I got an aquarium from a guy not too long ago and with it he also sold me his fish. among them are a couple of yellow tangs. reading about them online it says the get up to about 8 inches. id say mine are about half that. i was just wonder if there could be a problem like they arent getting the right nutrition or something? or could the just be a couple of runts? thanks
Question about my fish
- Thread starter mjmuskin
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Coral Reef Keepers
Active Member
8 inches is about the max of an adult specimen. Saltwater fish grow rather slow so, it's not that they are unhealthy or anything probably just young. Now if they are thin and their colors are faded then you may have nutrition or parasite issues.
This might come up, so contrary to popular belief, tank size will not limit the size of a fish or stunt its growth. It can cause other issues though. Yellow tangs can get big, but that doesn't mean they will, and if they do it will take a long time. Think of it like if they made a care sheet for humans they'd say max size 8' 6" or something (can't remember the tallest person, sue me) but when reality the average size is much shorter. Same goes for fish. Odds are your fish just aren't that old, they can live for a long time and even a 4" tang can be that way for a while. If you keep nori in the tank frequently and feed often you'll help it grow faster though, they do take a lot of food.
Most likely, I've had a couple tangs for years being fed twice daily that didn't put on a ton of mass. They can live for several decades, it takes time.
Yes it is 
Fish live much longer than a lot of people know.
Fish live much longer than a lot of people know.
Coral Reef Keepers
Active Member
Yes they do! I have a clownfish that I have had for 9 years.
I have a picture of 19 year old clownfish somewhere shortly before it died. It looked very odd at that point. I'll try to find it.
