Are these fishes suitable for a new (unmatured) tank?

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weekf

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
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Hi guys hope you can help me out here again.

Will you recommend stocking these fishes in a newly set up aquarium? My tank is about one month old including the 2 weeks cycling.

Blue Tang
Yellow Tang
White Banner butterfly
Auriga butterfly
Raccoon butterfly
Anthias

Also are the butterflies listed here hard to keep and should not be kept by beginner? I have the informations from liveaquarias but want to know actual experience from anyone who has kept these fish before.

Thanks.
 
I wouldn't... I don't know if you have had salt tanks before, but ...

#1 If you are new to the hobby, you are still learning about maintaining water chemistry and some of these fish are sensitive to water chemistry. Tangs sre well known to have ICH outbreaks when stressed and even chemical imbalances in water will cause that stress.

#2 If you ar new to the hobby you are still learning about feeding habits and a more mature tanks will have some of the normal algae growth that some of these fish need in order to be happy and healthy ( tangs love to graze all day for example). Over feeding will lead to to problem #1 as well.

#3 I don't know the price of these fish in Australia, but around here they tend to be more expensive. If you are new to the hobby, you will make mistakes - we all did - some mistakes are more expensive than others.
 
I am not new to saltwater. Have been keeping a 20g nano for 1 year but not this new 132g size tank.

Anyone else would like to chime in?
 
My first three fish were a powder-blue tang, a yellow tang, and a banner butterfly. All three of them have been excellent fish that I've had no problems with (except for the banner butterfly's banner breaking in half. but it grew back in a couple of weeks). One problem that I could forsee, however, is if you don't introduce them at the same time. Tangs can sometimes be pretty aggressive toward Butterflies.
 
Was that a new tank you set up or the tank has been set up for years before you add them? That's my concern. I just want to know can I add these fishes when the tank is only one month old?
 
The tangs I would say maybe but on the butterfly fish they are rated difficult for a reason. Will there be any corals in this tank?
 
No coral for at least 6 months.

But most of my LFS said tang won't do well in a month old tank. But it is soooo boring staring at an empty tank, well I have got 10 chromis in there for a week now. Want to add something interesting. Blue and yellow tangs are my ultimate goal. Can I add them yet?

Or would you suggest that I get something hardier this period of time and take them out later to trade for the tangs? In that case I will need something easy to catch few months down the track. Definitely not damsel as they are way too fast and aggressive. I want something not that aggressive that will not attack my chromis...

Thanks.
 
I would say if your tank`s parameters are ok and STABLE then I dont know why not in a 132 gallon tank. Plenty of room for them. The yellow tang I`m sure will be OK but blue tangs are more suseptable to ick so your water quality is going to have to be excellent. The butterflies are a different story. I know you say that corals are 6 months down the road but you will have to tear the tank down to catch them with all the LR in there. If your planning on corals then IMO you should forget the Butterfly fish.
 
Thanks melosu. Yeah blue tang is my DREAM... I used to buy one and put in my 20g and it develop ich right away and I returned it to LFS. Is yellow tang easily to get sick? I think I will add the yellow tang first but right now not even sure of blue tang. Because I hate to have a ich outbreak in my new tank. My be will consider it when my tank become more mature and water quality becomes better.

But I will sure get the yellow tang now. What size do you guy suggest me to get? Juvenile or full adult size? But if I get the full adult size will it last long? I mean it is almost time for them to go?

As for butterfly I will re think about that whether is my tank going to be a FOWLR or a reef tank in future.
 
weekf said:
As for butterfly I will re think about that whether is my tank going to be a FOWLR or a reef tank in future.

This is a good idea. My tang is 6 inches long and been with me 9 yrs. I think the yellow addition would be a good choice. Good Luck
 
You should quarantine your new purchases before you put them in your new tank. Its easier and cheaper to treat small tank, found out the hard way.
 
I Can't believe no one has said a single word about the tank being only 1 month old!?!?

Most of the time some one says their tank is 1 month old, and everyone jumps on the band wagon about the tank probably not being cycled completely, etc...


I'm not expert, But I have spent and lost alot of money on fish...


Also no one noted that if you add all those fish at once, you will probably shock the system... I assume this still applied to larger 100+ gal tanks!?

-TheChad
 
I'm not butterfly fish knowledgeable, but I'd recommend putting that yellow tang in last. Lot's of'm can be meand to newcomers shaped anywhere close to their body shape. Also, if you're going to do corals, I'd think about not doing butterflys at all.

Thought about a purple tang instead of the blue? Hardier IMO.

All said and done though, I'd like to see you only add one of those fish every 3-4 weeks.

And QT too if at all possible. :soap:
 
EJS4 said:
You should quarantine your new purchases before you put them in your new tank. Its easier and cheaper to treat small tank, found out the hard way.

(y) (y)
 
TheChad said:
Most of the time some one says their tank is 1 month old, and everyone jumps on the band wagon about the tank probably not being cycled completely, etc...

I`m assuming the tank is already cycled. That`s what he said in the first post but if not yes tank needs to be cycled first as Chad said. And as far as adding all those fish at the same time, I suggested not even adding the butterflies. Ray covered it in his post when he said 3-4 weeks.
 
The tank has been cycled. Took 2 weeks only to cycled. Ammonia and Nitrite at 0, Nitrate at 20ppm after cycled. 50% waterchange after cycled everything still 0 except Nitrate dropped to 10ppm.

Add in 10 chromis 1 week ago, water test again 10 minutes ago still Ammonia and Nitrite at 0, Nitrate at 10ppm. Has done 2 feedings for the past few days.

I am planning NO butterflies as I might want to keep coral in future. They are not easy to keep anyway so am dropping the butterflies.

Also will drop the blue tang as they get sick easily and I don't want to keep a quarantine tank, too costly for me to run. So I will only be keeping hardy fish and no more other tangs as I know other than yellow tang the rest are prone to sickness especially blue tang.

-So please advice if ok to add the yellow tang now.
-There will be more fish to come in future but NO more tang will come in. Will the yellow still act aggressive towards other new fishes?
 
Yellows can be nasty buggers. That being said, you have the choice to make, not us.It has been suggested you add the tang last, after the rest of your fish...maybe you missed that part. Why do you want to add the tang now instead of after the other fish?
 
IMO I would wait a week or two since you added all the chromis and if you water test are still OK then I see nothing wrong with adding a yellow tang. But as Ray said they can get agressive but later on as you add fish you might have to cut lights out for a few hours or move rock around to keep his attention. I`ve never had problems adding to mine with the yellow tang but I dont discount the experience of others.
 
Just to add my previous 2 tanks also only took 2 weeks to fully cycled. I think it has got something to do with the rocks I bought. The LFS here at my place (Perth, Australia) normally have plenty of liverocks in their tank for a while and the trip from the LFS to my place only take less than 15 mins drive so not much die off occurs.

Also the saltwater we here use are collected from the ocean by an ocean farm. No mixing of own saltwater here. They supply all the saltwater to many LFS around the area and are top quality water. I have been using their water for 1 year on my previous 2 tanks no algae, no cyano at all.

The above explanation may be the reason for a quick cycle.
 
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