Blue Tang Question

[SleepyPirate]

I just purchased a blue tang last night at the LFS and its quite small mabey an inch IF that, its quite a bit smaller then my small clown fish.
Is there anything I need to know in the care for it and how fast do they generally grow?


I have a 90 gallon tank with:

50lbs Live rock
1 Lawnmore fish
2 clown fish
1 blue tang
2 Peppermint shrimp
1 feather duster
Med size colony of green star polyps
Med size candy cane
Small Blue Xenia
and
2 very large leather corals of some sort that are growing like crazy but never "bloom" cause of my inadequate lighting

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

When the blue tangs are that small and they love to hide just be carefull of the intake of your powerheads if you have any in your tank as it might get stuck and not be able to escape.

[naesco]

Originally Posted by SleepyPirate

I just purchased a blue tang last night at the LFS and its quite small mabey an inch IF that, its quite a bit smaller then my small clown fish.
Is there anything I need to know in the care for it and how fast do they generally grow?


I have a 90 gallon tank with:

50lbs Live rock
1 Lawnmore fish
2 clown fish
1 blue tang
2 Peppermint shrimp
1 feather duster
Med size colony of green star polyps
Med size candy cane
Small Blue Xenia
and
2 very large leather corals of some sort that are growing like crazy but never "bloom" cause of my inadequate lighting

Your tiny tang, unlike other tangs, is a meat eater so you have to provide them with high quality food. They are also ich magnets so ensure that the the food is fortfied with garlic extract or Garlic Extreme snd selcon. The tiny guys are very active and you need to feed it a little 6 or so times a day.

Picture a plate in your tank. That is the size your tang will get. They grow surprisingly quicklly. They are very active, swimming to and fro all the time and that is why they, and almost all tangs, require large tanks, six feet, so that they have the room to swim.

Thank you for asking about it's care but in the future, in the interest of the fish you are considering buying, it is much better to ask for advice from reefers here before you buy.
Good Luck.

[SleepyPirate]

I dont know if hes eating right now, I got Red Seaweed and brime shrimp but neather of those seem to interest him. I put the seaweed on a piece of rock but no go only the peppermint shrimp seem to like it. Any ideas?

[Bblinks]

+1, Grows fast, ich magnet. I have a 210 gallon tank and with in a year the guy has double in size and almost out grown my tank. He still has ick till this day. Just be prepared for ick, but don't freak out, just feed it well and it will fight it off by itself.
IMHO its gonna out grown your tank in no time. Think powder blue of yellow tangs.

Originally Posted by naesco

Your tiny tang, unlike other tangs, is a meat eater so you have to provide them with high quality food. They are also ich magnets so ensure that the the food is fortfied with garlic extract or Garlic Extreme snd selcon. The tiny guys are very active and you need to feed it a little 6 or so times a day.

Picture a plate in your tank. That is the size your tang will get. They grow surprisingly quicklly. They are very active, swimming to and fro all the time and that is why they, and almost all tangs, require large tanks, six feet, so that they have the room to swim.

Thank you for asking about it's care but in the future, in the interest of the fish you are considering buying, it is much better to ask for advice from reefers here before you buy.
Good Luck.

[naesco]

Originally Posted by SleepyPirate

I dont know if hes eating right now, I got Red Seaweed and brime shrimp but neather of those seem to interest him. I put the seaweed on a piece of rock but no go only the peppermint shrimp seem to like it. Any ideas?

It is probably to big for the little guy.
Get some frozen cyclopses or even crush some dry food and soak it in garlic extract or Garlic Extreme first. Garlic sometimes acts as a stimulate to get fish that wont eat to eat.