Frag Tank Tang

Pittsford_Pets · Jan 14, 2018

Hey everyone!

I’m looking into getting a frag tank. We have one at work, 33g long (48 x 12 x 13) and I’m wondering if I could get a tang for cleanup. I’m not sure if that’s big enough, and I know it’s just under a foot shorter than a 55g, a tank size lots of people recommend for a single tang.

What’re my best options, if any? I was thinking either a tomini or a Kole, but I don’t wanna do it if it’s too small a tank.

Maritimer · Jan 14, 2018

End-to-end swimming room is more important than up-and-down - but you might still be better off with a lawnmower blenny.

~Bruce

Pittsford_Pets · Jan 14, 2018

Maritimer said:
End-to-end swimming room is more important than up-and-down - but you might still be better off with a lawnmower blenny.

~Bruce

I don’t plan on having sand, would a tang be the best algae eater/cleaner upper when I feed the coral

Zack K · Jan 14, 2018

Pittsford_Pets said:
I don’t plan on having sand, would a tang be the best algae eater/cleaner upper when I feed the coral

I also recommend an algae blenny

-Zack

tdileo · Jan 14, 2018

It’s not a foot shorter than a 55G, they are both 4 feet long. Same thing as a 75G and 90g. All of which I consider unsuitable for tangs. IMO a 4 foot is just too small for any adult tang regardless of what species you have, once they hit the 6-7” mark you will probably notice aggression and restlessness. A group of snails will do just as good a job, if not better, than the tang would. And since it’s a frag tank you shouldn’t have issues with algae assuming you do water changes and have almost no fish. I wouldn’t put more than 1, maybe 2, in a 30G frag tank. The algae blenny would be great, and you can also consider acclimating some freshwater mollys over to saltwater as they will eat algae too.

Pittsford_Pets · Jan 14, 2018

tdileo said:
It’s not a foot shorter than a 55G, they are both 4 feet long. Same thing as a 75G and 90g. All of which I consider unsuitable for tangs. IMO a 4 foot is just too small for any adult tang regardless of what species you have, once they hit the 6-7” mark you will probably notice aggression and restlessness. A group of snails will do just as good a job, if not better, than the tang would. And since it’s a frag tank you shouldn’t have issues with algae assuming you do water changes and have almost no fish. I wouldn’t put more than 1, maybe 2, in a 30G frag tank. The algae blenny would be great, and you can also consider acclimating some freshwater mollys over to saltwater as they will eat algae too.

Ah, you misunderstood me. I meant it’s almost a foot shorter height wise, not length. That’s a good idea with mollies.

tdileo · Jan 14, 2018

Pittsford_Pets said:
Ah, you misunderstood me. I meant it’s almost a foot shorter height wise, not length. That’s a good idea with mollies.

Oh okay. Height is not an important factor with the majority of fish so that’s not a big deal. In fact one day I would love to own a tank with dimensions of 96x36x16”. Shallow reefs are one of my favorite tanks look wise, I think they’re amazing.

Pittsford_Pets · Jan 14, 2018

tdileo said:
Oh okay. Height is not an important factor with the majority of fish so that’s not a big deal. In fact one day I would love to own a tank with dimensions of 96x36x16”. Shallow reefs are one of my favorite tanks look wise, I think they’re amazing.

That’s a huge tank! Would be very hard to scape

tdileo · Jan 14, 2018

Pittsford_Pets said:
That’s a huge tank! Would be very hard to scape

Haha not at all, I think you could get some great caves and towers. Just a lot of rock!

Pittsford_Pets · Jan 14, 2018

tdileo said:
Haha not at all, I think you could get some great caves and towers. Just a lot of rock!

And here I am wondering if a 40g is too big hahaha

mort · Jan 15, 2018

For a frag tank you can't beat a six line for pest control. They are great with snails in smaller setups and shouldn't pose a problem with a decent sized algae blenny if you went that way. In a normal tank they aren't such a good choice.

Pittsford_Pets · Jan 15, 2018

mort said:
For a frag tank you can't beat a six line for pest control. They are great with snails in smaller setups and shouldn't pose a problem with a decent sized algae blenny if you went that way. In a normal tank they aren't such a good choice.

Would that be for cleaning frags? Are there any options that’re better than a sixline, too

mort · Jan 15, 2018

Pittsford_Pets said:
Would that be for cleaning frags? Are there any options that’re better than a sixline, too

Cleaning in the sense of removing pests such as nudibranch or flatworms, basically biological control. There are other options such as pink streaked wrasse, wetmorella or dragonets (which are harder to keep and feed) and these are all peaceful species that make great additions but six lines are common, hardy and work well when you are not planning other fish. If you had sand you could include something like halichoeres chrysus or a macropharyngodon sp which are great fish.
For cleaning a mix of snails, maybe a blenny or even an urchin depending on where you are going with the tank.

Pittsford_Pets · Jan 15, 2018

mort said:
Cleaning in the sense of removing pests such as nudibranch or flatworms, basically biological control. There are other options such as pink streaked wrasse, wetmorella or dragonets (which are harder to keep and feed) and these are all peaceful species that make great additions but six lines are common, hardy and work well when you are not planning other fish. If you had sand you could include something like halichoeres chrysus or a macropharyngodon sp which are great fish.
For cleaning a mix of snails, maybe a blenny or even an urchin depending on where you are going with the tank.

Sounds like a plan!