Powder Blue Tang

[begginersluck]

I'm thinking about getting a powder blue but I'm a little cautious due to their difficulty in keeping.

I have a 4 foot reef which is approx 566 litres plus about a 100 litre sump.

Fish currently in the tank: 1 big Indian Ocean Sailfin Tang. 1 small pacific sailfin. 1 regal tang. 1 yellow tang. 1 chevron tang. 1 pink spot goby. 1 royal gramma. 1 strawberry basslet. 1 lemonpeel.

I'm hoping to keep the chevron, yellow and regal tang but the others I'm not too fussed about. Can a powder blue be kept with them?

Would be good I hear from someone that has successfully kept a powder blue.

 

[ccCapt]

Your already overstocked with 5 tangs in a 4' tank. I know a person local to me who had a powder blue tang in her 6' 180g tank and it outgrew that tank.

 

[begginersluck]

Yeah the idea is I'm going to downsize the amount of tangs but I want to know which ones will be aggressive or won't get along with the powder blue.

 

[Jbaygurl78745]

Like he said powder blue wont work in a 4 ft tank. If one out grew a 6 ft tank 4 ft is outta the question. But i love ur whole tang tank. Id love a tank of just tangs. But they get way to big for me. Do you have pics?

 

[begginersluck]

Il upload a picture later. I'm starting to think that sailfin I have needs a bigger tank! He's huge!

 

[Jbaygurl78745]

Just a reason to go bigger lol

 

[begginersluck]

I've been doing some more research on the PBT as its one of my favourite fish, Certainly my favourite Surgeonfish and many websites have slightly different opinions on tank size. This site for intance suggests you should have a tank that is larger than 75G. Another site says 120G. Well mine is almost 160G so im confused. i also know someone with a tank smaller than mine that has had one of these fish for almost a year now and it looks amazing.

 

[Jbaygurl78745]

I believe tangs need long tanks bc they like to "swim swim swim" wait for a cpl more ppl to chime in

 

[daney90]

I've been doing some more research on the PBT as its one of my favourite fish, Certainly my favourite Surgeonfish and many websites have slightly different opinions on tank size. This site for intance suggests you should have a tank that is larger than 75G. Another site says 120G. Well mine is almost 160G so im confused. i also know someone with a tank smaller than mine that has had one of these fish for almost a year now and it looks amazing.

People really have different opinions on which tank size should be the minimum for tangs. However, like the above said you have too much tangs in your tank right now. You can have a 75gal with a tang if you prefer but keep in mind the other fishes you have in there too preferably small ones like blennies/gobies etc..

 

[begginersluck]

Yeah i keep reading 'lots of swimming space' but most articles are suggesting a tank larger than 100G. I currently have an Indian Ocean Sailfin that is about 10 inches and he's happy. Although i am tryign to rehome him!

 

[begginersluck]

I'm getting rid of 3 of the tangs and i will only be keeping a Regal Tang and a Yellow Tang. I've found homes for 2 of them just need to find a home for the larger one i have.

 

[mr_X]

In my experience, powder blues are very territorial and more times than not, quite nasty in closed systems. I take care of a customers 150 gallon tank which has a powder blue, a foxface, and a sailfin tang in it, and the powder blue really makes life hard for the others.
I wouldn't put one in my 300.

 

[Mr. Crabs]

Wanna see a nasty tang, take a good look at a Sohal. Holy Smokes, talk about nasty. Powder Blues can be down right viscious too. I had one for 2 years in a 220 and he became meaner and meaner over time, eventually killing a Hippo Tang.

If it were my tank, I would keep the Chevron and the Yellow. I'd rehome the Hippo and the Sailfin. You can try a PBT, but they are hard on other fish as previously mentioned. Tomini's and Kole tangs are cool. The bristle tooth tangs are a good group for smaller tanks.

 

[SeanMonster]

I have a Powder Blue in my 180g FO tank. Great fish, but he terrorized every fish that went in after him (except my Green Bird Wrasse). They are definitely territorial, and are in constant motion. Even my lfs owner said "you can be an a'hole when you are that beautiful". Needless to say, my 180g is as stocked as its going to be as long as he PBT is in there.

 

[begginersluck]

It's very tempting and I've wanted one of them for a whole now. In a couple of years I plan on doing a custom build on a tank twice the size of mine now so he could go in there when he's bigger.

 

[SeanMonster]

It's very tempting and I've wanted one of them for a whole now. In a couple of years I plan on doing a custom build on a tank twice the size of mine now so he could go in there when he's bigger.

I tend to buy livestock for what I have now. Just in case the bigger tank doesn't come according to plan.

 

[TheTodd]

I've never personally owned one, but had an ex many years ago with a 300g tank. She had a purple tang, a couple of wrasses, an Emperor Angel, Flame angel, Flame Hawk a couple other smaller fish (can't recall what). We added a PBT as the last fish and it terrorized whatever was closest to it. Basically spent 90% of its time chasing the other fish. We kept it for just under two weeks and took it back. Got a small Black Tang and it did fine, even with the Purple.

 

[Mr. Crabs]

It's such a shame. It is a quintescential fish of color from the ocean. I love PBT's. If I ever tried another, it would be small, and I mean small, and added last to a large tank with an understanding that it might need to be removed if tendancies arose. Achilles are right there with it, but a little kinder to others.......but not by much and a challenge healthwise.

 

[SeanMonster]

It's such a shame. It is a quintescential fish of color from the ocean. I love PBT's. If I ever tried another, it would be small, and I mean small, and added last to a large tank with an understanding that it might need to be removed if tendancies arose. Achilles are right there with it, but a little kinder to others.......but not by much and a challenge healthwise.

I should clarify that mine was about 1.5 to 2 inches when I first got it.