55g setup, cycling help

[Cap'n]

Are you melting the cube before you feed it to the tank? One fish shouldn't be fast enough to get all those morsels before everyone else. I use a shot glass, add a bit of tank water, wait 5 minutes, stir and feed.

Get a variety of foods. Mysis shrimp are great (keep your eyes open and get in on the next bulk buy). Bloodworms, brine shrimp, squid, veg and fruit mix, all can be used occasionally. Check the freezers at the LFS. Freeze-dried and pellets are also useful. BUT DON'T OVERFEED! They always look hungry.

Crushed coral will be harder on the starfish in the long run but will have no effect on it eating all the microfauna, that will still happen.

[adidas]

thx. whats a good amount daily to be fed for my 6 fish? i really have no idea how much. I will start melting the shrimp first. My unicorn is very fast and tries beating everyone else to it lol

i boght some blood worms and some flake food today.

Thx

[Cap'n]

What they can eat in 5 minutes, same general rule of thumb still applies in SW.

[BlkWolfe]

Keep a close eye on the ammonia/nitrite/nitrates. That was a big load to throw in all at once, even with very light feedings you might get an ammonia spike until the system catches up.

Brine shrimp also contain almost no nutritional value. As Cpt said, mysis, or at the very least some high quality flake food.

Both of those tangs get to be quite large, over a foot for the naso and almost two feet for the unicorn. They'll outgrow the 55 in no time, so you might want to start planning a 180 or finding them new homes.

Edited January 4, 2005 by BlkWolfe

[adidas]

Keep a close eye on the ammonia/nitrite/nitrates. That was a big load to throw in all at once, even with very light feedings you might get an ammonia spike until the system catches up.

Brine shrimp also contain almost no nutritional value. As Cpt said, mysis, or at the very least some high quality flake food.

Both of those tangs get to be quite large, over a foot for the naso and almost two feet for the unicorn. They'll outgrow the 55 in no time, so you might want to start planning a 180 or finding them new homes.

Ya i'm planning to upgrade the tank asap, how long do you think til the tangs outgrow the tank?

[BlkWolfe]

Personally if either one was 6-8" id be piecing together the new tank. 55's arent well suited to large fast swimmers like tangs. Two of them makes it more problematic. A single yellow tang would be more suited to it, althought thats the smallest tank id be putting one in.

Tangs tend not to mix well with other tangs, and two large fish in one small tank will lead to coming home to one live and one dead.

Edited January 5, 2005 by BlkWolfe

[BlkWolfe]

Heres a little reading...

Smallish tangs (still large fish)

Kole Tang: probably the best bet for most everyone. Generally peaceful, and a very good algae eater. This tang is the least likely to become aggresive off your list, and one of the least aggresive period. Have at least a 75 gal., but bigger is ALWAYS better. To about 7 inches

Yellow Tang: a reasonable pick. These guys aren't terribly aggressive as far as tangs go, but after time they can become very territorial and will harrass fish. Generally a pretty nice species though. This guy should go in a 75 gal. at the bare minimum. Bigger is much better. Up to about 8 inches for these.

Purple Tang: a pretty, but aggressive choice. These guys can really be jerks. They are very nice, but you have to plan for this. This guy will also get up around 8 inches, but since they are so aggressive I would suggest at least a 100 gal. Bigger is always better though (notice a theme )

Medium sized tangs (big fish)

Convict Tang: a good choice from the genus Acanthurus. Most Acanthurus tend to be pretty aggressive, but convicts not so much. They will get at least 9 inches, but are very active. Lots of room for these guys. Minimum 90 gal. though I don't think I'd do one in less than a 125 gal.

Blue Hippo Tang: pretty good choice as well. These guys get a solid 12 inches long and they grow fast (like all tangs). Most people say at least a 135 gal. for these guys, but I think anything less than 180 gal. is too small, bordering on inhumane.

Atlantic Blue Tang: more or less like a convict tang, though a bit more aggressive. Babies are yellow, adults are blue. That can be interesting. Give them plenty of space though. These guys will definitly do better in a 6' tank.

The three remaining in this class are rather similiar, and fairly difficult.

