Can I keep a Blue Tang in a ten gallon

[KrisReef]

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.

I think you are in a difficult spot with this tiny fish that needs your care, a mother who has unwittingly bought into your hobby/habit, and the significant peer pressure on here from staunch advocates for Hippos rights. The solution is beautifully simple:

Show your mom this thread and explain to her that "Dory's life is in danger!" The only viable moral solution is for her to purchase a massive custom upgrade with all the bells and whistles to allow this blue tang to live comfortably for it's entire life expectancy.

How much room is available at Mom's? Most of us don't get this kind of a clear pathway to the upgrade of our dreams, but you have been given a green light directly from Neptune, The King of the Ocean to set up an utterly rediculous reef tank at mom's expense.

What a wonderful opportunity for you and Dory. I look forward to following your new build thread.

Welcome to Reef2Reef! We have a lot of fun on here supporting each other in the hobby.


One of my all-time favorite fish was a baby hippo tang I had in a 50-gallon cube. It started out the size of a nickel and grew to about 4 inches in a very short time. I loved that fish, it was friendly and always busy swimming and the most fantastic blue coloration. I traded it back in as it was getting too large for my tank and I worked at a fish store where I could oversee the rehoming. I still miss that fish.

 

[TheMattReefer]

I made a similar move when I fist got into the hobby. Had a 29g biocube, ended up buying a quarterish size hippo tang and kept it in my 29 for about 4 months. When I first got it, I had to put a fine mesh over the slots on the back side of the overflow so it wouldn’t get stuck or go through. (It was that small) I never dealt with any white spot/ich on that fish the whole time it was in there. (With two clowns). About 4-5 months after getting it, I had my 90 set up and moved everything over into it. I dealt with some new tank stress/white spot that was worrying me. I changed the diet to a more diversified and complete diet including nori, and about 7 other varieties of food, and use a garlic concentration. I also upped my tank temp a couple degrees over a period of time, as well as reduced my salinity a small amount over time as well. In my case, it luckily went away, and I have a happy and healthy hippo, tomini, and yellow in my 90 right now. All I got as juveniles, and are still all between 3-4”. So it’s been about 10-11 months since I got my hippo, and staggered the others in once a month after moving to my 90. My hippo eats like an elephant, and the growth goes to show it. I’ll be setting up my 220 when I move in March, where I’ll finally feel like I have them in their right home. If you do it, definitely get your new tank together soon, and don’t expect it to be in the 90 long because it will probably become neurotic, aggressive, or die. It’s not easy, it’s probably not right, but it’s doable. At minimum, I’d look at a 120 long if you’re looking for something a little more long term, but even then it will grow out of the tank in a couple few years. Here is a pic of mine when I got it, versus now. Mind you, this is late January in the 29, and current day in a 90g.

 

[Ashish Patel]

No way.. Baby hippo tangs triple in size in the first year and you will stunt there growth in a 10 gallon..Personally I wouldnt consider anything under 120gallon.. