Yellow Tang.

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Ethos

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I was having a slight dispute with a guy.....and.....well, he said that a yellow tang would quickly outgrow a 75G tank. I countinuesly gave him evidence of yellow tangs living in 50G tanks. He still refuses to belive me, and says yellow tangs should most deffinatly be housed in 125G or more.
I have read from 4 different sources that tangs prosper in 50G tanks.
Anybody have a say on this?
 
Well as i read this post i was gone straight to live aquaria.com
And it says 50gal, and for me and alot of others, thast is a very reliable sorce.
 
this is a source of much debate.
tangs can, and do, thrive in fairly small tanks.
i personally don't have any problem keeping a yellow in a 50g - as long as it is a standard rectangular shape.
the main issue is that tangs are open water fish, and naturally swim long distances, so many people think that it is cruel to keep them in such a small place - only being able to swim about 5 times their body length.
I feel that there is some truth to this, but that people anthropomorphisize (sp?) too much when considering fish welfare.
so ideally you should give them as much space as possible, but many do very well in relatively small tanks.

one additional point, when keeping these fish you should only have 1 or a group of 4-5 minimum - especially if it is in a smaller tank. 2 or 3 will usually end up as 1 very quickly.
 
If you keep a cat in a cardboard box for life it will still live but will it ever be happy?

What you must consider is the environment of the fish, where they come from and how they react in confinment. Tangs NEED space, 50 gallons just doesnt cut it. With the exception of perhaps a Kole/Yelloweye tang i would not even consider keeping them in under 100 gallons.

Yes its true that they are often kept in 50 gallons but i have seen yellow tangs grow up to 9" across and IMO that is far too small for a fish with this growing potential. Lets also consider the behaviour of tangs, they are extremly terriotorial and aggressive, once its established its territory then you wont be allowed to put another fish in there that remotely resembles its shape colour or dietary requirements.

In the wild, fish like Clowns, dwarf angels ect have relatively small territories, this can be measured realistically in terms of the size of our home aquariums and this is why many of this fish aclimatise so well as they wont travel much further than this in the wild anyway. Tangs are a different story alltogether. They have territories (well not territories really but more like grazing patches) that stretch for miles as they cruise above the reef looking for algae to eat. When these fish are confined to a water filled box their temperment changes and a naturally shoaling fish suddenly turns aggressive and will not tolerate close relatives near them, (not saying that more than 1 tang cant be kept in large tanks but its damned hard as i have discovered from experience).

I can see the attraction for tangs in smaller tanks, they are brightly coloured, active fish but sorry, i just cannot agree that a 50 gallon is going to make a fish like this happy. If you want a fish more suited to this size of tank then buy a dwarf angel, whatever colour you want to add in your tank from a tang can be matched with a dward angel...

Yellow tang/Lemonpeel angel/Heraldi Angel

Purple Tang/Coral Beauty

Chevron tang (Juvenile)/Potters angel

And so the list goes on.

Perhaps a Kole tang will thrive in 60-70 gallons as these grow smaller and in the wild they adopts small grazing patched much like Powder blues. (Dont even attempt a powder blue as they are evil SOBs and definately need more than 100 gallons)

If you choose to ignore this advice then of course this is your choice but i will wanr you now, life on any marine fish forum will be pure hell as experienced marine aquarists will have their say and its usually very direct :/

Places like live aquarium.com are just plain wrong and need to update their advice. Its ok to sell small tangs and yes they are fine in small tanks when they are small but 2 years down the line (usually much sooner) the fish will outgrow its tank.

Lastly...

Tangs are easily stressed, they are aggressive too which doesnt help the situation. An easily stressed fish like tangs are whitespot magnets. This means that your tang in a 50 gallon tank will be under continous stress \nd you will be fighting to keep whitespot at bay for years to come. These fish can potentually whipe out your entire tank of livestock and yet live themselves. I know this from experience.. i had a large stock of fish and in the last 12 weeks all i have left is a sohal tang, 2 emperor tangs and a potters angel. They stress induced disease they brought killed the following fish...

BLueface angel, Asfur angel, Comet, Poison fang blenny, Royal gramma, silty wrasse, 6 line wrasse, achilles tang, powder blue tang, powder brown tang, goldrim tang, 2x bluethroat triggers, Anthias and a few more that i cannot think of at the moemnt (sorry im rushed for work).

