41 gallon tank and tangs?

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Jenni8675309

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
65
Hi everyone,
I have been lurking for a couple of weeks & thought it was time for me to ask everyone my first question.
Let me start by saying I have a fresh water tank that we have had almost 4 years, it is running great. I have been wanting a salt water tank for sometime now & have been looking at the Fluval Osaka 155 ( Which is 41 gallons) I am a little limited on wall space & love the look of this tank! I was calling it my "dream tank"

After doing some research & talking with a couple of LFS, I have found that tangs like long tanks, like 55 gallon or larger. This kinda blows my thought on the 41 gallon Fluval, as it is more of a cube shape.

I was wondering, does anyone have a tang in a tank smaller than a 55 gallon? How it it doing?
I can go without the tang, but really like them.
Also, since being told that I need a 55 or larger, I have done some thinking & I do believe that I can make room for a 55 gallon tank, if I move our crested gecko set up to another area.

I am having a hard time making the decision & may be able to get a good deal on the 41 gallon.

Anyone have any thoughts?
I would appreciate any input you may have.

Thank You in advance
 
It is nice to see that you are doing your homework and not just jumping into things. I think most would agree that a 41 gallon is a bit small for a tang. Depending on the type of tang you want a 55 may even be to small. Good luck
 
A yellow tang or kole tang might be okay in a 55 gallon but most tangs need a 6 ft tank for swimming room. I'd say either go without the tangs or get a larger tank. If you can get a good deal on the 41 id go for that. There are a lot of other fish that can be kept in it. Are you planning on keeping any corals? or having a sump/skimmer?
 
I'd only consider a yellow eyed kole or a tomini tang in anything smaller than a 6' tank. The again, check out this list. I see a few of'm are rated for a 70g minimum. 55g is pushing it though.
Surgeonfish: Tang Fish, Yellow Tangs and other Surgeons

Almost forgot to welcome yu to AA Jenni. Notice I edited your thread title. Be more specific to get more readers for your thread and subsequently, more response.
 
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Thanks Everyone for the great advice!
kms907, Yes, I def. plan on a sump & doing ref with soft corals.
One question, I have done some research on tank sizes & 55, 60 & 75 all seem to be right around 48" long... so would I benifit a tang to go with a 72 gallon, since a 55 Gallon is the same length, it is the other dimensions that seem to be different?

I just looked into a Osaka 260 (70 gallon tank.. this would solve my issue with the tank & the way it looks... it is also about 48" so that is where my decision lies... I was hoping for a Yellow tang & a hippo tang.

any thoughts?
 
I have a yellow eyed kole tang in my 55 for a while now and it seems to be doing great, that being said he will be going into a 130 soon but not because I'm worried about his space, I just want a bigger tank :). To your other question I don't really think the width will make much difference to the tang so if they are all 48" long then you can still just get the 55. However I would recommend bigger so you have more room to play around with. 55s are sometimes hard to aquascape due to the short width. A 75 or bigger would allow a lot more room for coral etc. and will give you more room for mistakes :)
 
I have been some checking & it appears that the Atlantic blue tang requires 50 gallon min. :)
So that is an option if I go with a larger tank. I am really surprised & a little ticked off, that the guy (owner) at the LFS (which comes highly recommend) would have told me a hippo could be ok in a 55 gallon, also another worker told me the same thing.
:(
They do have a pretty small one there & I know it will grow, I would not want to give it away when it would outgrow the tank & would not want to stress the fish. I am so bummed... That was one my son & I had our hearts set on :(

If tangs are not going to work in a 55, 60, or 75 gallon, I might as well stick to the 41 gallon, it already has live rock, a clown & a couple of others with it.
So if I need 6'... What size tank in gallons would that be?
 
I am pretty sure you can go up to 180 in a 6' tank. They just go a little taller and deeper. I would go with the biggest possible tank that will fit your budget. When you go fish shopping you will be happy you did.
 
Yeah, I have No room for 125 tank... I could go 55 - 75... it would be tight, but I could make it work. I guess I may try to get the 41 gallon, if I can get a good deal on it. I know it will fit the limited wall space we have.
I can always upgrade if we move in the future and get something to house a couple of tangs.
I am going back to that store and find out why he told me that!
There are alot of beautiful saltwater fish out there to choose from ;)

I also need to double check on the atlantic blue tang min. Requirements.... I only checked one site & it said 50 gallon.
 
