size, they ideally need a 5’ tank (6’ is best though). They swim a ton and even juveniles are nightmares. These guys are possibly in the top 5 of common yet aggressive tangs along with the Sohal, Clown, Powder Blue and Achilles. This fish gets to around 8 inches when mature so they won’t do well in a 3’x2’ tank.

 

[Dave1993]

curious why did you choose power brown over powder blue

 

[matthew_coletta]

Some ideas folks…. I have a reef tank 65g. Inhabitants:

• Maroon goldflake clown
• Wyoming/yellow dot clown mix
• Powder Brown Tang
• Zoe’s
• Red, green, orange mushrooms
• Red monti
• Asterospicularia Coral
• Rose BTA
• Sun coral
• Kenya tree
• Purple tip neon hammer
• Lepto’s
• Pink and green Duncan
• Galexa
• Favia
• Star polyp
• Orange tree georgonian
• Birds nest
• Torch
• 4 hermits
• 5 snails
• White LTA

About the PBT…he is quite aggressive. I had a clown tang who was added after the PBT and that did not go well. Plenty of caves and hiding spots in tank but he doesn’t want to share ANY of them and would attack clown tang ☹. I had to quarantine the PBT for flukes (he was the only one displaying) and when I did that, I rearranged the live rock in hopes of doing what I call a “factory reset” on the PBT in hopes that he’d be a little more accepting of the clown tang in unfamiliar terrain where he was the “new comer”. I even tried a small mirror in quarantine to get him used to seeing "other fish of his type" He would attempt to attack his reflection. Yeah, peaceful reintroduction lasted all of 3 days – I thought I had made it work.. I put 2 clips of seaweed, opposite sides of tank in hopes that would keep everyone happy. Yeah no, I went out of town for a week and my neighbor who came to feed everyone said they were fighting on day 4 reintroduction of PBT. I came home and PBT had just battered clown tang – tried to save him in QT but I think the stress/beating got to him. So my questions here are (I know it took a long time to get there) What are your thoughts on acclimation boxes (after quarantining new fish) for my situation? 2) what colorful fish can I add in, that are reef safe **& PBT safe**- I know no other sturgeon or tangs. more clowns are a no, the coupled pair I have will not have it. In the past I was able to keep multiple tangs but he’s just too aggressive. Feeding fish 2x a day (rotating AM/PM whatever is eaten within 1-2 min and a little extra for crabs – hikari Mysis (frozen); SF Bay frozen angel & butterfly; seaweed nori sheet (every other day) omega marine mini pellet mix (salmon, herring shrimp kelp spirulina; aqueon tropical flakes (spirulina squid shrimp.) frozen in am flake pellet in pm. Broadcast feed coral reef roids ¼ tsp (also spot feed prior to broadcast) 2x a week – although I may go 1/8 tsp 2x a week as my nitrates spike significantly after broadcast even 14 hours later. TYA

Mirroring prior comment, I think you need to be wary about not overstocking your tank. A powder blue tang is a stretch to keep in that tank. I currently have a 5-year old yellow tang in mine, but not my choice to keep him in there. When I move him to my larger tank he doesn't eat. I also have a growing hippo tang that I plan to move to my 135 gallon. I think one option for you is to rehome the powder brown, which would give you a lot of other options.

 

[konatown]

curious why did you choose power brown over powder blue

I wanted a powder blue, but ended up coming home with a brown. I have to say, I think I like them better now.

OP, I also have a powder brown. He was added after my dory. I didn’t think dory would let him live because she was the queen for sure, but brown is now pretty much the king of the tank. He’s also aggressive to my flame hawk and even my pretty large starry blenny unfortunately.
You might have some issues adding fish, but you have a pretty low bio load now so there’s room. Hopefully you can get something in there without brown going too crazy!