Fish selection and tank deminsions?

[Chris_sasser11]

When choosing fish? Does the demensions of a tank limit what fish you can keep even if the volumes are the same in two diff aquariums but one is wider or taller. An example of my questions is a 90 gallon aquarium 36x24x24 compared to a 48x22x22

 

[Cory]

Well to an extent yes. You wouldn' put a sting ray in a tank that's 4" wide by 20 foot long, because most stingrays are wider than 4".

 

[Big G]

That a great and often debated question. Consider the fish's swimming style. For example, some like to swim in long spurts like tangs. Some like to kinda "hover" around and don't swim very far like Firefish, Hawkfish, etc. Then there is the size question. In particular the length of the fish. Some tangs can get 12"-18" in length, and they like to swim in long spurts. So a long tank maybe best, especially when full grown. Because of that, many say a 48" tank is just too short and doesn't give a full grown tang enough room to swim freely. So the width and depth seem to matter a bit less than say the length for most popular fish in the hobby. Hope this helps a bit. Cheers!