If you saw my other post I picked up a Purple Tang from Joe. Getting it home showed how much bigger it was than my Yellow Tang which I have for awhile. Joe said he had the PT for three years. So this got me thinking...
A little background info. In 2012 I was swapping out my 75g to a 120g, all inhabitants were in a 45g as I sold the 75g. Unfortunately, Sandy hit and I lost everything; on top of that wife and I were having problems and decided to divorce and all the non-sense that goes with it. Fast forward to 2015 and my son needed open heart surgery so another twist during all the chaos of house fixing and still the divorce. My son asked me to setup the 45g so he had something to occupy his time, so I did of course. In 2015 I picked up some fish and one was the Yellow Tang. So this fish is about 9 years old now. Its one of the first and obviously oldest fish in the tank. In early 2016 I upgraded to 72g bow front and later that year moved. eventually I setup a 90g corner which was a bust as I could not control flow or keep coral alive. The light fell off the wall during the night and into my tank. At this point I was considering getting out of the hobby. Jackie talked me into staying and getting another tank, hence the current 80g.
Now that the history is done I am trying to understand why the 9 year old Yellow Tang seems so small; about 4" but on-line search says up to 7" and up to 10" for the Purple Tang. Looking back I wonder if I stunted the growth as the yellow tang went from a 45g to a 72g, a 90g and then 80g. I am amazed the fish is still alive; search shows 5 to 10 years in captivity. Its fat, active and healthy. So I feel good about this but will be sad when its time does come. I wonder if feeding it more nori or spirulina if it would if have grown larger and live longer. I have started feeding more nori and spirulina enriched frozen food.
In 2023 I also lost a 6" melanarous wrasse and again search says 3 to 8 years so overall I am doing much better with care and compatible habitants.
In 2015 I picked up a Hippo Tang but it lived for 5 years. Not sure what happened as it was fat, active and healthy and then one day it was gone. I never found the carcass .
There is no point to this post other than I have come a long way when I started this hobby 20 years ago.
A little background info. In 2012 I was swapping out my 75g to a 120g, all inhabitants were in a 45g as I sold the 75g. Unfortunately, Sandy hit and I lost everything; on top of that wife and I were having problems and decided to divorce and all the non-sense that goes with it. Fast forward to 2015 and my son needed open heart surgery so another twist during all the chaos of house fixing and still the divorce. My son asked me to setup the 45g so he had something to occupy his time, so I did of course. In 2015 I picked up some fish and one was the Yellow Tang. So this fish is about 9 years old now. Its one of the first and obviously oldest fish in the tank. In early 2016 I upgraded to 72g bow front and later that year moved. eventually I setup a 90g corner which was a bust as I could not control flow or keep coral alive. The light fell off the wall during the night and into my tank. At this point I was considering getting out of the hobby. Jackie talked me into staying and getting another tank, hence the current 80g.
Now that the history is done I am trying to understand why the 9 year old Yellow Tang seems so small; about 4" but on-line search says up to 7" and up to 10" for the Purple Tang. Looking back I wonder if I stunted the growth as the yellow tang went from a 45g to a 72g, a 90g and then 80g. I am amazed the fish is still alive; search shows 5 to 10 years in captivity. Its fat, active and healthy. So I feel good about this but will be sad when its time does come. I wonder if feeding it more nori or spirulina if it would if have grown larger and live longer. I have started feeding more nori and spirulina enriched frozen food.
In 2023 I also lost a 6" melanarous wrasse and again search says 3 to 8 years so overall I am doing much better with care and compatible habitants.
In 2015 I picked up a Hippo Tang but it lived for 5 years. Not sure what happened as it was fat, active and healthy and then one day it was gone. I never found the carcass .
There is no point to this post other than I have come a long way when I started this hobby 20 years ago.
