30 gallon okay for a small tang?

MIO · 05-25-2004, 03:05 AM

I just bought a small yellow tang aprox 2.5 inches long and wanted to know if it was okay in a 30 gallon long? It looks okay in there.

StellaMN · 05-25-2004, 05:30 AM

Tangs need a minimum of a 75 gallon tank. The tang may be small now, but it will grow and grow and will be unhappy in a 30. The stress may eventually kill it. I'd take it back to the LFS if you can't put it in a bigger home....

Sorry---

Jodi

tims · 05-25-2004, 07:18 AM

Yup a bit too small of a tank..
tangs are like shoes for kids...the kids out grow the shoes faster then you buy then.. same with the tang he will out grow the tank faster then you can buy a new one

but if you set up a 75 or 90 gallon and use you 30 as a sump!

WilyGuy · 05-25-2004, 07:52 AM

I would think a 30G would be a small home for a Yellow. I was talking with a Marine Biologist who happens to be a reefer and she indicated that the Yellow Tangs are one of the few that will grow proportionate to their home. They have a 1.25" Yellow in a 10 Gallon Nano. Perfectly healthy fish.

I realize this contradicts many who have posted on this before, but I am telling you what I heard and saw. Take it at face value. I am contemplating the same question for my 45G tank.

WG

tankgirl2 · 05-25-2004, 09:01 AM

I vote no.
I've got a 260G but it had a lot of LR in it. About 6 months ago, I decided to take a bunch of the LR out, so there would be more swimming room. The swimming behavior of the tangs changed - whereas before they swam around carefully and more slowly, after giving them more room, they starting swooping the length of the tank (6') then would stop and hover, then swoop around again. It was so amazing to see them playing and enjoying the swimming room. I realized these fish are like tuna or dolphins - they are naturally fast and active swimmers who enjoy and need the room to swim.

MIO · 05-25-2004, 01:09 PM

I also have a 60. Would it be okay in there? I just don't want to take it back because it is so bright and pretty.

tankgirl2 · 05-25-2004, 02:43 PM

Hi Mio,
I wish I could say yes, but I still don't think it's big enough. You know those pictures of laboratory animals in little wire cages? That's what it seems like to me to put a tang in a small tank.
Sorry.

OodleyBoodely · 05-25-2004, 06:48 PM

Quote:

I realized these fish are like tuna or dolphins - they are naturally fast and active swimmers who enjoy and need the room to swim.

Absolutely agree! You CAN stick a baby in a little cube for the rest of its life and it might survive...maybe. If it does you can be sure it will also be physically and mentally deformed within a very short time, cause they do grow fast.

OK, I also had to try a yellow tang in a smaller tank, as many reefers have. My sister had a serious calurapa explosion in her 40g so we thought we would try the tang and move it later when it outgrew the tank. Well, that 1.5" baby grew fast! Within 6 months it grew to a 3"dia. X 3/4" slab. But, growth rate aside, as Tankgirl indicated, these fish just plain need swimming room that they just can't get in a 3 or 4' long tank.

We recently moved the yellow tang out of my sisters 40 and put it in my 55. The differance in behavior was unmistakable! The tang went from being a nervous almost neurotic fish to a much calmer more serene moving fish. One foot of extra length really made a differance for this tang. My tank is still too small. I am planning to find a new home in the near future for 'Buttercup' since I can't put up a bigger tank like I had planned. Any DFW area reefers out there with a big tank that would like a very nice yellow tang?

MIO · 05-25-2004, 07:56 PM

maybe I can switch it out every couple of months with a small one after it grows with lfs. I mean 260 gal is nice but I can't afford that tank girl. I spend enough on a 60 and this 30.

StellaMN · 05-25-2004, 08:41 PM

Why continuously put a fish through the stress? I'd say return the tang to the LFS for something more suited to your size tank. I'd also suggest getting a book and/or spend some time on the internet (either here or elsewhere) researching your purchases beforehand.

Not flaming, just trying to look out for the welfare of the animals...

Jodi

tdwyatt · 05-25-2004, 11:22 PM

If the color issue is what is keeping you from returning the fish to a lfs, then think in terms of a slower, more content fish of a grazing nature like [/i]Siganus unimaculata, S. vulpinus[/i] or other Siganiid to consume algal materials. There are many good grazers in a small size range that will grow and not require the phyical space that the Zebrasoma spp do. Keeping the Siganiids are not only more practical, they are much more efficient at grazing a wider variety of algal materials, while not becoming belligerent to tank mates as the Tangs often do.

Just a suggestion. Tangs have the reputation as ick magnets because so many people keep them in too small a tank, lowering the fish's resistance through stress induction.

MIO · 05-25-2004, 11:29 PM

I understand, I have had a reef tank for 5 years now but just recently started cleaning my tank and need to learn. I use to get it serviced but now I really want to get into the hobby. I just found a wholesaler in the Los Angeles area. So if anyone wants wholesale fish let me know what you want and I will see how much it would cost. Then we could meet for the exchange or come by my home to pick it up. I am talking cheap, at least half of a LFS if not more.

MIO · 05-26-2004, 05:15 PM

Can enyone please list what would be good in my:

30 gallon:

60: gallon:

Thanks for the help!

tdwyatt · 05-26-2004, 05:30 PM

What roles have you filled in these tanks, and what roles do you see that are needed? Many times deciding on which fishes will be in a system will totally depend on what your ultimate goal for a system would be. If you're thinking of a reef-top biotope, then the fish you would choose would be different from a lagoonal setting, and that would be different from a fish only system of predators. If you want to keep a particular fish as the most important part of your system, then you can decide on which other fishes are compatible with that fish that will fulfill the roles of janitor, herbivore, show fluff, or pest eliminator. These roles for fish-only system would be totally different from the decisions you would make for a system dedicated to stony corals. It will all depend on what your ultimate goal for a system would be.

Where do YOU want to go???

MIO · 05-26-2004, 05:45 PM

I want just a nice mixture of reef and fish for the 30 and the 60. A little of both. I just want it to be well balanced fish, anemaname? and coral.