hardiest tang?

[JohnD]

BeerBaron - I think you would do well with a yellow tang. I had one for 5 years. The key is to feed losts of veggies - Nori, Seaweed Selects. I also fed mine blanched broccolli and blanched green bean on occassion.

Besides the great color, they are priced right. Try to find a good health fish to start.

I would like to try my hand at reviving a bleached-out yellow tang if I could get one for free. Who wants to pay full retail for a sick fish? Free, that is another story.

I almost forgot. Here is a link regarding tangs from about.com

http://saltaquarium.about.com/blprevpicktang.htm

 

[beerbaron]

no prob. mandarin, i find it very disturbing when someone whose hobby is so closly tied to the environment gives no respect to it.

thanks for the links guys, the about saltwater aq. site was very helpful, but it rated the yellow tang as less hardy than the kole tang. this is especially of interest to me because i would much rather have the kole for its looks(personal pref.) and for its diatom eating traits. i do, however take peoples personal experiences much more into value though, so my decision is not quite made yet.
thanx again
BB

 

[EmilyB]

It surprises me that the Kole is outvoted here. :?

Many issues with tangs are a result of nutrition. The Kole is a "scraping" tang, and needs lots of live rock. It will "suck" on nori with the other tangs. It will consume copious amounts of OSI spirulina flake, spirulina pellets are another favorite. My Kole has been here three years and is extremely hardy.

As with any tang, (and IMO) feeding/water quality/tank size is tantemount to success.

 

[reefland]

While the tank is running fine, you're right Kole Tangs are very hardy and great fish. My point was that when things go wrong, IE no power, or something else stressful happens. Koles can be one of the first fish to die.

We had this topic once before (imagine that?) and several people chimed in about Koles being the first fish they had die in power outages where nothing else in the tank had issues.

 

[beerbaron]

ok thanks for the replies. i am gonna go out and get a few books while i wait for my tank to calm down. then we will see.
thank you all
big help
BB

 

[karlas]

i personally like the yellow eyed kole myself. mines a hog at feeding time he gets the attitude MY FOOD and tries to catch it all. i have to use a turkey baster and feed him and the clowns on the right side of the tank and the less aggressive feeders on the right. they are very active and go non stop. mine eats most foods flake, pellet, brine, dried nori and even nibbles on frozen clam