"Tang police"?

[Ben485]

Is there a rule of thumb other than say a stores suggested min gal tank for a certain Tang? ie yellow Tang need at least a 100gal tank. I get the feeling this is a debated topic. Thanks.

Ben

[Cliving1]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1946079

[mcgyvr]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1946079

:thumbsup:

[Ben485]

Thanks! Very helpful post!:celeb1:

[marzvt]

Its a big problem with pet stores. I often see tangs that will grow huge in pet stores. The local pet store has a ton of Vlamingi Tangs right now that are all a couple inches now. almost no one can house those when they grow up.

[travis32]

I have a rare Black tang that I had to have the LFS house for me when I tore down my tank and sold my house. He was doing great. Started out about quarter sized, and grew to be 6-7 inches long at the LFS. I had have it baby sat there for over two years while I got my new tanks setup. It spent a lot of his time in a 75 gallon. Thankfully a lot of his juvenile life. When I put in my 340, the first thing he did was swim in small circles. Not expecting a lot of room. Now, after having been in there for just over 2 weeks. He constantly swims the full length of the tank. He swims fast and furious. It's 6ft by 3 ft wide and he'll swim up and down and doesn't stop. I've had tangs before, but this guy is an athletic tang. It's funny because I got a large rabbit fish with him (about 6-7" in size also) he's fat, and he tries to stick with the tang as much as possible but he gives up. He follows lazily behind the tang and then waits for him to come back then will swim with him, then let him get ahead and lap him. Heh. I wonder if my 340 is large enough for the black tang. He seems happy. Eats great, swims all over, pecks at rocks. I think he's happy, but, tangs are something that need special care. As with all our cool inhabitants, must research their needs.

[crawlerman]

I always wonder how many of the tiny blue hippo tangs get crammed in small aquariums. Every fish store seems to have a lot of them. I'd guess about 1 out of 20 go in an aquarium that is big enough. Especially if you consider 240g big enough.

[Nick_Northern]

A good general rule of thumb is to ignore whatever the store tells you and ask questions on here and other hobbyist forums, also read the sticky others have linked above.

Having said that LA's tank sizes seem pretty reasonable but most LFS give pretty poor advice.

They also follow their own terrible advice, a shop near me had a 2ft dussumieri tang in a 6ft tank for years and years, they have finally upgraded and put it in a 20k litre tank but still I felt sorry for it every time I saw it pacing back and forth for the last few years.

Sent from my HTC U11 life using Tapatalk

[nereefpat]

Is there a rule of thumb other than say a stores suggested min gal tank for a certain Tang? ie yellow Tang need at least a 100gal tank. I get the feeling this is a debated topic. Thanks.

Ben

Which ones are you interested in?

[Ben485]

I like most of them, but won't be able to get a tank big enough for most. I think 125 is probably going to be as big as I can get. So I was thinking a powder blue, a yellow, or purple. I had to sell my old 125 back in 2008 because I moved across the country. Gotta talk my better half into getting one that big again. She said I could have a 100 gallon, but what's another 25 gallons among friends!?!? Maybe I should try for the 220!!! ��������

[BigDave]

I like most of them, but won't be able to get a tank big enough for most. I think 125 is probably going to be as big as I can get. So I was thinking a powder blue, a yellow, or purple. I had to sell my old 125 back in 2008 because I moved across the country. Gotta talk my better half into getting one that big again. She said I could have a 100 gallon, but what's another 25 gallons among friends!?!? Maybe I should try for the 220!!! ��������

heh... my wife thought my 120 cube was a 250 for some reason. Not sure if I said something at some point that made her think that or what... needless to say, there's no way I could sneak a 200+ gallon tank into the house as a smaller 120 at this point :)

My 120 is also a cube. It sounds like most tangs need a lot of horizontal space to swim, so I don't bother trying to put any of them into my cube either. The description of a fish swimming in circles would definitely apply to my tank.

[pfan151]

I always wonder how many of the tiny blue hippo tangs get crammed in small aquariums. Every fish store seems to have a lot of them. I'd guess about 1 out of 20 go in an aquarium that is big enough. Especially if you consider 240g big enough.

Unfortunately, most are likely dead for other reasons before tank size becomes an issue big issue.