Brown Powder Tang

[Djannel]

Hi all,

I have a guy that is selling a Brown Powder Tang, medium sized at about 4 inches. Just wanted to know if there's anything special about this fish that I need to know, before committing to the buy.


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[cdness]

The fish needs lots of open room to swim. This group of tangs can be the most territorial of them all, especially if they are in a smaller tank. They do not get along well with fish of the same group or body shape and can pick on other tangs as well once established... With these tangs, they are better suited for a 6 foot long (or longer) tank to allow for the growth and swim room the fish will need.

Now anytime someone asks this I usually ask for tank size and current inhabitants to see about compatibility issues. Instead I figured I'll peek to see if you had a build or into thread and I found it! First off for being 6 months into the hobby your tank looks really good. It looks like you are following good practices, but I will recommend to slow down. One thing anyone that has been in the hobby for many years will tell you is nothing good comes fast in this hobby. In the images I counted two regal tangs, a yellow tang, two clowns, at least one wrasse, a goby, a pajama cardinal, two chromis, and possibly other fish I just cannot see. I would say you are at a high bioload for a 75 gallon tank, and really high for a 6 month old 75 gallon. My personal recommendation would be to hold off on adding additional fish, especially large fish, to the tank until you are ready for an upgrade. Just my $.02 so use it as you see fit.

 

[jedimasterben]

The fish needs lots of open room to swim. This group of tangs can be the most territorial of them all, especially if they are in a smaller tank. They do not get along well with fish of the same group or body shape and can pick on other tangs as well once established... With these tangs, they are better suited for a 6 foot long (or longer) tank to allow for the growth and swim room the fish will need.

Powder brown tangs (Acanthurus japonica) are very passive fish and should not be kept with more aggressive fish, especially other tangs. I would stay away if you already have two regals and a yellow, OP.

Now anytime someone asks this I usually ask for tank size and current inhabitants to see about compatibility issues. Instead I figured I'll peek to see if you had a build or into thread and I found it! First off for being 6 months into the hobby your tank looks really good. It looks like you are following good practices, but I will recommend to slow down. One thing anyone that has been in the hobby for many years will tell you is nothing good comes fast in this hobby. In the images I counted two regal tangs, a yellow tang, two clowns, at least one wrasse, a goby, a pajama cardinal, two chromis, and possibly other fish I just cannot see. I would say you are at a high bioload for a 75 gallon tank, and really high for a 6 month old 75 gallon. My personal recommendation would be to hold off on adding additional fish, especially large fish, to the tank until you are ready for an upgrade. Just my $.02 so use it as you see fit.

You'd hate to see my tank, then.

 

[Djannel]

Thanks for the informative heads up. I will hold back in buying any more livestock. Rushing this hobby is not what I have in mind so I will definitively wait.

If a chance to an upgrade arises, what size should I upgrade to, I was thinking that a 120 or 150 gallon should be enough?


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[Otter_rs]

If you are willing to consider a 150gl. for an upgrade, Please consider going wider to a 180 at least. Front to back width is very important in order to aqua scape properly. I don't like to aqua scape anything that isn't wider than 2 feet when speaking of aquariums 100gl or bigger. Otherwise, you just end up with a rock wall which is very unnatural in my opinion.


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[Djannel]

Thanks, I will definitively keep that in mind. Specially now with tax season around the corner.


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[ChristopherKriens]

I second the passivity of the powder brown. If you are mixing with other tangs I would highly recommend making sure that the powder brown is larger. I had a fussy little yellow tang with a larger powder brown a couple years ago and I'm convinced the only reason it worked was that the powder brown felt confident standing its ground because of its size advantage.

 

[Kano]

In my experience my PBT is passive unless it is a fish that wants to be the dominate fish of the tank. My PBT will not allow my scopas to stay out of the rockwork for large periods of time and he also bullied a small blue hippo tang. He has shown no aggression towards my orange lined tang or Tomini Tang. He didn't seem to mind my Kole tang but one or two of my other tangs did so he was saved into a different tank. This is in a 225 (6 x 2 x 30 inch). If Cdness is correct with the 75g I would not add more fish. My PBT "outgrew" my 4 foot 90g within a year and a half. He started running into rocks and acting strange. When I was finally able to upgrade to the 225g all behavior returned to normal. Please look into adult sizes of the Regal Tangs and your other fish and I'd recommend upgrading sooner than later if possible if you plan on keeping them long term. Experiences with tangs vary but in a 75g (which I also have) I can't picture putting a lot of tangs or large fish in it and having them be happy. Congrats on your success so far but it doesn't take much to have it crashing down. Sorry if it sounds negative but I'd rather have you keep on succeeding than to start having issues.

 

[ColaAddict]

The powder tangs and achilles are the most ich death prone tangs out there. If you have dormant ich in your tank or you get it all stressed, its pretty much dead from ich! Anyways, I own a Powder Brown and its my favorite tang. Its colors are amazing. I like my Powder brown better than my Achilles.

 

[Djannel]

I definitely agree with everything said above. Just need to convince the wife with going bigger.

Thanks for the tips guys.


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