Powder Blue Tang Question

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allyjoe

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Messages
36
Location
Florida
I have a 120 gal reef tank - about 220 lbs of live rock. I currently have a Blue Hippo (since July) and he is doing great (about 3-4 inches long). I have room for one more fish and I'm thinking about a Powder Blue. My questions are is my tank too small for a powder blue and will it get along with the Hippo. If anyone has experience with this, I would really appreciate it. Looking for help before I make a mistake (worked too hard to do that at this point).
 
Your tank is just fine for a powder blue. Im pretty sure the two tangs will get along just fine
 
Thanks Sango. Anyone else out there with info on this?? Looking for all the data I can get.
 
An LFS in my area has a tank with a full size blue hippo and a full size powder blue, and they been there for at least 4-5 months i guess (apparently $150+ fish dont sell that often.....) and from what ive observed they get along really well. Ive seen the two swimming side by side almost like racing from one end of the tank to the other, its kinda neat
 
I have to a yellow, purple, 2 blues and 1 powder blue tang. The purple and yellow fight the most (just a little bullying) and the yellow and powder blue dont like each other too but they dont fight. The powder blue and blues i have never fight but i have seen the PBT get annoyed by the blues when there is not enough food.
 
I have no experience with the powder blue but it is a beautiful fish. One thing you might want to consider is that according to some (I'm sure many might disagree), they're very susceptible to ich. One LFS owner I spoke with said something like, "if you look at one of those fish the wrong way they get ich." Just something to think about. Personally, if I had the tank space I'd think of it as a challenge and go for it...
 
!20 is better than a 55 or 75. I would think you will be OK but remember that powder blue`s are ick magnets. I`ve had problems the few times I tried and I`ve seen where others have also had problems with them. Make sure of proper acclimation and keep tank at pristine conditions. These are tank condition sensitive fish.
 
I was told, though I haven't confirmed it yet, that the blue tangs don't have scales so they are more vulnerable to ich.

I doubt it's much of a "looking the wrong way" thing as much as it is just a general stress problem with them.

I guess as a safe bet you could put one into a quarantine tank and treat it with a copper solution (NO CORALS OR INVERTS) and that should take care of any ich.

That doesn't exclude your main tank not having "dormant" ich though. Perhaps that's not even possible. Can someone clarify if ich can be dormant?
 
Umm..

So...you think it has more to do with stress than being looked at the wrong way?...

Umm...

hmmm... :roll:

Yes. I guess you're right...
 
Ich can appear to be dormant in a tank in that you never see an outbreak till something goes wrong that stresses the fish. But it is possible to have an Ich free tank. Once you do you should QT everything for 6 weeks before adding it to the main tank.

I removed all my fish to a QT and left the main tank fallow of fish for the 8 week QT period. Ich can not survive more than 30 days without a host fish so that left my main tank free, and the hypo treatment insured that my fish were free.

Is my tank free of Ich? I don't know. I have added some corals (without QT) since the treatment and although I have not seen any evidence of it, it is possible to have introduced it again.
 
Appreciate all the feedback. I definitely understand the ick situation with any tangs - especially the Powder Blue. I've read enough on this site alone to understand how to avoid the situation and how to fix it (i.e., Steve S). At this point, I've not had any ich outbreaks in my tank, so I'm hoping I do not have the parasite (sounds like that is never a guarantee?). Although this is always a concern, my real uncertainty involved having two tangs (hippo and powder blue) in the same 120 gallon tank with out stressing either one of them (again, in many ways it goes back to the ich issue that you all correctly bring up). From the feedback, it appears that folks think my tank is big enough, and the two fish will be compatable. That's my real concern.
 
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