Tang police please educate me.

[Salty_Box_Reef]

I see and hear a lot of people complaining about poeple putting tangs in too small of a tank, and realize they need room, but I was hopeful I could get some more specifics. Why is so much room needed? Is it water valume they need, or room to move, or something more scientific? Reason I ask is because stating something needs (blank) size tank doesnt make a lot of sense to me as that could still not be ideal for that fish if for example your running a whole lot of LR and the fish really has very little place to more around. Also in contrast, you could have a slightly under rated tank size for the fish, and a minimalistic aquascape that would allow for a lot more room.

 

[mainereefer]

tangs get large, have you ever seen a fat man in a little coat.......

Arrested by the Tang Police: I Refuse to Confess! | Coral Magazine

 

[robbrouse]

The hard part on this is you can ready several things and they will all say something different. I have read any where from 65 to 120 gallons for a Yellow tang. So it's hard to know who advice to take.

 

[mnat]

If you ever saw Tangs in the wild they are incredibly active swimmers and act the same way in a fish tank. That is why length of the tank is more important than the width. A six foot 150g vs a three foot 150g cube actually makes a big difference for tangs. The best setup for them is a round tank because then they can swim forever in theory.

 

[robbrouse]

Now a round tank would be cool is so many ways.

 

[cdness]

First off, Reef2Reef doesn't employ, encourage, support, or enforce anything called the Tang Police. All of them are on another site and can get mean, rude, obnoxious and downright mean and have no place at Reef2Reef...

On the other hand, members here at Reef2Reef will give you common sense answers to common sense questions whether that be about tangs, corals, chemicals, etc...

Tangs need lots of swimming room as they are very fast and active swimmers. There is an argument that none of our tanks are big enough, but I disagree there. Many are able to keep tangs very healthy in 75G tanks and larger. While many can show a picture of a healthy tang in a smaller tank, I always wonder how long it will take for it to outgrow that tank and if the owner is willing or able to upgrade when needed. This is why many recommend a general tank size for tangs as it is hard to gauge the owner and their dedication to the overall health and well being for the tang in their care.

Your questions is very general. Can you elaborate on what you are asking specifically? Asking why people complain about tangs and tank size is really too open ended. What is your plan for your tank and what tang are you looking at adding? By asking this question I am guessing you are looking to undersize the tank and are looking for someone to agree with you...

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

If you ever saw Tangs in the wild they are incredibly active swimmers and act the same way in a fish tank. That is why length of the tank is more important than the width. A six foot 150g vs a three foot 150g cube actually makes a big difference for tangs. The best setup for them is a round tank because then they can swim forever in theory.

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.... I would LOVE a round tank, but it's definitely not in my budget.

 

[Railcar79]

Round tanks suck. The optic effect of a curved water column is nauseating at the edges

 

[Connie]

I started out with a 90g and had a Sailfin and Scopas. I upgraded to a 180g just for them. 6'long and they are healthy and seam happy enough; but, honestly, they could still use ALOT more room.

 

[.AcroKiller.]

The tank rule is the same for any fish it does not matter how small or big they are our fish tank will never compare to the ocean. The way I see it is anything over a 100 gallons should be fine for a tang all the do in the wild is swim trough the reef picking at rocks so swimming around the tank picking at rocks should be ok for them the only thing I say is have and aqua scape that keeps your rock under the lower half of the tank so they have open room to swim on the top almost simulating the top of the reef In the wild. The problem with tangs on a small tank is that they get aggressive with other fish that's all I experience I have 4 tangs on a 185 and they are super healthy. White cheeks, hippo, sailfin and yellow.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Gallons is not a really good rule of thumb to go by. The Tangs need swim room, a round tank would be great, nice idea. But, what you need is back and forth swim room, not necessarily a tank with alot of water. If you could get a tank thats big enough for them to turn around, yet really long, thats what your going to need. So a tank size is kinda misleading, a 180g and a 125g are basically the same length, but the 180 is taller. Not many could argue that a fish recommended for a 180 couldn't fit in a 125g. Your idea of not putting alot of rock in the tank kinda doesn't work, they need a long tank, not a short one. So even if you did pull the rock out of a 48" tank, its still only 48" long.

 

[Deinonych]

If you ever saw Tangs in the wild they are incredibly active swimmers and act the same way in a fish tank. That is why length of the tank is more important than the width. A six foot 150g vs a three foot 150g cube actually makes a big difference for tangs. The best setup for them is a round tank because then they can swim forever in theory.

