Do tangs really need at least 180 or larger in most cases?

[Raul-7]

If you look at his reef; his fish are huge - from Anthias sp. to Tangs. They are much healthier than I've seen in any other aquarium. Even his Copperband is huge!

So aquarium size definitely plays a huge role; the fish in his aquarium actually have enough room to swim around. With most our aquariums, I bet it feels like how a dog would feel when it's crated, IMO.

 

[mdrobc13]

Got my YT and PT at the same time as juves and added together along with a sailfin. YT and PT got along well but smaller YT died (biota purchases both) and the sailfin also died. Added 2 Hippo tangs again small and they survived as well growing along with the YT and PT who were the OGs of the tank.

Now flash a year later my PT is definitely dominate and the largest fish and rules from his hiding place. YT is okay and hippo now x1 is also a good neighbor to all. Tried adding a PBT who died of ich..stress probably by PT (should have QT'd first) and a large Tenemi Tang who also did well but died of brook brought in by a clown fish. Have a white tail bristletooth in there now who PT initially harassed then now mostly leaves along. Tried an Achilles but he died of ich/velvet also. My tank is 260gal total combined so it size does make a difference...also would say order or introduction and size also.

 

[lakai]

You can put juvenille tangs in a 20 gal for maybe a year or two but you'll need a bigger tank after that. I have a sohal in a 55 gal for the last 5 years and is plenty happy but its by itself, I also have a 3 yr old sohal in my 240 along with a bunch of other tangs and it is much bigger while the older one stopped growing.

I had a 4 year old yellow belly hippo in my 240 that was the size of my thumbnail when I got it and it grew to 8" before it died while the other one has barely grown up to 4" in 3 years. The yellow Belly was king of the tank while the other hippo is pretty low on the pecking order.

Tangs will only grow up to a certain size then stop growing depending on the size of your tank , how much they can swim and feed and where it is at in the pecking order determines how big they can really get imo.

 

[MarsReefer]

Need is a loaded term that everyone in this thread defines differently so you get a different answer from everyone.

What does need mean?

Can a tang live for 5 years in a 20g tank? Probably.

Can a tang live for 10 years in a 20g tank? Maybe?

Are we defining “need” as stay alive? Reach a certain size? Reach a certain weight? Reach a certain lifespan?

Americans reach much higher weights than Europeans. Does that mean humans need to live in America?

Europeans have a much longer life expectancy than Americans. Does that mean humans need to live in Europe?

You can come up with whatever answer you want depending on how you define what need is.

 

[Bruttall]

8ft x 2ftx 2.5ft 300g; blonde naso 10", naso 6", Lt tang 7", sailfin 6", hippo 4", skopas 4", chocolate mimic 5", clown 3 1/2". They spend all day swimming in and out of my scape, grazing. 2 to 3 sheets nipnori a day.

 

[exnisstech]

I bet it feels like how a dog would feel when it's crated

Actually unless a person uses a crate for discipline (which should never be done) the crate becomes a safe haven for them. My boy sleeps in his crate with the door open. I removed his crate from our bedroom yesterday to make more room. Last night at bed time he just started pacing around the house. I brought his crate back in and he immediately went inside and lay down.
I know it's more information than you probably want but many people have the misconception that crating dogs is cruel while it's quite the opposite. Dogs need a place they can feel safe and the crate becomes that place. It's like their cave or den. Raise a dog without a safe place and many times they become nervous and at times even destructive. They need a place that is theirs and theirs alone, that is the crate. Never ever use it to discipline the dog because then the crate is no longer their safe haven and they really need that to feel secure just like fish need caves. Fish love to swim but they also need a place to feel safe just like dogs.

 

[RSNJReef]

Honestly in my opinion it depends on more factors than just tank size. It also depends on how many other fish are in the tank, what your rockscape is set up like, how you how feed, and how you export nutrients.

I have learnt for my feeding habits and maintenance, a zebrasoma tang and a bristle tooth tang are the perfect combination for me for algae control, and currently I have the following with no aggression, and are fat and healthy (note my measurements below are just the nose to end of the torso, it does t include the tail in the measurement)

55 gallon tank with a 4” tomini in a 55 gallon anemone tank (setup has been this way for 5 years)

90 Gallon quarter cylinder tank with a 5” purple tang and a “4 yellow eye Kole tang (running this way for 3 years)

40 gallon breeder with 3”yellow tang and 4” Kole tang (been setup for 2 years now)

40 gallon breeder with a 4” yellow yellow scopas tang and 4” kole tang (been set up for 3 years now)

I currently have all tanks above running currently. All the tanks have medium to high flow, with a very high flow period for 5 minutes 3 times a day (all my tanks are bare bottom so this high flow wave is to kick up all detritus in the tanks). The rockscape is also set up for a lot of space to swim through for the fish so a decent amount of area to explore.

I feed on the heavy side and do 10-20% water changes each week based on nitrate levels (I control my phosphate with lanthinum chloride, but will alway do a 1/4 of my target for 4 days and dose into my fleece rollers, never directly into the tank).

