Purple Tang Question

[mcarver]

I see these beautiful stripes on Purple Tangs out there, Yet my Purple Tang is solid colored body with dotted face. Is this something that comes out when they are adults? Or am I not feeding him well? I feed Bloodworms, Mysis, Plankton, and Nori daily.

Thanks for any help

[betamed]

I have had several purple tangs. The body lines/dots do not relate to health. My latest purple I picked out because he had those cool lines. My previous tang was older, but only had dots on his face. I had him for years and he always looked the same. Oddly, when I took a pic of him with a flash I could see lines on his body. But, it sounds like you are feeding him well. Maybe a little heavy on the meaty stuff. Enjoy the tang they are my fav

[AdamG]

the stripes on the tang that you see... are they white? Many tangs get stress bars from not being kept properly or stressed out. It in not healthy, but can look cool. just my 2 cents

[bucket brigade]

Purple Tangs are found in both the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea. There are variations between solid ones and striped ones between the two locations.....but I cant remember which comes from which location.

[leveldrummer]

can you show us a pic of the striped one? not sure if ive ever seen one, or might not know what your talking about. but its very interesting.

[mcarver]

Heres a pic of one with stripes. and second pic is my little fella

That answers my big question bucket brigade I didn't know there were more than one.

I really like my Purple, and Im glad he will stay deep velvet purple. He really brings atitude to the tank. He makes me want to stick my hands in there and pet him (if he wasn;t packin that nasty blade that is) lol

I feed the whole tank this mix of food betamed as i have several carnivores in there. I probably overfeed them as i feed the tank 3-4 frozen cubes of food a day. But they devower it before the fuge gets any and everything seems healthy and happy.

[VolitanFF]

I dont understand why the purple tang is so much more spendy then say a yellow or scopas? are they harder to keep alive? or just harder to find in the wild?

I guess I never noticed the stripes thing before.

[AdamG]

those pics are definitely not a stress bar.... I thought you were referring to a solid white stripe along the body. nice pics of the tang! look fine to me

[AdamG]

Originally Posted by VolitanFF

I dont understand why the purple tang is so much more spendy then say a yellow or scopas? are they harder to keep alive? or just harder to find in the wild?

I guess I never noticed the stripes thing before.

i second!

[mcarver]

Im not sure why any one fish is more than another, but i have to say.. my purple tang is well worth every cent i spent on him. He has become the kids favorite. The purple is probably one of the more agrssive tangs tho, but he lives with my yellow tang and they seem to be best of buds.. unless they both want the same thing at the same time lol.. then they do the tail dance.. scared me to death the first few times they went at it.. I thought they were goint to slice each other to bits. but they seem to be lightly sparing, because never has either one had a mark on them. but those knives they pack sure look sharp. I am glad they are friendly to me when my hands are in there. Ive been told they can do a lot of damage with those spurs.

[mcarver]

Thanks AdamG

[bucket brigade]

Originally Posted by VolitanFF

I dont understand why the purple tang is so much more spendy then say a yellow or scopas?

where i'm at a yellow tang is about $30 and a purple is about $80.

i asked several LFS owners the same question on pricing.... yellows come from Hawaii (domestic U.S. suppliers) and are more abundant (higher supply drives down the cost).

purples come mainly from the rea sea. the international distribution chain from that region is higher priced....and supply from that region cant keep up with worldwide demand as much as yellows.

[zoa_princess]

To help with the tangs color and to feed the rest of your tank at the same time, you could try taking frozen formula one, frozen formula two, mysis, cyclopeeze, nori and what ever else you typically use in a personal blender (they sell therse at Target,Wal-mart and other such stores for around$10.00 for a cheap model) and you blend for a few sec until formula one & two are broken up (they have a gel binder that holds them together). Then use a turkey baster or pipet to sqiurt the food into the tank. Every fish I have ever seen go crazy for this mix. My friend uses this at thier lfs to put color & health back into the arriving fish.

I know it sounds complicated but it really only takes a couple min and it works...try it for a week or two and lmk if it works as well for you as it does for us. (this mix also works for picky eaters if you add a couple drops of garlic bought from your lfs)

[JY13131]

How big of a tank do you need? He is puurrty!

[VolitanFF]

Originally Posted by JY13131

How big of a tank do you need? He is puurrty!

preferably a tank 6 feet long