Tang Suggestions

[JumpingFlea]

Mine was so small when I got him that I was able to do TTM using 2-gallon fishbowls and moving him every 48-hours. Lol. Now he’s in his Big-Boy tank, but bothers nobody. Not a big open water swimmer though; I’d say a rock to rock stealth fish.

Love him and the emperor!

 

[JumpingFlea]

Hepatus tang? Maybe scientific name.

 

[JumpingFlea]

Tomini
Hepatus
convict
gem (pricey thoigh)
lavender

Forgot to press reply. What’s a Hepatus tang?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Forgot to press reply. What’s a Hepatus tang?

Also known as a regal tang (Dory)

 

[JumpingFlea]

Oh! I’ve seen a lot of baby regals at my lfs. I feel like a baby tang would be a little hard to care for but I may be wrong.

 

[Mr Cypher]

I have heard of them but never actually seen one. Any pictures?

the one in the pic with my yellow

 

[JumpingFlea]

Would a baby Regal tang be fine? Has anyone had experience with baby tangs?

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Yellow Tangs are too expensive around here. Don’t know if they are just expensive here or all over.

if it helps, yellow tang prices are coming down - they've been about $599 here for a good while (since Hawaii ban - and for wild caught 'large' ones still that range), so I understand, and $149-$199 is still pricey for tiny fish, but there are at least tiny ones coming available under $200 locally and online.

I L.O.V.E my yellow tang. I'd do another if ever it goes. I'd give up other things to have the money for a yellow tang, if it came down to just money...

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Would a baby Regal tang be fine? Has anyone had experience with baby tangs?

yes I have a regal blue tang grown from thumbnail.

*IF* you go that small, recommend keeping in hang on side acclimation box so you can ensure adequate food. Mine could eat the Reef Nutrition R.O.E. fridge eggs at that size. When we got it thicker (came SO thin!) and bit longer, we let it out likely to soon because it fit thru sump overflow slits... It went back into box after we got it out of overflow, clown jumped into acclimation with it for a while. Once it was stealing food from clown, we let baby tang out again. Its doing super awesome - its shoulder blue is now always there and just today its belly seems a touch lighter so I think another color morph is about to start.

I saved a LOT of money going that small, but I don't know it was worth it. I'd much rather have gotten a bigger one and paid more.

 

[|Tom the Bomb|]

How are purple tangs personality wise?

mine is the most "passive" fish in the tank, well the other fish arent aggressive either, I have a blueeyed tang and a foxface lo and a lionfish, the purple, blue-eye and foxface love to hang out together and are very social with each other


(lion is all by itself lonely )

 

[JumpingFlea]

yes I have a regal blue tang grown from thumbnail.

*IF* you go that small, recommend keeping in hang on side acclimation box so you can ensure adequate food. Mine could eat the Reef Nutrition R.O.E. fridge eggs at that size. When we got it thicker (came SO thin!) and bit longer, we let it out likely to soon because it fit thru sump overflow slits... It went back into box after we got it out of overflow, clown jumped into acclimation with it for a while. Once it was stealing food from clown, we let baby tang out again. Its doing super awesome - its shoulder blue is now always there and just today its belly seems a touch lighter so I think another color morph is about to start.

I saved a LOT of money going that small, but I don't know it was worth it. I'd much rather have gotten a bigger one and paid more.

The baby regals at my lfs are about half an inch. They did have 5 inch ones for 89 but they are always quickly sold before I can get my hands on it.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

The baby regals at my lfs are about half an inch. They did have 5 inch ones for 89 but they are always quickly sold before I can get my hands on it.

...and the 'tiny' yellow tangs I described above at $149 are about 1-1.5".

My blue tang's size when I got him at half inch so I guess that would make my blue tang sized as ... 'yellow polka dot bikini' sized (itty bitty, teeny weeny). SO, even though I say I wouldn't do it again, it IS cool to see it grow up before my eyes. Read they grow 2" a year, and based how its growing (and eating - like a teenage boy - where does it all go?!?!?!) believe it (but mine may be outpacing that OR it may just be in a growth spurt that levels out then goes again (like a child/teenage boy)).

 

[JumpingFlea]

Would a purple tang and blue tang fight? Or would they be fine due to their appearance differences?

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Would a purple tang and blue tang fight? Or would they be fine due to their appearance differences?

+1 vote likely okay, but like every tang acclimation, recommend use magnetized acclimation box to move into all territories before releasing (The Shu Octo Aquatics is my most recent & favorite!). Once all goes well in a day (or week, or couple weeks) then have mirror handy upon release of new fish from acclimation box where it has been doing 'meet & greet' - if all goes well - happy dance! If only minor mirror distraction needed, still happy dance. If there was still body slamming of acclimation box by existing fish not accepting new fish, then don't yet open the acclimation box and release new fish.

 

[JumpingFlea]

Thank you

 

[i cant think]

Yellow Tangs are too expensive around here. Don’t know if they are just expensive here or all over.

YTs are more expensive than a purple tang, even the captive bred ones are hard to get so yes, they are more expensive than they used to be. The reason for that is the Hawaiian ban on exporting fish (And coral?).
Also, A regal tang gets to 1 foot long, aggressive, and a fast swimming as with all tangs. They need atleast an 8 foot long by the end of it and even some of the ones people have in 8 foots have been said to look like they need bigger tanks. I don’t believe on a 8 inch regal in a 5 foot sounds too nice, similar thing with the sailfin tangs that get 16 inch (More commonly 1 foot) they’re very active. I’d recommend going for a different tang, some of the Acanthurus spp haven’t been mentioned that could fit, just:
- Caribbean blue tang (Get it as a juvenile and watch the colour change - 9” in the wild but most don’t exceed 6-7” in captivity).
- Lavender tang (8” in the wild, but most don’t get there in captivity).
- Any of the 3 Mimic tangs (A. Pyroferus - 8”, A. Chronixis - 10” so a bit on the large size but if it’s the only tang it shouldn’t be too bad, A. tristis - 8-9”).
- Red stripe kole tang (5-6” so it’s on the larger size for kole tangs).
- Gold rim tang (8” also, not a commonly seen tang where I am, but it’s also not an extremely rare fish either).
- PBT (A. leucosternon - it’s said to get 11” but I haven’t seen one above 6-8”, A. japonicus - 8”) These two tangs (Powder Blue Tang and the Powder Brown Tang) are both more on the aggressive side of the Acanthurus family along with the harder to keep ones. They don’t compare to achilles tangs in care though.
- Scopas tang (7”, 12” in the wild -While this is a Zebrasoma tang, it’s also got the worst behaviour of those tangs. I have never wanted another since I had my last one.)

 

[Floyd-]

I have 3 tangs in my 150 gallon tank. Scopas, yellow and (Dory)
The Scopas is the alpha in the tank. Followed by the yellow and then the Dory. As far as personality id go with the yellow out of all of them.