Can I keep a Blue Tang in a ten gallon

crazedreefer · Oct 25, 2019

Side note i have a 135g i have a yellow tang. Tomini tang blond Naso. Sailfin tang. And a foxface. And now a baby blue tang.

Some fish dont grow to FULL advertised sizes.. My sailfin and yellow tang came from a guy with a 350g tank and they are 3 years old and the sailfin while big is still only abput 8inches long.. far under the 1+ foot advertized.. yellow tang is only fist sized.

My naso ive had for 6 monthe and its only grown tops 3 inchs. Its probly 7 inches long if that.

Tank has tons of room... I think the 200+ gallon is a bit overexagurated tbh... personally i think any 6 foot tank is fine for most all tangs. You know the only diff from a 135g to a 220 is the 220 is 6 inches more front to back.. and 5 inches taller. Thats it. 6 inches isnt that much.. hell my middle finger is bout 4 inchs.. a finger more in heigjt and width isnt much in my eyes a 10 inch fish can turn easily in a 18 inch front to back tank.. and if you put the rocks properly more towards the middle then all the way back the fish can swim in the back and front full length

Thats just my 2 cents. Granted id live to get 220+ but sometimes it isnt practical.. and i wont not get tangs i want because someone thinks that 6 inchs will make a world of a difference. In the end its my money my house not yours. (Talking in general).

Some people in this hobby go overboard snd are overly sensative to tank sizes.. I remember i had a almost fist sized yellow tang with a horrible case of ich... The only tank i had available to treat it at the time was a 5.5g tank.. I did 1 montj in hypo in that tank and cured him of ich and now hes swiming happily in my 135g. But man i remember the nasty comments when i did that.. It worked i saved his life. I have a bigger qt tank now of course but at the time thats all i had

Zohar78 · Oct 27, 2019

Jesterrace said:
Not a problem. That's a big part of the reason why discussion on Tangs tends to get heated as folks who claim they are fine in smaller tanks aren't looking at the bigger picture when they get them as they only are looking at the existing size of the fish and not what it's growth potential is, the fact that they generally need horizontal swimming room in order to not feel cramped and the fact that they produce a stunning amount of waste.

that just is one of the bad side affects of people and pets in general. Lots of fish like that outgrow most people tanks and people dont know. You can go a couple national mart chains and buy an iridescent shark. at the same time, somebody caught a 26lb one out of the mississippi river.. with fish, it doesnt help when you have hit movies that drive peoples impulsiveness and wants to make very irrational decisions. I wonder if there is a correlation or study somewhere that shows after a hit movie or some type of event with a cute animal, the uptick in sales of said animal?

CuseCorals · Oct 27, 2019

Tangs need a 6ft space, if you cant provide that then youre not helping the fish

Jasc · Oct 7, 2023

Trebol said:
Hear me out So I’ve had my ten gallon reef tank setup for around 3 months and my mother bought a baby blue tang from the LFS because she wanted a dory. I don’t know much about blue tangs since I only had a pair of juvenile clownfish for less than a month but when I searhed it up it says they require a bigger tank. Right now she has plenty of hiding places and she eats quite well and likes to remain close to the circulation pump. I make sure all of my water parameters are at zero and ph at 8.2 every three days and I’m running a uv sterilizer and surface skimmer as well as over filtering the tank. Water is crystal clear and it has no signs of sickness. I want to know if I can keep the tang in the ten gallon tank for now with full intentions of putting her in a 90 gallon tank once she gains another inch or two on her and then upgrading to a bigger tank once she gets to around six inches. I will move her to a bigger tank I just need to save up to buy more live rock and live sand I have the tank already since I used to own discus two years ago until I moved back to Georgia. Sold the fish but kept the tank. I did try to return it but they had a 24 hour return policy and I went two days after. She has grown on me and I have fallen in love with it.

Sell IT. or upgrade