All this happened in a 260 US Gallon system and even in this size they fought among themselves to the point that stress weakened them to catching parasites. and then the disease wiped out the rest of the tank. I now have the fish in quarentine a\nd the main tank is half full with water so the corals can survive. The outcome now is that these tangs now live in copper to eliminate parasites, the main tank must remain fish free until the parasite is dead. September is the date my fish can return to the main system.. So if you are prepared for all this then feel free to ignore this advice, but if you value the views of people who have had 1st hand experience with these beautiful fish then you will either get a bigger tank or choose an alternative fish :/
 
If YOU DECIDE TO GET A TANG i WOULD ONLY GET ONE YELLOW TANGS ARE PROBALLY ONE OF THE MOST HARDIEST AND AGGRESSIVE ONES OUT THERE AND THEY ARE ABOUT THE ONLY ONES THAT CAN LIVE IN A 50 GALLON TANK. i DID HAVE A YELLOW TANG IN A 29 GALLON FOR ABOUT FIVE YEARS TILL i DECIDED T UPGRADE TO A BIGGER TANK HAD NO PROBLEMS WITH AGRESSION STRESS ANY DISEASES ARE ANYTHING WITH HIM. bUT LIVEAQUARIA IS A GOOD SITE TO LOOK AT THE GUY WHO CAME UP DID ALL THAT IS KEVIN KOHEN " Kevin Kohen, BS
As the Director of LiveAquaria.com with a Bachelor of Science degree from Wright State University, Kevin has extensive knowledge of and wide-ranging experience in the aquarium industry.

Professionally, Kevin has helped pioneer important research studies in water chemistry management, filtration technologies, fish diseases, and acclimation techniques to safeguard the health of a wide range of aquatic species. He also was influential in the research and development of specialized shipping techniques that are now used by most distributors and exporters in the nation to ensure the health of aquatic life during transit.

As a hobbyist/enthusiast, Kevin has bred and reared nearly 100 species of fresh and saltwater fish, and in 1981 was one of the earliest pioneers in maintaining live corals in captivity. He has received the Saltwater Aquarium of the Year and Reef Aquarium of the Year awards from the Greater Dayton Aquarium Society. With membership in both the American Cichlid Association (ACA) and Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA), Kevin has a special interest in SPS coral propagation, performing research on advanced filtration techniques, and writing articles to help fish and coral owners build successful aquariums."

pLUS I HAVE MET HIM AND i STAND BY ON WHAT HE SAYS.
 
Navarre - I do agree with most of what you say, particularly with regards to increased aggression and stress/disease susceptibility.

My main objection is your use of the word "happy".
That is applying a human characteristic to fish that is not appropriate and certainly subjective.

When you use more objective measurements, it is better IMO.
For example....
Feeding/Body Condition
Evidence of disease/stress
Behavioural Abnormalities - eg stereotypies/aggression etc.
and such like.
 
So what did we decided? Was this more of a "Yes, technicaly it could. But I would NEVER have one in a tank that small" or "No. It just grows too big" or "Yes. It would be fine."
Since this is mostly an opinion question....I'll just have to go with 50Gs is large enough. :dunno:
Its still doesn't help me win though.... :dunno:
 
You asked for opinions...

Mine is "no"

Others will say yes.. if you want a more thourough answer then ask the multitued of marine aquarists all over the world in larger foums such as Ultimate reef, Reef central and Reefpark, the majority will stand by my belief that 50 gallons is nowhere near large enough for a fish of this size. Reasearching an animal means that its placed in enviornents that are alien to it and then discover how it copes. Keeping a tang in 29 gallons is possible but as i have already mentioned, its also possible to keep a cat in a cardboard box for its entire life... is the cat going to be ok with this? draw your own conclusions.
 
Since you're talking about liveaquaria I assume you are refering to US gallons, in which case the equivilant UK volume is about 42 gallons. This is the same size as my tank and IMO it is far too small for a yellow tang to resonably replicate its natural behaviour. This is based on having seen how this species acts in both tanks around 60 uk gallons size and in much larger tanks (skittish, aggressive etc. in the former and graceful in the latter).

edit: spelling
 
I am looking at my 55 gal right now and don't feel I could put a yellow tang in it and feel comfortable. :thumbs:
 
Navarre said:
its also possible to keep a cat in a cardboard box for its entire life... is the cat going to be ok with this? draw your own conclusions.
if you close the box, is the cat still inside? - wait, this is not the philosophy forum.
(and yes, you could still hear it, and feel the weight, and smell it if it dies)


And back to the point....

"Yes, technicaly it could. But I would NEVER have one in a tank that small"

I think that really sums it up for me.


Edit, looking at my first post, this seems to contradict myself.
I don't have a big problem with other people keeping a tang in a 50g tank (and I mean UK gallons - i wish everyone would just use litres), but I personally wouldn't do it.
 
Theres mine in the 29 gallon

P1010044.jpg
 
Thats a very small tang. Its gonna grow 3 or 4 times that size. (most grow to about 9 inches across within 2 years)
 
My dad had a yellow Tang in a 35 gallon and he was perfectly fine. He was happy, he interacted with the other fish, he swam all over the place, he ate lots, he was a happy camper :)
 

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