Tang Discoloration

[robertfah]

I woke up really early this morning (about 5:45am) and was looking at my tank (150g) when I noticed 3 of my Yellow Tangs had a large black circle in the middle of their bellies (see file below). Now I have my lunar lights on, so I'm not too sure if this is natural for Tangs at night time or if something else happened.

The only 'new' thing I have done to the tank was add a small (2 inch) spotted sweetlips to the tank yesterday (see file below), but he's been as peaceful as can be.

Any ideas?

 

[tecwzrd]

Completely natural “nocturnal color” for a yellow tang to help it blend when sleeping in the wild. I assume it clears up in less than 5 minutes once you turn on the lights. Did you just add these or have you just not noticed it?

That sweetlip gets HUGE and is a messy eater. Good luck, with your other fish you do know that you will be overstocked when they are all adults I hope.
4 yellow tangs = 32”
1 Spotted Sweetlips = 25+”
1 Half-moon angel = 12”
1 Tomato clown = 4”
1 Royal Gramma = 3”
1 Anthias = anywhere from 3” to 5”

You’re talking about 76+” of adult fish! You should have about half that many IMO.

 

[robertfah]

That sweetlip gets HUGE and is a messy eater. Good luck, with your other fish you do know that you will be overstocked when they are all adults I hope.

'Preciate the info. I figured that it had something to do with the nighttime, but just never looked at them that early in the AM! 8O

1 tang has been in the tank for 8 months now and I added 3 more about a month ago. They all get along great and I haven't noticed the black during the day.

I used to have a sweetlips before (in my 55g) but he ate a damsel and then got sick and dies (I think the damsel was too big for him!). I intend to turn my tank into a reef tank, so I will eventually get rid of my sweetlips and angel, but I can't afford to spend the money all at once to get 150-200 lbs of lr.

Thanks again!

 

[austinsdad]

That sweetlip can grow to almost 3 ft - and they grow rapidly too. They're reef safe ONY with caution - since you said you'd like to convert to reef. They'll also eat small crustaceans. Good luck, they are some beautiful fish you have there, but I think you're headed for trouble. The angel might cause problems also in a reef.

And I agree with the sleeptime coloring on the tangs. Betcha they were just as bright as ever a few minutes after the lights came on, huh?

 

[tecwzrd]

Good to hear I figured you wanted reef as well and with those two gone you should be fine afterwards both for reef and in total fish volume.

I wouldn’t waste money on 100+ lbs of all lr. If you get 70% of base and 30% of lr it will all be lr within a year or two. www.hirocks.com has great pricing on base rock and has all sizes.

 

[robertfah]

If you get 70% of base and 30% of lr it will all be lr within a year or two

I had NO idea that you could do that. My LFS told me I had to add 1-1+1/2 lbs of LR per gallon. So my wife and I figured we were in for a big expense when getting LR. I know having a reef is expensive and depending on where you get your LR, it could be expensive too. Our LFS is selling Tonga LR for 7 bucks a pound . I know that's expensive so I'll look on the net to find other places.

Betcha they were just as bright as ever a few minutes after the lights came on, huh?

I had to leave for work at 6:30am, so it was still dark at that time, but yes, they are bright yellow when I get home and the lights are on!

 

[tecwzrd]

You do want a total of 1+ lbs per gal of rock but it doesn’t all have to be “live”. Even “live” rock is mostly dead depending on where you get it from. Sure it has bacteria in it and occasionally hitchhikers/coral on it but both can be added later and a ton can be saved by just buying base rock which doesn’t have hitchhikers/coral.

The thing I like about base rock is the fast curing process since there is very little to no die off.

Base rock becomes biological within weeks just like lr so it still serves as your bio-filtration.

With proper lighting & the addition of “some live rock” to help seed the base rock all your rock will look the same in a couple of years.

Most of my rock is base rock with only 30 lbs of it live. In just 4 months with pc lighting it’s coming along nicely

If you want the hitchhikers that come along with lr then you can just buy them a lot cheaper than buying all lr.

http://www.ipsf.com/
http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/prod_detrit.html
http://www.aquaculturestore.com/swinverts.html
http://www.reefnutrition.com/

 

[austinsdad]

Heck, you could even go 50/50 IMO. That LFS saw dollar signs thinking he could getcha to buy ALL LR.

 

[tecwzrd]

hirocks is currently having a sale right now on ebay, 60 lbs of "our best" shipped to your door for $40 (same people) I’m going to get more and just store it at that price for when I upgrade 8O

 

[robertfah]

hirocks is currently having a sale right now on ebay, 60 lbs of "our best" shipped to your door for $40 (same people) I’m going to get more and just store it at that price for when I upgrade

Is it good stuff? That sounds pretty cheap for 60lbs of base rock.

BTW, how much LS (in inches) should one have in a tank? I've heard everything from an inch to 4 inches?

 

[Feron]

Sand seems to be a personal preference type of thing.
If you plan on it being a food source or to aid in filtration or for specific livestock, deeper is better!

I have a tahitian moon sand bed that is 5 inchs at the ends of the tank and 3-4 in the center (kinda made a depression for my rock to sit in...). The black is very nice
(and expensive )

 

[tecwzrd]

Is it good stuff? That sounds pretty cheap for 60lbs of base rock.

I have 60 lbs of it (paid $92 the first time) and I love it but personally don’t have anything to compare it too other than the 30 lbs of lr I have. And yes, it’s very cheap for 60lbs.

The 30 lbs of live rock I have was well encrusted with live critters and coralline and of course the base was basically dead white/brown. It’s taken awhile for the base to come around but within the next year I shouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Numerous people have gotten base rock from them on this site which is how I heard about it, perhaps they will chime in as well.