Blue Tang

Our friend the wonderful Blue tang.....

The blue tang made famous from the movie "Finding Nemo" (Pixar) is a great fish to have in a saltwater reef or fish only tank. They have a great personality and in a large tank are awesome to watch as they glide through the water. I currently have one in my 3 foot reef tank however, I do believe they go through growth spurts and, one day will need to be relocated to another home due to his/her size.

The blue tang (Paracanthurus hepatus - part of the surgeon fish family) is know by many different names such as Hippo tang, Pacific Blue tang, Regal tang, Blue surgeon etc etc. They are easily distinguished from other tangs by the bright blue/purply colour on their bodies with a distinctive black pattern which runs from their eye to their tail. The tail of the Blue tang is a magnificent yellow bordered with a black outline and, it also has a sometimes hard to see spike on its caudal fin which it uses to defend itself.

When placed in a tank with other Surgeon fishes (i.e. sailfin tang etc) they can become Territorial until it has settled in. My blue tang for instance was under a bit of stress when first introduced into my reef tank battling with my Sailfin Tang; after a while this rivalry subsided.

I do believe they can grow quite large and, have a massive appetite so best to place in a tank of at least 300 Litres so that it has sufficient room to grow and swim.

They are very easy to keep once your tank is cycled and, mine will pretty much eat anything although a sensible option would be to put mix their diet by providing them with Nori seaweed, brine shrimps, plankton mix and maybe some flake food... better for them as they will benefit from the varied diet.

I would recommend a Blue Tang to anyone as they are awesome fish to watch swim around and, come with a lot of personality which make your aquarium that much more exciting to watch.

And, of course optiomal water condiotns are the key.....

Peace

fishy tales - a break from the serious stuff

Hammer Corals - Euphyllia ancora

Common name : Hammer coral, Anchor coral

Scientific name : Euphyllia ancora

The Hammer coral is a type of Large Polyp Stony coral and is a great beginners coral.

It has polyps with tentacles which extend from the body of the coral with hammer/anchor/t-shaped ends which are often a lighter colour than the rest of the polyp.

This coral is relatively hardy and can tolerate varied water conditions. It has varied lighting requirements i.e it is my opinion that if the coral itself is brighter in colour (bright green/orange etc) probably has a more aggressive lighting requirement compared to a more plain coloured or regular (browny/pink) Euphyllia.

It can be aggressive so give it a fair bit of room - at night the coral can send out sweeper tentacles which can sting other corals. Once it is full extended during the day it does tend to take up a large amount of space.

These corals don't like direct water flow but, more a gentle current to keep the polyps waving around.

Euphyllia can get all their food through their symbiotic zooxanthalae but, can be target fed.

Best placed midway to lower down in the tank and will do best in a reef system that has a good calcium level and, temperature between 22 - 27 degrees Celsius.

4 foot salt water crystal clear

BEFORE

AFTER

Woohoo as you can see the 4 foot has cleared itself right up - the photo quality isn't that great becuase, I was using my 3.2 megapixel mobile phone however, I think you can clearly see the difference in water quality. I haven't been around for over two weeks and, the algae on the glass was minimal the water chemistry was perfect and, all the fish were super hungry :>

What really amazed me was the size of all the corals after adding the chemical filteration (Biochem Zorb) - the cataphyllia was huge and, the same with the hammer/anchor coral. Now I believe what created the most problems in this tank was the particulate matter floating around in the water and, this was inhibiting the corals opening to the max. Now that the extra chemical filteration has been added the differences you can see are massive. You can also see the Kenya tree is recovering from where I hacked off a branch and, the Moorish Idol is healthy and, appears to be picking and, eating algae of the rocks ... pfffew ;...>

The unfortunate news is as this tank is being relocated shortly I don't believe there will be the addition on many more corals or fish.