Powder Brown tang or GoldRim Tang

macsturm · 12-07-2006, 05:25 PM

I am trying to decide between these two tangs, I was just wondering if anyone has recommendation of one over the other.

I am leaning towards the the Powder Brown, but I read somewhere that the Goldrim is slightly easier to take care of even though both are great reef fish

thanks for the help

macsturm

***Rob*** · 12-07-2006, 08:01 PM

i have not had either of them, but my understand is the gold rim is easier as well..
i think Amphibious has experience with both of them, lets see what he has to say..

**Amphibious** · 12-08-2006, 07:44 AM

Aahh, Tangs. Man, I love Tangs. A few are easy, a few are difficult, a few are challanging and some are down right a pain the the butt. In my experience, the Gold Rim is a better choice than the Powder Brown in terms of survival and causing less trouble in your system. When found healthy they are both worthy of our attention. Finding them healthy is a challange. IMHO, quarantining them to build up their health and immune systems is a must. Tangs are high strung, they arrive highly stressed due to their new, strange surroundings and an unpleasant trip getting there. Tangs are known carriers of Ich under those conditions, even though it may not be evident to the naked eye. Trust me it's there! The last thing you want is to purposely infect your display system by not quarantining. If you go ahead without quarantining your risk is great.

Water parameters must be rock solid. Your tank husbandry must be done religiously and include regular water changes, testing regularly for the usual things. I notice you have a good sized mixed reef tank so, dosing Calc, Alk and Mag regularly is a must along with regular testing, too.

Once you get a troublesome Tang through the quarantine process and settled into your display, they can become a "show" fish. Success comes most often by following the rules. I've layed out the basics that I found, through experience, leads to success. I wish you success.

Hope this helps.

Dick

**JustDavidP** · 12-08-2006, 09:27 AM

I agree with Mr. H on everything in regards to his post... Yes, tangs are amazing. Yes, tangs are skittish & stressed during acclimation. Yes, both of those tangs are amazing and either would do well in your 125...

However, I personally believe that the "ich" parasites (Cryptocaryon and/or Oodinium) are already present in some/most of our systems and "show" when a fish, like a stressed tang, has a lowered resistance. Why??? My experience with my first tang....

I had a rock solid 75G system running for a year.. with clowns, banggai, a dottyback, wrasse etc.. the system was solid. I bought a Yellow Tang. I QT'd it for literally, a month, and it was fat, healthy, beautiful. I then introduced it to the 75G...and BANG.. it got ich. I removed him, treated the ich in a Hospital System.. got him all happy again and put him in the display...and BANG.. Ich. None of the other fish showed signs of the nasty lil' white hitch hiker parasites but the tang. Soooo... Treat him again, put him back in the display..and this time, no Ich.. but as the weeks went on, he got thin... very thin... and eventually perished. I found later that he had internal parasites. They, in fact, lowered its resistance and when put in the display where I'm SURE that the Cryptocaryon or Oodinium were present, was attacked. The other fish, healthy and not harboring worms internally, were able to ward off the ich.

Just my two cents

Dave

macsturm · 12-08-2006, 10:05 AM

Thank you for all your help, I will try my best to follow the rules

thank you

Mark

**JustDavidP** · 12-08-2006, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macsturm

I will try my best to follow the rules

Rules?

Mark, if we followed "rules" we'd not have a hobby. It wasn't too long ago that I was personally told that I could't keep salt water fish alive in my tanks, never mind corals.

Dave

**Seahorsedreams** · 12-08-2006, 03:56 PM

There is one rule... always know the location of a long spin urchin in a 20 gallon sump before you stick your hand in there to rearrange things. :-)

**JustDavidP** · 12-08-2006, 03:58 PM

*nodding* agreed

fat walrus · 12-12-2006, 01:54 AM

The Gold Rim Tang is easier to take care of because of its lower metabolism. Powder Browns are similiar to Powder Blues is the sense that they need huge territories and immense feeding grounds. The Gold Rim is more omnivorous and thus more individualised and is less dependent on grazing grounds as a Powder Brown.