Yellow Tang tank size?

[Alvarez]

I have read from a few places that yellow tangs require 45 gallons or more... I had thought they needed more than that. I will be starting a 55 gallon tank with live rock soon. Will I be able to stock a yellow tang? I think the blue tang gets too big, however it would be nice to have a yellow tang with the clowns.

 

[macman7010]

yes you are right yellow tangs need more than 45 gallons of water. A smaller sized juvenile yellow tang should be fine in your 55 gallon aquarium just be sure to offer it plenty of freeze dried seaweed.

 

[Reese]

I have one in a 10 gallon tank and he absolutely loves it. He's always banging off the walls and doing silly stuff like that. I'm thinking about getting him one of those Naso tang buddies to hand out with...

 

[fishfreek]

I have one in a 10 gallon tank and he absolutely loves it. He's always banging off the walls and doing silly stuff like that. I'm thinking about getting him one of those Naso tang buddies to hand out with...

Tangs given their need to swim need lots of room and I would say a 55 gal tank with it being so narrow front to back is the smallest tank I would put on in. A 75 gal tank or 90 would be much more suited for a single or pair of tangs as they have much more swimming room. If you get a small tang that does not get more than 4 or 5" in size you should be fine. A classic yellow tang will be ok in a 55 but the larger bodied tangs should not.

Now on to your comments Reese. If you indeed have a 10 gal tank with a tang please show me. In this topic you say you have a 29 gal. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=67761 Now you say its 10 gal. I belive it to be very important that you know the size of your aquarium. If its indeed a 29 gal than I can see how a small (baby) tang would be ok in it for a short period of time but you must be sincere in your plans to upgrade to a 90+ gal tank else keeping the tang in that size tank will surly be a death wish as it grows. Did you ever consider the reason it bangs against the glass is because its trying to swim and there is flat out no room.

The mere fact that you suggest that your going to get a naso tang tells me you know all and well what the requirements are for the naso and that a 10 gal tank is not even close. If you had no idea of the tank needs for a naso you would not have specified a naso specificly IMO. You might have simply said you was going to get a second tang. A 100 gal tank is even IMO small for a naso. IMO the minimum tank size for a large bodied tang like a naso would be a 120 gal.

 

[macman7010]

PLEASE!! Reese tell me you are just joking around about keeping a yellow tang in a 10 gallon tank. To do that is nothing, and I mean nothing short of animal cruelty and I am amazed that if, as you say, the tang is bouncing off the walls its not because it is happy its the natural signs of captive distress which is a condition that WILL kill a fish in time.

The mere suggestion of getting a Naso tang to put in with a Yellow in a ten gallon tank is INSANE. Naso tangs are very large and require an aquarium of over 100 gallons to thrive. If you are trying to make some kind of joke with that post I fear your humor will be lost here since most of the users on this forum respect and love the animals in their care and do not want to see them hurt or mistreated!!

 

[Reese]

So a naso tang is not good in that size tank? Okay, how about one of those blue Dory fish?

I was just kidding. But thank you for your replies...

 

[lando]

I have one in a 10 gallon tank and he absolutely loves it. He's always banging off the walls and doing silly stuff like that. I'm thinking about getting him one of those Naso tang buddies to hand out with...

I hope that was a typo, but something tells me it is not.

 

[travis simonson]

I'm guessing that Reese is joking. I sure hope so

 

[Choas]

I have my tang in my 55gal With Live rock. He seems to like it he stays to one side of the tank. And at night I know right where he is in the Cave laying in the sand.

 

[fishfreek]

So a naso tang is not good in that size tank? Okay, how about one of those blue Dory fish?

I was just kidding. But thank you for your replies...

You may have been kidding but Mr. Alvarez im sure was not when he was seeking legit advice.

 

[Reese]

So a naso tang is not good in that size tank? Okay, how about one of those blue Dory fish?

I was just kidding. But thank you for your replies...

You may have been kidding but Mr. Alvarez im sure was not when he was seeking legit advice.

I've been online since my first post and would not have left this thread without clearing up what I thought was the obvious. Mr. Alverez, judging by his initial post had a pretty good grasp of the tank size limitations for a yellow tang. In the future I will stick to lighthearted clever puns involving fish names and be sure to use multiple smiley faces to denote humor. I sorry...

 

[Hara]

The internet forums in general, are tricky beasts at best. It is rather hard to tell sometimes without the use of the emoticons, just what people have in mind when they say something. The danger we run across here, because we are an advice forum, is with the newbie that comes along and reads the post. Not knowing a tang from a scooter blennie, he takes what he reads as gospel. (Especially if he is looking for some way to justify buying a fish that is inappropriate for his tank.) Because of this, we tend to jump on statements, like the one you made, with both feet. Thanks for understanding, it is not our intent to drive you from the boards with our prompt responses either.

 

[Reese]

Good points.

I guess I thought that when I said, "He's always banging off the walls and doing silly stuff like that," it was a dead giveaway that I was kidding.

I guess I should have went with my initial idea: "Because my tank is small, I like to take my yellow tang out, put a leash on him and drag him around the kitchen floor to give him some exercise." J/K!

J/K = Just kidding.

 

[Brenden]

like to take my yellow tang out, put a leash on him

8O You take your fish out of the tank

 

[seaham358]

Reese now that one was a lot better....

Next time save the jokes till someone gives out some REAL advice.

 

[Reese]

You mean if an Aquarium Advice FINatic with 5 of those fish things below their name says something like:

yes you are right yellow tangs need more than 45 gallons of water. A smaller sized juvenile yellow tang should be fine in your 55 gallon aquarium just be sure to offer it plenty of freeze dried seaweed.

Then it will be okay to go ahead with the wacky stuff? Got it!

 

[Alvarez]

I knew that tangs got big, so I assumed Reese's post was a joke. The Dory fish joke kind of belittled but I'm a big boy I can take it. I had told my son already that if we start a 55 gallon saltwater tank then we are looking at Damsels, Clowns, and a few assorted others but Tangs are out.

He loves Tangs and was pretty bummed. If a tang is possible in a 55 gallon then I am sure he will be thrilled. So this is great news! You mentioned "small tangs" is there a certain name for them like a dwarf tang or something to ask a LFS for when I get the tank cycled and ready for adding fish and I am looking for a small tang?

 

[Fluff]

Like mentioned, the only tang to consider is the yellow tang. By small, I believe they mean young. To my knowledge, there isn't a dwarf type of tang and the yellow is the smallest. Getting a young one wouldn't be important to me since it's gonna grow up and still only have the same amount of swimming room either way. Just when aquascaping, be sure to leave plenty of swimming room. They never stop.

 

[Guest]

I also will chime in and say that a Yellow Tang would be fine in no smaller than a 55. I have one and it is happy far as I can tell..."can't speak tang"... It is about 4" right now... So far so good....

 

[Phyl]

My tang loves to swim through the rockwork so I have lots of open space through the rock. Also while a yellow tang is fairly hardy when it comes to tangs it is best to add them later in the process as they tend to get possessive of their space. I've never had problems with mine being agressive though (not even to the purple that we have in there).