+1

Tangs in small tanks get stressed easily and will take out their aggression on the other aquarium inhabitants.

 

[turbo21]

and some people just dont realize how large tangs can get. you see that little bitty vlamingi tang in the store and dont realize the can get up to 20"

my vlamingi is closing in on 12" in my 220 and we are looking at going to a 500 gal tank just to keep him happy ( well that i can fit more coral in too :tongue

even live aquria recomends a 360 gal tank for a full gorwn adult but imo that is still too small

Vlamingii Tang

 

[.AcroKiller.]

Gallons is not a really good rule of thumb to go by. The Tangs need swim room, a round tank would be great, nice idea. But, what you need is back and forth swim room, not necessarily a tank with alot of water. If you could get a tank thats big enough for them to turn around, yet really long, thats what your going to need. So a tank size is kinda misleading, a 180g and a 125g are basically the same length, but the 180 is taller. Not many could argue that a fish recommended for a 180 couldn't fit in a 125g. Your idea of not putting alot of rock in the tank kinda doesn't work, they need a long tank, not a short one. So even if you did pull the rock out of a 48" tank, its still only 48" long.

By not having the rock above the top half of the tank notice my tangs swim more on top of the aquascape back and forth than when I had a lot of rock. When I had a lot of rock the could only swim on the front section of the tank. Personally I thing people on this hobby overdue rock on aquariums this is what an ideal aqua scape should look like on a reef tank not a rock wall

 

[shred5]

Tangs need swimming room.. With out it some will go kind of crazy and just pace or even hide all day, some will stop eating, some become aggressive to all other fish in too small of tank...
The big thing to me is what happens to some of the other fish. A tang will grow big and they move very fast scaring the other fish to hide all day. Lager or aggressive fish may be ok. It is not always about the tang being happy it is about the other fish.

The other issue is tangs get ich really easy and will continually get ich in smaller tanks because they are stressed out.
Just remember some large fish can be kept in a small tanks and some small fish need large tanks. Its about swimming room required..
Each type of tang is different too... Some are ok in 75 and others need 175's or larger...

 

[Reefing Madness]

Saltwater Aquarium Live Rock: Why aquariums need live rock?

 

[.AcroKiller.]

Saltwater Aquarium Live Rock: Why aquariums need live rock?

Old way of reefing lol. With all the filtration ways a lot of rock is not ended I have a 185 60x30x24 with 22 fish in it and 4 of them are tangs and I only have about 90 pounds of rock in it with no issues and I feed 2 cubes of frozen daily and NLS pellets 2 times a day only do water changes once every 3 month or so but for filtration i have a huge skimmer, algae scrubber and I run a 1000 ml of bio pellets with a 100 gallon stock tank sump. So yea it works

 

[blue.flyzz]

they will quickly outgrow small tanks and are very territorial, especially if you want to keep more than 1 type or two of a kind

 

[Raymondzmarshall]

First off, Reef2Reef doesn't employ, encourage, support, or enforce anything called the Tang Police. All of them are on another site and can get mean, rude, obnoxious and downright mean and have no place at Reef2Reef...

On the other hand, members here at Reef2Reef will give you common sense answers to common sense questions whether that be about tangs, corals, chemicals, etc...

Tangs need lots of swimming room as they are very fast and active swimmers. There is an argument that none of our tanks are big enough, but I disagree there. Many are able to keep tangs very healthy in 75G tanks and larger. While many can show a picture of a healthy tang in a smaller tank, I always wonder how long it will take for it to outgrow that tank and if the owner is willing or able to upgrade when needed. This is why many recommend a general tank size for tangs as it is hard to gauge the owner and their dedication to the overall health and well being for the tang in their care.

Your questions is very general. Can you elaborate on what you are asking specifically? Asking why people complain about tangs and tank size is really too open ended. What is your plan for your tank and what tang are you looking at adding? By asking this question I am guessing you are looking to undersize the tank and are looking for someone to agree with you...

That's cute
U obviously haven't read ever post in reef2reef
There's actually a lot rude people on here
And beyond critical
Straight smart xxxxx

There's a lot of help on reef2reef yes - a whole lot
But a lot real xxxxxx too

Why this is my first post in a while
No one has ever been rude to me
But I read almost everything and it dumb founds me

My son has autism and I hope he never runs in to the bullies I see in here
So non welcoming it's crazy

 

[StevenBell]

Bob Fenner said it best in his book; "Put a fat goldfish in a deep 2-liter beer stein and another in a shallow casserole dish of the same volume and see which does better.Ample surface area is very important."