Please help, want to add a yellow and a blue tang...

[weekf]

I am not looking at adding it now as I have just added 10 chromis yesterday. I am looking forward to add a regal blue tang and a yellow tang into my new 132g 3 to 4 weeks down the track but I just got some questions and want to make sure there will be no problem.

Are these yellow/blue tangs hard to acclimatised? Will they be hiding all day long the first few days? How hard is it to get them out of the rocks to start eating?

I am asking this because my tank is sooooo big do I need to put in food at every corner so that they have got more chances to “bump” into these foods? The problem is I don’t like to throw in too much food as this could foul up the water too soon. What about if I am using the veggie clip do I also need to put in a few or just one will do that they will eventually find it? I am worry my tank is too big they will have problem finding the food before they die of hunger.

I have just added 10 chromis yesterday, will those chromis pose any threat if I add the blue tang/yellow tang later on?

Eventhough it is still few weeks away before I adding the yellow/blue tang I just want to get myself prepared here and know what to expect. I don’t want them to get stressed and develop ich straight away.

Any opinion/experience/comment will be very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[blazeyreef]

wow 10 chromis..... they get sorta big dont they? (like 6 in)....also, I LOVE yellow tangs but arnt they aggressive torwards other tangs?

 

[Mikebaker]

Well, to start with, It is quite normal that these, and most other fish will hide for the first little while until they become comfortable with their new surroundings. You don't need to worry about them starving during this short time. Just put some nori on a clip in the tank, and if they get hungry they'll find it. Having the school of chromis in there with be advantageous, as their activity in the tank will make the tangs more comfortable. Also, and i stress that this is of paramount importance: Quarantine the tangs before adding them. All tangs, but particularly regal tangs are very prone to ich, and once it's in your display tank, it's very difficult to get rid of. During quarentine, feed foods soaked in garlic additives, as it will help boost the fishes immune system. And if one of them gets ich during quarentine, a hyposalinity treatment is the most effective way to deal with it. Hope this information is of use.
Mike

 

[palisaide]

From what I understand, you should introduce tangs at the same time so they are not aggressive toward each other. My yellow tang is definitely my most aggressive fish. When I introduced my B/W Heniochus, the yellow tang started hitting it with the sharp spike by his caudal fin and continued for a couple of days. He didn't end up harming the Heniochus in the long run, but I've heard that their white spike thing is very sharp and can easily harm other fish. Other than that, the yellow is a really cool fish.

 

[weekf]

The problem with quarantine, well I only have a 20g high is that good enough to use that as a quarantine tank? I thought that would stress them out even more giving the size of the tank?

Another question is what is the point for quarantine? I mean even if they do ok in quarantine tank if I move them over into the main tank it will be totally a new environment again and they still need to get use to it all over again just like they first got into the quarantine tank. Isn't that worse because they need to acclimate to 2 times in 2 tanks to settle down hence the extra stress?

One last thing is how aggressive are yellow tangs really. I am only looking forward to build a peaceful tank, no aggressions will be torelated in the tank. Therefore I only looking for fishes that are EASY to keep, PEACEFUL and REEF SAFE eventhough I am not keeping any coral right now but will be doing that 6 months down the track.

 

[melosu58]

Boy I wish my main concern was wondering if I had too big a tank. Just playing. Yes you`ll need to QT these fish to make sure they are parasite free and disease free. And I understand about double stress but which would you rather do, put two fish in the QT from the LFS or your whole tank become infected and have to chase down the 10 chromis and the 2 tangs to QT and treat. And the double stress wont be a factor if your water condition are good. I think you`ll be OK as long as you QT and watch closely.

 

[weekf]

Thanks melosu. But is that a good size for a quarantine tank? A 20g high? I thought it will be too small to quarantine the tangs? I heard tangs need at least 72g wouldn't that stress them out even more?