All fish are flat and show no aggression unless one of my damsels becomes a jerk and then the next day I will find the damsel with a nice scrape along his side and the tang looks the same as usual). Also over these years even with me feeding heavy the fish have grown slowly in size, and I do believe that the growth rate of the fish adjusts somewhat to the tank size. Polo reef is the perfect example of this where if you look at all of the YouTubers that visit his tank they say they have never seen some of the fish in his tank that size before, even the anthias.

This debate is as old as fishkeeping it feels like. The way I look at it is, it’s your tank, your hobby, for your enjoyment ( not the enjoyment of everyone online, that’s just a perk, not the goal). But, at the same time, your tank and everything in it is also your responsibility, you buy it, you’d better be ready to keep it healthy long term, even if that means you’ll need to move it to something bigger down the road.

 

[btackerman]

So I have a couple of working theories about this because I believe we say 180 gallon based off of the width of the tank. I have a 200 gallon tank but it is 5 ft long but 2.5 feet front to back. I have a hippo, sailfin, and a Kole tang with a zebra angelfish and all are thriving. That front to back depth allows them to swim in almost an oval shape rather than having a sharp turn at the end of their run. Also flow is a big part, I had a 6 ft tank in the past with a hippo at 18” , 2 ft vlamingi tang, powder blue and brown, purple, yellow, sailfin, chevron and Kole tang( granted it was 4ft front to back) with a school of 3 moorish idols but I realized that they started to gain a lot of fat so I reached out to someone at the Florida aquarium and was advised to change my maxspect gyre set up. Give the fish time for relaxing swim but they know when they will need to kick it into gear and work out. Also a balanced diet as well. Mine got a sushi roll lol. I took nori and loaded it with clam, brine shrimp vitamins, garlic, and fish eggs, rolled them into very tight but larger balls and I would put 3 in the tank every day with pellets supplemented each day for the work out as well. I did this for 5 years before I had a sulfur leak and killed my fish. I saw thriving fish and healthy, no lateral line, and peace in the tank. Now I will say I think 4 ft x 2 ft is good for zebromosa tangs 5ft x 2.5 you can add a hippo or a naso with that group larger than that it will need to be a minimum of 6ft x 3ft. I focus more on the front to back more than the length.

 

[SupraSaltyReefer]

I'll get a lot of criticism for this, but.........I have 12 tangs in my Elos 120XL, dimensions 48x30x20". 20 total fishes. Most of them have been together for 2+ years. Very little aggression. Usually only during feeding time. Everyone knows their peeking order. Daily I feed TDO pellets and 2 sheets of nori. Flow is pretty high with a Reefwave 45 and MP40.

List of my tang gang:

1. Zebra Tang 4"
2. Blueface Calico Tang 5.5"
3. Black Tang 5.5"
4. Black Tang 5.5"
5. Achilles Tang 5"
6. Gem Tang 5"
7. Wild Yellow Tang Big 5"
8. Biota Yellow Tang Small 3"
9. Purple Tang 5"
10. Blue Black Hippo Tang 6"
11. Yellow Eye Kole Tang 4"
12. Convict Tang 4"

Here's a video. I sold off 1 Black tang so only have 2 Black tangs now.

 

[Fish5672]

In my 125, my scopas and my convict use the entire length of the tank. The other fish do as well with the exception of my clowns they stay in their little corner of the tank

 

[Seanb1]

Fish don't have feelings, people do.
If you take into consideration all the thousands of fish that get purchased only to die during shipping, or after they arrive because they have some sort of illness they acquired in the holding tanks, I'd say if you are able to keep one alive in a decent size tank 120-180 everything is fine.
If anyone wants to cry about tangs they should be crying over the fact that they are collected at all.
I'd rather see a live healthy one in a 55 than dead in your tank from ich or dead in a shipping box.
There is no such thing as morals when keeping fish.
You took a fish out of its wonderful world and then have the guts to condemn someone for only having a 180 to keep it in, it's hilarious.
Everything in your tank has at some point been taken out of its environment and is in a virtual hellhole compared to the ocean, are you really going to draw the line at a tang ?

 

[RSNJReef]

Fish don't have feelings, people do.
If you take into consideration all the thousands of fish that get purchased only to die during shipping, or after they arrive because they have some sort of illness they acquired in the holding tanks, I'd say if you are able to keep one alive in a decent size tank 120-180 everything is fine.
If anyone wants to cry about tangs they should be crying over the fact that they are collected at all.
I'd rather see a live healthy one in a 55 than dead in your tank from ich or dead in a shipping box.
There is no such thing as morals when keeping fish.
You took a fish out of its wonderful world and then have the guts to condemn someone for only having a 180 to keep it in, it's hilarious.
Everything in your tank has at some point been taken out of its environment and is in a virtual hellhole compared to the ocean, are you really going to draw the line at a tang ?

While I disagree with the personality thing, I agree with everything else. People rag on tangs the most, maybe cause they are purchased more, but the same can be said for any large fish. I’ve not seen a lot of people ragging on groupers or large damsels in tanks.