Powder Brown Tang: difficult to acclimate and susseptible to some diseases. Fairly aggressive as well. They need a 90 gal as a bare minimum, but really should have a 6' tank. This is a much harder species, and I don't recomend you look at it without quite a bit more experience. Yes, many due well for a long time....but many more die in a very short period of time.

Powder Blue Tang: essentially like a powder brown accept that they tend to be even more aggressive and more susseptible to ick. Again, lots of peope have these and they are healthy...but way more die than ever make it. These guys can be hard, and they're very aggressive. Not recommended to someone without lots of experience.

Achilles Tang: one of the most difficult species to care for. More than 90% of people CANNOT take care of this species. They simply don't have the resources. You should not consider this species. They need super clean, super oxygenated water moving in strong currents. Very few of these make the one year mark in captivity. Considering they should live several decades, that is absolutely dismal. If people had kittens constantly dying at 6 months old the law would get involved, with fish sadly no.

Large and very large tangs (huge fish for a tank)

Realistically, many of these species should not be kept in captivity, or only by people with HUGE tanks. Unfortunatly they are often placed in tiny systems (100 gal. for any of these is TINY!) and they waste away. This is really no different than putting a kitten in a shoe box and waiting for it to die. Please, only look at these species if you are planning a really large tank in excess of 180 gal.

Blonde Naso Tang: these guys get a solid 18 inches long, which is huge. They need a 180 gal. minimum, but I would not do one in less than a 220. If you were looking at a huge tank in the 300-500 gal. range this would be a great fish...if you were looking at something under 180 gal. this would be a terrible species to get. As for the species, they do tend to be attractive and fairly peaceful. Very nice species, but only for huge systems.

Sailfin Tang: these are usually split into two species Z. veliferum and Z. desdarjinii (although they are only one species and the later is just a variety of the former). Since they are the same species they behave and such essentially the same. These guys get to around 15 inches. If you wanted a big, big tank they are a nice choice as they are very pretty and not terribly aggressive. They are, however, for a 180 gal. or bigger. Given that they should be ok

Unicorn Tang: similar to the Naso (actually both are from the genus Naso) but larger. This guy needs at least a 240 gal to do well. If you were going to get like a 300-500 gal I'd say go for it, otherwise I'd skip this species. Very pretty and unaggressive making a nice species for those with huge tanks.

The last two should not be tangs you are considering as they require expert care and difficult conditions. They are, however, amongst my absolute favorite species so I understand why you would want them.

Sohal Tang: perhaps the most gorgeous surgeon fish there is. Despite their beauty this is probably the most demanding surgeon out there. They need huge tanks, they need very clean, very oxygenated water, and strong currents. These guys are probably the most aggressive surgeons as well. They get to 15 inches, so ceratainly aren't the biggest tangs (though they are huge, don't get me wrong) yet they will chase triggers, parrotfish, and even divers in their native habitat. These guys absolutly require at least a 180 gal. but in my opinion that is way to small. I've seen them in tanks in the size range of 300-500 gal and they were doing very well. Maybe something to shoot for in several years. One of those "This is the last and greatest tanks I will ever build" sort of things, but I can't recommend it to you now.

Clown Tang: essentially the same of everything for the clown tang. The sohal and clown are very similar in most respects. Basically the sohal fills a certain niche in the Red Sea and the clown fills that niche in the indo-pacific. The only major difference is that sohals usually come in in pretty good shape and can acclimate without too much trouble. It's just a matter of providing for the sohal. Clown tangs, however, usally come in really thin and near death. Not only are they very difficult to maintain, but are very difficult to acclimate as well. Given all this the clown may be currently the most difficult surgeon to keep and I can't recommend this species.

Well, hopefully that will give you some ideas about what you could do. Note, however, if you are planning to mix any species of the above the tank size MUST increase. A powder blue in a 90 might work, but a powder blue and a purple likely wouldn't. You'd probably want at least a 150. Anyway, hope this all makes sense and helps you refine your search. Just make sure to get plugging away with reading and reasearch.

This Info is from MCsaxmaster

and here is the link

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...fin+purple+blue

[adidas]

Thanks for the info!

I have a Blond naso tang and a unicorn. the unicorn is about 2" and the naso is 1-1/2". I LOVE these guys, they are very nice, at first the unicorn was chasing the naso a bit, but now they seem to hang out together.

I would like a 150g or bigger in the near future....so i'm not too woried right now.

adidas