I can tell you why a LFS will tell you something, either they really want to make a sale, they just don't care or don't know and it sounds good at the moment. The best ammo against that is research. If they give you bad advice they hope you don't know it was bad advice and you will come in to buy meds for a sick fish. Come here and ask question, someone will have tried it or know someone that did or researched it to find out it won't work in their tank.

You might want to look up the scientific name of the tang I found this information Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Blue Caribbean Tang You are looking at a 9" max size for a fish so in addition to zoom room they need u-turn space. Two diseases I know tangs have is LLD and prone to ich.
 
In the case of tangs it less about volume really and more about swimming room, the reason they don't do well in 4' tanks is because they spent a lot of time swimming back and forth. If they don't have the recommended 6ft they feel cramped and begin to be stressed which brings on disease like Ich.

Of course volume is a factor because tangs get pretty big, but you get the picture
 
You guys are great :)

I am really considering making a offer on the 41 gallon Osaka 155.... It is already going & I can do without the tang... If I stay with saltwater & move after we build on our property, I can make room for a large tank then ;)

I know this is kind of a loaded question.... But how may small fish can I keep in the 41 gallon?
In fresh water the ratio is 1" of fish to 1 gallon.... Is there a good rule of thumb for saltwater? I have found various info on that.
I am talking one or two clowns, green damsel, goby, something along that line.

Appreciate the help guys :)
 
I am really surprised & a little ticked off, that the guy (owner) at the LFS (which comes highly recommend) would have told me a hippo could be ok in a 55 gallon, also another worker told me the same thing.

You have to understand that these people are in it for the money. They are trying to make a sale to stay in business. We are here to give advice and experience. I would trust most people here before I would most LFS. I would suggest the yellow eyed Kole tang.
 
There's no good rule of thumb for either, really. 1" per gallon in freshwater is mediocre as well. You just need to research each individual fish. If you're in doubt, ask us.
 
Yes, I do understand they are trying to make money, I guess the reason I was surprised to hear about the Tangs is, that they spent at least 2 hours talking to me... I told them what I was looking at (41 gallon) but may be able to go larger...(& that I was looking used)... They really don't deal with to many tanks anyways). We told them what fish we for sure wanted, to which they told me that certain ones were not reef safe, another one was not compatible with inverts.... etc... I got alot of really good advice from them about all kinds of equipment questions. Also, just about everything else I was told by them, I have also heard on this site & they both match... guess I am just bummed about the tang :(
Like for example...canister filters, he said no way... I have read that on this site & others. lots of other stuff like that & about all the other fish.

He also knew that I didn't even have a saltwater tank & I do have a freshwater tank... just thinking about starting the tank... I knew alot of the terms & we were able to talk well about things, because I half way knew what I wanted & what questions I needed to ask.

So I wonder why they would spend so much time with us & try to push a sale knowing that I may not even start a tank right away... he also stayed 35 min past close on a Sunday night, just to talk with us... I didn't even realize it was so far past close, they never even let on that we were keeping them late.. I really think he believes that a hippo tang would be OK in 4', however, I know now he is wrong... I guess everyone is entitled... I have certainly made plenty of mistakes ;)

Many thanks to all of you!! :)
 
The stock list you listed earlier sounds just fine to me, if anything you could certainly add more to it.

My only thing is the damsels, they're just mean fish. It only gets worse as they get bigger. I say skip the damsel and get something like a nice flasher wrasse or blenny of some kind
 
Thanks!
I have heard that the green damsels are not as bad as the blue & the yellow tails? Also, the 41 gallon I am looking at already has the damsel, so ... kinda stuck with him.
I also heard that the wrasse are kind of mean? I do like the blenny's :)

The tank also has a clown & a couple of crabs & cleaning snails.. I def. want more fish than that. So if I stay with those type / size fish... do you think I could have 10 - 12 fish / inverts in a 41 gallon?
 
From what I have been told 2 tangs in the same tank is a bad idea. Unless they are in a very large tank.
 
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