Tang Police???

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sparky5785

New member
I've never had a tang before but I love them. I have a few questions about tangs. Is there any species of tang that can live its entire life in a 65gal(36"Lx18"Dx24"H)?? If not, is it common to purchase a small juvenile specimen have it for a year or two and then sell it once it starts to outgrow the tank it is in?? I've.heard tangs are more susceptible to ich due to a thiner mucus layer is it highly recommended every new tang purchased be put in quarantine?? With a 65gal tank should I just forget about having a tang until I can afford a bigger tank?? Thank you in advance.
 
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That is a really funny picture. I don't know exactly what the tang police is except I assume its people that like to make sure people aren't putting 9" tangs in nano tanks and the like. Still looking for some advice.on this.topic. trying to plan ahead and have a stocking list to follow.
 
Not endorsing the practice, but I had a healthy 3-4" yellow tang in a 24" cube. Never showed any sign of illness, never got the dreaded Ich, ate anything that tasted like food. Seemed to be happy enough to do laps around my rock mountain, and found itself a comfortable place to sleep every night. Certainly didn't seem to be living a miserable life by any standard...
 
I guess you can have little baby tangs in smaller tanks. I mean they are in small tanks in the fish stores for awhile. You will eventually need to upgrade or sell the tang off because they like to swim too much to be cooked up in a little tank. There are smaller types of tangs like the yellow tang and kole eye tang that might do fine for awhile in a smaller tank. It takes a few years for them to be fully grown up though. Definitely quarantine tangs or any other fish. I personally like hypo.
 
Not advised to keep a tang in the 65g all of it's life,but the first few years of most common tangs will be fine.
 
I had the same question before and was having a similar conversation with markitekt about it and was telling me that Zebrasoma are better to have beacuse they aren't going to act any different when they get bigger and start to out grow the tank
 
I definitely don't want to have a miserable tang just to say I have one. I like tangs I'd like to have a bigger tank but the budget won't allow for it at this point. I just want to know if there is a responsible way to keep a tang in my 65. Is there a certain size at which a tang should be moved from my 65 to a larger home? I really like the Kole tangs as well as some other bristletooth tangs and I love yellows so I guess that's a positive. I do have.to admit I have never quarantined a fish. I know its just a matter of time before that catches up with me so its something I'd like to start doing. I guess my first question on that note would be what size tank would he required for a QT? Are we talking like a 20L with a power filter and a regular florescent light Hood or is it more complicated than that??
 
20 long is an ideal size qt tank, or a 29 for added vertical height. But yea, basic needs like filtration and aeration is all the fish need, hiding places are nice additions, and a cheap hob skimmer is nice but not required (although the skimmer will double as aeration to oxygenate the water)
 
That seems feasible for me. Now would I quarantine and use copper or hyposalinity which I believe is low salinity like 1.019 or something like that.

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I don't know that either is necessary unless you have any fish that show signs of disease or parasites. Do you treat yourself for illness if your not sick?
 
Depends on the work day the tussin fixes everything lol not helping but i agree with fish just monitor and treat as needed
 
Hyposalinity meaning 1.009-1.010. You will need a refractometer to acurately measure that.
Some people like using copper instead, but I use my QT for both fish and coral, so I only use hypo on it.
Ich can hide in the gills, and won't show itself until fish is introduced in the display tank, so I usually like to hypo my fishes to make sure they are ich free with hypo. I've lost a whole tank once, introducing a healthy looking fish from another reefer, only to have it die with ich and take my other fishes with it.
 
Wow good to know. Back to the original topic, how big is too big? When would a tang be too big for my 65 gal? Are we talking 3"? 4"? 6"?
 
If it acts calm, it's a good home. As soon as it acts cramped or hyper, upgrade or rehome. There is no real size cutoff. :)
 
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