Powder Blue Tang?

[timsedwards]

Hi Guys,
Well I came back from diving in the Maldives yesterday and after seeing absolutely hundreds of beautiful powder blue tangs, i want one
Problems with my QT at the mo so it wont be for a while, but will one of these babies be ok in my tank? Its roughly a 70g reef with just one clownfish at the moment (false percula). Are there any potential problems I should know about?
Many Thanks,
Tim.

 

[thomas712]

PB's - Very prone to ick, pristine water a must.
How are the diatioms? That was you wasn't it a few months back that had such a terrible problem with them?
Thomas

 

[timsedwards]

Hi Thomas,
Yes I had heard prone to Ick, i seem to have very good water conditions, Ammonia/Nitrate/Nitrite all zero, i guess Mag/Ca/Alk doesnt effect them so much?
Yes it was me about 4 months ago, they went about 3 months or so ago when I bought my RO/DI filter and used that water! Not a spot of unwanted algae since
Tim.

 

[terminus est]

Hate to burst your bubble but a 70g just isnt big enough for a powder blue. They need alot of swimming room. 100g is much closer to the bare minimum.

 

[irenicus]

You can have a small PB Tang, but they will get big in the future, so an upgrade would be necessary. Tangs need a lot of room to roam. PB's will swim a lot and dart all around.
If you do think about adding one, do it last, they are quite territorial.

 

[timsedwards]

hmmmm i thought my tank would just about be enough?
BTW i say about 70g because US gallons are different to UK gallons, and i always forget which is bigger!
I was never going to get a large one, just a cute small one. Would a regal/hippo tang be more appropriate?
Thanks,
Tim.

 

[terminus est]

Regals get even bigger and require a larger tank. 125g or so. I dont know the conversion into metric though, sorry. They also have the same health problems as the powder blues.

 

[cmquiroz]

I have a pbt in my tank which is a 72 g and he shares the tank with a snowflake eel and a huma trigger. We had an ich problem that took awhile to get ride of but he's fine now. But they are VERY territorial. We tried to add a pink tail trigger of about the same size and was unsuccessful. The PB was all over him so we had to return the pink tail to the lfs.
P.S. all our fish are small. The PB is about 5", the huma is about 3" and the eel is about 9". So I guess their ok for now, we've had them for about 3 months now and they haven't grown at all it seems. So I guess I'm ok for at least a year.

 

[dave flood]

I've had mine in a 75 for over a year,no problems he was the happiest fish in there. now he's in the 125, still real happy