gift fish...tang

[joedelt]

hello all

well, i have a fish that was given to me and seeing as i dont know where it came from i cant take it back. SO... i have a small purple tang in a 46 bowfront. realizing that this may or more accuratly isnt the best thing. so for the time being im going to have to work with it.
apparently my mom asked and they told her 'this would be an excellent addition to the tank and wouldnt out grow it as tangs, particularly purple tangs dont go too far from the rocks' and sold it to her for $30 which i guess i wont complain about

so, i have to work w/ it untill i can get a bigger tank. any particular issues i should pay attention to? its about silver dollar sized, and i presume it will grow quickly?

my mom says she asked them to feed it and it ate flake at the store and has eaten flake in my tank already.


thanks for the input.
also, i know there is a lot of people who say they need a big tank, could you direct me to where info on this is.

thanks

/john

[KidLiveRock]

Cool fish I too bought one for 30$ but he was a bit larger and has lateral line diease I curently have him in a 75 gal/ and he will be in my 180 in about a week or two. They are great fish I would recomend feeding him alot of seaweed or nori *MAKE SURE NORI IS UNSEASONED* and if you want to feed him brine make sure you but vitamin additives such as zoecon or selcon in them and let it soak in over night, a good flake food is fine to as long as it contains good amounts of spinla. hope this helps SCOTT

[LgIslandreefers]

Feed it caulerpa or other macroalgae if you can get some. Purple tangs are grazers and devore seaweeds all day long in the wild. If you don't feed it enough, a sunken belly effect will occur. Being such a young one, your fish will need quite a bit of food to grow. Purple tangs are herbivorous, keep that in mind.You can temporarily feed it Nori seaweed (natural dried seaweed usually found in oriental stores)and boiled romaine lettuce until you get some live seaweed. I also feed mine SEAWEED SELECTS (Brown dried seaweeds)once in a while so I can give a break to the MACROALGAE.
Some hobbyists feed theirs frozen formula 1 & 2 and offer brine shrimps as a treat but mine won't accept those types of food.He/she is a picky one!
Good luck!

[joedelt]

well, i have calurpa growing in my refugeum, so that shouldnt be an issue.

am in going to be ok with the space thing and if not how long untill it becomes a signifigant issue?

thanks
/john

[Laura D]

Try and structure your rockwork so that it can have some swimming room. I really like bow fronts for tangs because the bow seems to encourage them to swim back and forth, it makes the tank seem bigger IMO. I had a juvie hippo in a 55g for about 6 months before I got my 155g bow. When I put him is there he seemed so much more happy, but he was doing OK in the 55. Haveing a tang is a great excuse to save up and get that big tank you always wanted.

Just keep and eye on your purple, I have seen tangs that were obviously unhappy in small tanks and you could really see it. They would "scramble" at the glass like they were trying to escape. I think your purple will be fine for a while, just keep your eyes open and eventually you will find a really great deal, someone taking down their setup or something, and it will be the perfect oportunity to upgrade.

Good luck.

[Agu]

I suggest naming the fish in honor of your mother, sending her pics regularly, and telling her you think of her everytime you look at this beautiful fish. Then a couple of months before your next birthday point out how much it's grown, and tell her how sad you'll be when you have to take it back to the LFS.;)

If she doesn't bite, you will have to get rid of it or upgrade in a year.

Agu