What is the powder blue secret?

I've always wanted a Powder Blue Tang but everyone tells me how hard it is to successfully raise one for any long period of time. So I wanted to ask those of you who have done so to please give me the secret recipe!

Thanks!

 

lol I never heard of that secret. I would just treat it like any other tang which is giving it plenty of swimming space and the right nutrients.

 

the right fish
water quality
food
tank mates
swimming space
consisntency

 

QT the fish before putting it into your DT. Stability of parameters, and make sure there is no stray voltage in the tank. Lots of veggies!

 

Its frickin mean lol

 

Or you can always trade you soul to the devil for it lol

 

I had kept one successfully for a bit, I think it was about 6 months I forget. I decided to trade it back though as it got bigger and I felt bad for cramping it. I have a cube that is 70g and it was just too fast a swimmer.

I too was told by many and read much about how fragile they were. I have done well with a lot of other tough fish (potters angel, mandarin, leopard wrasse) & I am pretty ocd about my tank so I gave it a shot. It was a bit thin at first but once I got it eating it was bulletproof. I fed a mix of mysis/brine one day and than always had seaweed on a clip every other day. It fattened up quick and did great. But it did get very aggresive as it became "king".

My advice, pick a healthy specimen that is eating in the LFS, put it in a big tank, feed constantly initially, keep up with your water quality/maintenence, etc.

 

Many years ago when I bought mine I put it in quarantine (20g) for about 8 weeks and treated with hypo salinity for the first six weeks. Changed 50% of water every day and added some baked baking soda to maintain pH.
When I put him in the tank, I moved the rocks around somewhat so other fish had to re-establish territorial boundaries and put the fish in at night with lights out.
I don't even remember how many years I've had him now but probably in the neighbourhood of ten.
I had one before that but he was blind and I never realized it when I bought it.
I only had him about four years before he passed on. It was a chore to feed him as I had to use a battery filler bulb to put up against his mouth for him to eat.
While I hate to loose any fish, it was a relief not to have to keep on the daily feeding regime any longer. Fish sitter absolutely hated doing it when I went away.

 

No secret, they are just a big and very active fish, with a high metabolism. They need a very large tank and a LOT of food.

 

Ok. So what about keeping him in my 90 gal bowfront corner. Currently have a Kole Tang, Nigger Trigger and a Yellow tang which I plan on moving to my 55 gal LPS tank. I'm OCD about my tanks as well and do all of the above.