Yellow tang in 30 gallon reef tank

[patrickstar]

I know what you guys are going to say, I've heard about the tang police, but hear me out before you get mad at me. I've been looking into buying a yellow tang for my 30 gal reef tank. I've heard people say you need a 55 gallon or a 75 gallon. On the contrary I've also heard people say that yellow tangs grow proportionally to their environment and that yellow tangs can successfully live in a smaller tank. If there is ANY way I can get this fish tell me what I need to do specially to raise it. Thank you for helping

[TheTodd]

No, you will not be able to get a fish to tell you what to do.

After seeing numerous debates on this site over this topic, it seems that the end result is that people frequently end up doing whatever they originally intended to do, which is usually against what the large majority of the people here suggest.

Can certain Tangs that should be in a six foot tank survive in a 30 gallon? Yes, some can and will. Is it healthy or appropriate to put a fish in a tank, where it is going to be stressed? IMO, no. Look at all the stories of "My Tang has Ich" followed by the fact that its in a small tank. Why do we never see those stories when Tangs are in larger tanks? That's not coincidence.

[Mr. D]

I would not put a tang of any size in a 30 unless it was a QT.

[patrickstar]

Has anyone attempted to do this?

[severum mama]

Sure, lots of people have attempted it. But a 30 gallon is not suitable for any species of tang throughout its lifespan. It would probably be fine as a baby, but fish grow. Being crowded in a tank that is too small leads to stress, and stress leads to disease. Unless you have plans to eventually upgrade to a larger tank, I would not recommend it.

[54seaweed]

minimum tank size

[Scottyhorse]

I agree, they need large tanks.

[patrickstar]

Originally Posted by severum mama

Sure, lots of people have attempted it. But a 30 gallon is not suitable for any species of tang throughout its lifespan. It would probably be fine as a baby, but fish grow. Being crowded in a tank that is too small leads to stress, and stress leads to disease. Unless you have plans to eventually upgrade to a larger tank, I would not recommend it.

Ok I might get a 75 gallon tank in about a year. And also I heard that the yellow tang is a fish that grows proportionately to their environment, but I may be wrong.

[mr_X]

I've never kept one in a small tank so I couldn't tell you if you could stunt it's growth by doing so, but why would you want to? If you were allowed to keep a tiger in your living room in a 8x8 cage for the rest of it's life, would you?

[TheTodd]

There are debates on the growing proportionate to the tank size. Some are adamant that this does not occur, but I've seen a 45g tank with a Blue Tang that was five years old and it was still fairly small. The same fish in a 300g would have been twice the size (I have seen that too). The small tank version looked bad, but it was in a healthy looking reef tank, so I'm guessing water parameters were not the problem.

IMO, a yellow or blue (or most other tangs) need a six foot tank. 75 would work for Koles or Tominis.

[Animal-Chin]

A tiger would be awesome!

[patrickstar]

If i would get a 75 gallon in a year could i get a yellow tang now and just put it in the 75 when i get it?

[fort384]

Why not just wait until you have the 75? Yellow tangs are available everywhere. It isn't as if you will miss out.

[Animal-Chin]

Now a tiger may be tough to find...

[patrickstar]

I'm also interesting in flame angels, could I get one of those?

[Mr. D]

Yes but it's risky with corals 50/50

[TheTodd]

A flame angel in a fish-only 75g would work. Reef would probably be okay depending on what you had, but its no guarantee that they would nit nip at some corals.

The Yellow Tang really should be in larger than a 75. Six foot long is good. There are some nice tangs that would work in a 75, but the list is fairly limited. People will argue and debate the six foot concept, but it just seems to work. You rarely see people with Tang problems when they are in the suggested tank size.

Check out sites like liveaquaria.com for tank size recommendations, fish computability, etc.