looking for good pointers for keeping a purple tang healthy and colored up nicely

[salt newbie01]

Tank is a 120 with open rock work. Lots of swimming room and passages to swim through and hide if desired. All water parameters are in check. Current fish list; red headed goby, wheelers shrimp goby, purple fire fish, 1 male 4 female lyretail anthias. I hope to add a few more fish but nothing as big as the tang or similar in body shape. I am not a newbie to reef tanks but I am a newbie to tangs. So if anyone knows and certain tricks for tang in general or specific to purple tangs I would greatly appreciate the info. This fish should come in on the small side 3-4"

Thanks in advance

 

[soccerbag]

You'll love your Purple Tang - they are beautiful fish. I would recommend feeding a good variety diet (nori algae sheets a few times per week, good frozen food such as PE Mysis / Rod's Food). Tangs will eat just about anything you put in the tank. Just make sure you give him a healthy amount of veggie matter of some sort. Nori sheets work well and are easy to feed. He can nip at that all day long.

 

[salt newbie01]

Thanks! I had planned on good variety of food. I think that is key for all fish I have really had to fight the urge the pick up either a powder brown or blue tang. But thought 2 might be too many for my 120. Too many tangs too few gallons!!

 

[soccerbag]

Powder Browns and Blue's are more prone to ich so I think that the Purple is a good choice.

 

[Reef UP]

Thanks! I had planned on good variety of food. I think that is key for all fish I have really had to fight the urge the pick up either a powder brown or blue tang. But thought 2 might be too many for my 120. Too many tangs too few gallons!!

Tangs are great and yeah the tang police eat this up!....in my 125 I have blonde naso male5+, female reg. Naso 4", juvenile Valimingi tang3"(will be going to larger tank in future) two yellow tangs 3"&6" blue hippo tang3", yellow belly blue hippo tang 4", red sea sail-fin tang 7", powder blue4" Achilles tang 5", yellow eye3",a thompsoni4", orange shoulder 5" and I have a 3" purple tang in quarantine adding him last because of his aggressive nature in friends old tank!
All of my tangs get along great except for when it's time to go to bed then there is some mild shoving but nothing of concern the biggest thing is they are all pigs! I go through about 150g of nori a month! But they all swim right together graze on the same rocks together it's awesome!
I think you'd be fine with multiple tangs in your 120 you just have to choose in what order you add them based on their given demeanors add the nice ones first then add the mean ones last (such as the purple) good luck and always choose what tangs comes first as it's very difficult to add some tangs after others !

 

[soccerbag]

I'm not the tang police and typically do not pass judgment on others fish stick, but 14 tangs in a 125g is not recommended to anyone. If they all continue to get along I would be amazed. Just my two cents. I wish you the best with it.

 

[Reef UP]

I'm not the tang police and typically do not pass judgment on others fish stick, but 14 tangs in a 125g is not recommended to anyone. If they all continue to get along I would be amazed. Just my two cents. I wish you the best with it.

That is true it's not recommended but the main thing is they've been together for their lives in captivity since they were all juvenile 2" and just a little bigger I also collected my tangs with the knowing that they'll all be going into my 350 so once they are cramping each others style then they will be moved but yeah I wouldn't recommend it for to many people as they don't have the time to keep them happy, but with properly adding and acclimating tangs you can have an interactive and happy group of tangs but once again I collect with the understanding that within a few years they will be going to their larger home!

 

[Troylee]

Pics or it didn't happen!!!!!

Tangs are great and yeah the tang police eat this up!....in my 125 I have blonde naso male5+, female reg. Naso 4", juvenile Valimingi tang3"(will be going to larger tank in future) two yellow tangs 3"&6" blue hippo tang3", yellow belly blue hippo tang 4", red sea sail-fin tang 7", powder blue4" Achilles tang 5", yellow eye3",a thompsoni4", orange shoulder 5" and I have a 3" purple tang in quarantine adding him last because of his aggressive nature in friends old tank!
All of my tangs get along great except for when it's time to go to bed then there is some mild shoving but nothing of concern the biggest thing is they are all pigs! I go through about 150g of nori a month! But they all swim right together graze on the same rocks together it's awesome!
I think you'd be fine with multiple tangs in your 120 you just have to choose in what order you add them based on their given demeanors add the nice ones first then add the mean ones last (such as the purple) good luck and always choose what tangs comes first as it's very difficult to add some tangs after others !

 

[sf_ramsden]

Pics or it didn't happen!!!!!

+1 Pics would be awesome, but a video would be even better!!

 

[Reef UP]

As soon as I get cam back from tech will do!

 

[RogerWilco357]

nori with garlic infused as well as the pellets with the garlic infused he will love it

 

[salt newbie01]

Wow! Bet it is an amazing site! I too would love to see it.

Thank you all for your input.

 

[Angels 2010]

TO the OP,
Good choice on the PT, they are beautiful fish and very hardy. I have had mine for 10 years now and she is a pig and can be a bully. do not plan to add any smaller fish to your tank in the future as most likely they will be harassed to the point of demise. She likes to boss the newbies around for a couple days but as long as they are big enough, they are fine. She is definitely the boss of my tank.

As pointed out before, lots of nori and a great variety will keep her fat and happy...

 

[hybridazn]

Just make sure to feed lots of nori and other algae based foods. Spirulina brine soaked in garlic and selcon is always a good treat as well

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[butts182]

they are bullies...i have one small one in my 40 breeder and she tries to run the show...feed her some flakes, pellets, frozen mysis, and live brine. she eats everything and looks great

 

[salt newbie01]

Thanks again for the input. I had forgotten about soaking nori in selcon. Will pick some up as well. I may be going on a limb and picking up either a powder blue or brown either at the same time or possibly a week or two before the purple. My wife likes both and my lfs has both that have been in the store for a few weeks.

Another question I thought for all you tang keepers. What do you do to combat ich? These fish so prone to the parasite. Do you run uv or ozone? To you adhere to extensive quarantine process. Just looking for some ideas. I hate ich....almost as much as bubble & hair algae! Haha

 

[FishLipz]

Quarantine, quarantine, quarantine. I have a purple, yellow, regal, and naso in my 180. IMO add the purple and the powder blue at the same time if you are going to do it. Both of those fish have commanding personalities and can be very aggressive to newcomers.

 

[salt newbie01]

I am so torn about quarantine. I only have a little 15 gallon with hob for qt. Sometimes I think being in a small tank for a couple weeks can stress fish out. I wish I had room for a better qt set up....

 

[Paul_N]

I had a purple for almost 6 years and sold it last year. If you plan on putting any other fish in your tank, make sure the purple is last. I don't care about size, shape or color. I was breaking down my 75 to put everything in a temp setup and decided to sell it instead of put it into the 220. It harassed every fish in my tank. It also killed my leopard wrasse. It harassed it to the point it wouldn't come out of the sand at all to eat and just died from the stress. Beautiful fish but I would put it in as the very last fish.

 

[Tabasco1]

Should be hardy and +1 to nori, you can find algae sheets at grocery stores which is way cheaper than aquarium specific. Just make sure that there are not any spices, additives or preservatives in it.

Also +1 to the 14 tang video! That is crazy! I was reading through the list and thought for sure these were all fish that were kept AT DIFFERENT TIMES, but then realized they are all in the same system.