Krypt
Aquarium Advice FINatic
It's the holiday season, and as people get into the hobby or start looking to spend their christmas gift certificates, I've noticed an increase in threads on several forums about, "What size fish for my tank" stuff. They've been getting the usual responses, 6ft for tangs and large angels etc.
But all those threads got me thinking, why is that? I know it's supposed to be for optimal growth and to prevent stress and stunting, but in mathematical reality, it seems wrong. Hear me out for a second.
Say you have a 3 inch Blue Tang in a 72 inch tank. Now we all know that tangs are linear swimmers, they like swimming in straight lines in open water. Now say that the 72 in. tank is completely open, that Tang has a size to space ratio of 1:24, meaning that for every inch of the fish there is 24 inches of swimming room. But as the fish grows, that ratio becomes smaller and smaller. If that tang grows out to an adult size of say 10 in., then the ratio drops dramatically to approx 1:7. That's not alot of space for a swimmer that can whip through the water.
What I'm getting at here is, if 1:7 is acceptable for an 10 in. tang, why isn't it acceptable for a 3 in. tang? I know the most likely answer is stress/stunting, but if that were the case, then why wouldn't the bigger tang suffer from the same stress? Is it possible the 6ft tank rule is just being used to ensure the fish has the right space as an adult?
But all those threads got me thinking, why is that? I know it's supposed to be for optimal growth and to prevent stress and stunting, but in mathematical reality, it seems wrong. Hear me out for a second.
Say you have a 3 inch Blue Tang in a 72 inch tank. Now we all know that tangs are linear swimmers, they like swimming in straight lines in open water. Now say that the 72 in. tank is completely open, that Tang has a size to space ratio of 1:24, meaning that for every inch of the fish there is 24 inches of swimming room. But as the fish grows, that ratio becomes smaller and smaller. If that tang grows out to an adult size of say 10 in., then the ratio drops dramatically to approx 1:7. That's not alot of space for a swimmer that can whip through the water.
What I'm getting at here is, if 1:7 is acceptable for an 10 in. tang, why isn't it acceptable for a 3 in. tang? I know the most likely answer is stress/stunting, but if that were the case, then why wouldn't the bigger tang suffer from the same stress? Is it possible the 6ft tank rule is just being used to ensure the fish has the right space as an adult?