How do you keep a Naso tang for ten years?

[Mark Novack]

As the title asks, does anybody have the ten year plan for the Naso Elegans? A month, a year, perhaps two and they often die in seemingly perfect condition. But sometimes there is a winner that grows big and old. Is it the luck of the draw or is there a Naso touch?

 

[Timfish]

Tank size is a factor, you don't want to stunt the growth of a fish which can cause issues. Tank mates are a factor, often the fish we get are juveniles and as they become mature can become significantly more aggressive. A consitant maintenance schedule including water changes and redundancy for equipment failures are essential also. Feeding a quality food is obviously important also.


25+ year old Sailfin and 16+ Naso

 

[lion king]

Live macro algae, sargassum if you can get your hands on it, that's one of the main items in their natural diet.

 

[Smoke-Town]

Wow. 25 years. That's a helll of a milestone for any pet, let alone a salty one. Nice job. That's a gorgeous fish. I love the sailfins... I've never found the nasos to have an attractive shape... even less so as they get large... but most people I know for some reason all love the naso as their favorite. I vote sailfin

 

[Montiman]

I have never been a big fan of Naso tangs but I would never call them difficult. When I worked at an LFS doing installations there were many customers who had Nasos for many years. The only difficulty was the size. Some customers with large commercial tanks in restaurants would easily keep them that long but the tanks were 400 gallons or more. These customers just fed regular flakes pellets and frozen foods nothing special.

 

[exnisstech]

Not 10 years but 5 years next month. 6 ft tanks and feed frozen foods, mostly PE mysis along with ocean nutrition formula 1 and 2 pellets and nori a few times a week. I ussualy add a little selcon and Zoe to the nori. Not sure if it helps but it doesn't seem to hurt. Has been one of my favorite, except when I try to photograph corals she is a camera hog
Then

Now

 

[vetteguy53081]

As the title asks, does anybody have the ten year plan for the Naso Elegans? A month, a year, perhaps two and they often die in seemingly perfect condition. But sometimes there is a winner that grows big and old. Is it the luck of the draw or is there a Naso touch?

Water quality and management as well as diet is key. As many know , I have 20 tangs and some 6+ years old and they get a very varied diet, often 6-7 frozen items each evening and periods of dry food via auto feeder during day.

My Naso:

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Water quality and management as well as diet is key. As many know , I have 20 tangs and some 6+ years old and they get a very varied diet, often 6-7 frozen items each evening and periods of dry food via auto feeder during day.

My Naso:

Beautiful naso!!!!

 

[Mark Novack]

My tank is 6 foot 6 inches and 32 inches wide and standard depth. The feeding is often and varied. The water changes are weekly or more if it looks needed. Of about 60 corals, three have perished. The rest is growing, especially the SPS. Two clams are thriving. The Naso elegans thrived and died. I have 13 or 14 fish so I'm not rushing out now but I will try another elegans next year in early 2023. For the japonicus, I have started feeding spirulina flakes as my first morning feed and I give it several times per day. I'm wondering if the Naso did not eat too much meat and ignore the veggies. It did well until all the hairy (don't know if it was 'hair' algae) algae was eaten.

 

[Vladikus]

Wow