I currently have 1 clown, 2 peppermint shrimps and a cleaner shrimp in there will move them over to the bigger tank soon, will also move ALL the rocks to the bigger tank and this nano will become empty except a few rocks to let the quarantined fish to hide. Does that sounds ok?

 

[melosu58]

Yes your tangs will be OK there for a week or two. Yes that does sound OK. And yess adding the two together is ideal but if your worried about the 20 being too small why not just get one and QT him and then when you get the other one just QT him and when you add him just move some LR around and they will be too concerned about that. Hey Good Luck

 

[weekf]

Thanks for the help melosu. Cheers.

 

[melosu58]

No problem just remember that the blue tang will be more suseptable to ick if he has it.

 

[TheChad]

To save Bandwidth, and because it is semi related to the conversation at hand, I am posting this question here....


I will be recieving a copper banded butterfly on tuesday morning from LiveAquaria.com

I know they are also prone to ich, and I have every intention of placing it in my 30g QT tank, with the other 3 fish I recieve from them.

My Question is, If a hyposalinity treatment becomes required, I assume I can just bring my QT tank, that I keep at 82 degrees, and 1.015 SG, down to to 1.010 SG, and keep the temp around 82-83 degrees?

Also Once the fish all look healthy, and show no signs of ich, what is the correct way to transfer them to the main tank? Should I bring the salinity up to the Main tank's 1.022 SG, and temp 80 degrees, then directly transfer them to the main tank? Or should they be placed into a bucket and then acclimated to the main tank from the hyposalinity?

Thanks,

-TheChad

 

[melosu58]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=17

Here is one of our articles on QT. My only question is why do you want the salinity so low for. It will take forever to get it from your LFS to your QT and from your QT to your fish. It is also reccommended here to QT one fish at a time. The reasoning is that one fish could infect all of them where if you did one or two at a time you might be able to observe nothing wrong and add to the main after a week or two. Just some thoughts.

 

[TheChad]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=17

Here is one of our articles on QT. My only question is why do you want the salinity so low for. It will take forever to get it from your LFS to your QT and from your QT to your fish. It is also reccommended here to QT one fish at a time. The reasoning is that one fish could infect all of them where if you did one or two at a time you might be able to observe nothing wrong and add to the main after a week or two. Just some thoughts.

From everything I have read, Hyposalinity is 1.010-1.013.

The reason I am going to QT all 4 fish, is because I am ordering them from Liveaquaria.com, So I had to make an order of multiple fish. It would cost a fortune to purchase fish 1 at a time from anywhere that has to ship them due to the cost of shipping.

-TheChad

 

[melosu58]

Ok I understand. As far as the salinity you are putting them in the QT to observe them first. You dont want to treat unless they have something first. IMO I would bump up to 1.020 and observe them for a week and see if you have anything to treat first. No use in putting them through the treatment process if they dont need to.

 

[roka64]

Ok I understand. As far as the salinity you are putting them in the QT to observe them first. You dont want to treat unless they have something first. IMO I would bump up to 1.020 and observe them for a week and see if you have anything to treat first. No use in putting them through the treatment process if they dont need to.

I agree with this. If there is not a problem, I wouldn't worry. Just observe them, if they are healthy, add them to the main, depending on the differences in your QT/main, you might have to acclimate them.

 

[TheChad]

Yeah, that what I was going to do. If I need to treat them, I would lower the Salinity over a couple of days to the 1.010-1.013 range, and raise the temp up to about 83.

Once it is determined that all the fish are healthy, I planned to bring the QT tank up to match the main tank's salinity/temp, and then transfer them to the main tank one at a time, over a few days time.

My main concern is the Copper Banded butterfly. I don't think the scooter blenny, watchman goby, or algae bleeny will have or get any sickness.

-TheChad

 

[melosu58]

I assume I can just bring my QT tank, that I keep at 82 degrees, and 1.015 SG, down to to 1.010 SG, and keep the temp around 82-83 degrees?

I thought from this post you keep your QT salinity at 1.015 and that`s the reason I said something.