Purple tang or powder blue

Talon33

Talon33

Active Member
I'm the process of redoing my system and sending fish I have now through hypo and thinking about getting a nice tang to go through it with them. My DT is 125 gallons. The tangs tankmates will be
2 clowns
Engineer goby
Flame angel
Pearlscale butterfly
Royal gramma
Now I have a yellow and a kole but I definately getting rid of one maybe both, kinda like to keep yellow. But should I get a purple tang off live aquaria or should I get a PBT the lfs has had for a month or so now?
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
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WWIII will happen if you keep the yellow and get the purple. You could do the PBT but just know that they are very susceptible to ich. I tried my best with the one i had and just couldn't get him to not get ich every time a mouse farted.......If you run a UV device it can help but having an ich free system and proper QT is the way to go.

They are beautiful fish but not worth the work for me!
 
Talon33

Talon33

Active Member
I love the PBT and could buy 4 of them for the price of a purple, but I have been letting my tank run with ich and tangs and flame angel are doing fine, flame showed a spot or two once an royal grams maybe a time or two but besides that they have been fine but I am about to leave DT fallow and treat fish in hypo so I figured what a great time to try a PBT. Also I have never seen ich on this fish and never seen ich on any fish from this lfs, could be running low levels of copper but if I add this fish to a 55 gallon QT and don't see any signs of ich should I still send it through hypo?
 
Bearjohnson

Bearjohnson

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RS Ambassador
Some may disagree but, I always treat before I put any fish in my DT. It's much easier to treat the noob then have to pull them all out and treat them all. IMO
 
Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
If you've watched the fish for a month doing well I wouldn't subject it to more stress. IMO the best way to orient a tang to a new tank is to have a mature tank where the fish can eat without being fed. It'll stay busy pecking everywhere and will avoid being stressed. Or there should be algae available for it all the time.
 
Willie McDaries

Willie McDaries

Well-Known Member
IMG_1745.jpg


powder blue is my favorite of the 2 but they are susceptible to ich, the purples are violent with other tangs too, or so I've read...

the powder blue will likely be mean to other tangs that are added after him, so either add both at the same time or let the yellow have a few days to settle in before adding the PBT....

my yellow has had the run of the tank for a few years before the PBT and it was a bit mean to my PBT at first, but he settled down after a few days, the PBT didn't take much crap either though :) my tank is 360 gallons and they had enough room to avoid each other but they get along great now

my goofy regal jumped across my overflow and got trapped in the drain pipe and died :( but here's the 3 of them eating together and playing nicely together...

IMG_1765.jpg
 
Talon33

Talon33

Active Member
Yeah I have seen the fish there for awhile and nothing but the fish is in like a forty gallon so it is having some fins detiorate (sp). And my tank is like 8 months old but I also leave nori in at all time, an by redoing my tank I mean changing sump, sandbed and new scape, not like a full overhaul, pretty much using fallow period to my advantage
 
Talon33

Talon33

Active Member
Haha I don't know how you have limited yourself to 3 tangs in that small lake, what's the dimensions
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
You are free to do whatever you want (we all are) but playing Monday morning quarterback on my own decision, it was the right one (only adding one tang). My 120 is 2 foot shorter than a 125 though so it is a little different but watching 2 tangs fight isn't fun......and IF they get along, there is always the possibility of a problem.

I'm glad I went with just my purple........so many other cool wrasses out there!
 
Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
PSU4ME said:
You are free to do whatever you want (we all are) but playing Monday morning quarterback on my own decision, it was the right one (only adding one tang). My 120 is 2 foot shorter than a 125 though so it is a little different but watching 2 tangs fight isn't fun......and IF they get along, there is always the possibility of a problem.

I'm glad I went with just my purple........so many other cool wrasses out there!
Click to expand...

I agree that one tang is enough in a tank that size. I also have a 120 and only one tang.
 
Talon33

Talon33

Active Member
Well I have never seen any aggression from my tangs towards each other but I got them at lfs in same tank and have always been together in any tank, even had them in a 20 gallon QT for awhile, my kole tang is definately not a nice one however, he chased my flame around until I stepped in and seperated them
 
Talon33

Talon33

Active Member
But like you all said both are going if I get purple but if I go PBT I may put him and yellow in same 55 gallon QT and see what happens, easier to catch them out of there, both tangs are only like 3 inches right now
 
AC273

AC273

Member
I am going to agree that the purple and the yellow together will not end well for anyone involved. That said (as I wrote in another thread) do not keep tangs from the same family together. They will always be competing with eachother. If you really want two tangs, then make sure they are from different families.
 
Talon33

Talon33

Active Member
Haha one day I will have a 240 inwall, mark it down twenty years old now and twenty years later it will happen! Haha but for now I gotta pick one of the other and I agree but I can't tell you how many times I see tangs from zebrasoma together yellow and sailfin even sometime yellow and purple but I'm not willing to risk it I just want one or the other to he happy and healthy just Trying to figure out each one. Just wondering but seems like everyone has been saying the purple will be aggressive but aren't the acanthurus genus the more aggressive of the tangs, so the PBT may not exactly be a little angel right? I know you all are saying the purple and and yellow wont work but I'm saying no other tangs the purple or the PBT can be bullies right?
 
Willie McDaries

Willie McDaries

Well-Known Member
Talon33 said:
Haha I don't know how you have limited yourself to 3 tangs in that small lake, what's the dimensions
Click to expand...

roughly 8 feet long by 3 feet deep by 2 feet tall....since the regal jumped, there's only 2 in there now, I want more tangs but don't want to deal with the aggression....

I didn't notice your tank size at first, I wouldn't add more that 2 tangs to a 125 and only while they were small to medium sized, once they are full size it's gonna be iffy whether they get along or not, you may have to remove 1 of 'em if they start fighting
 
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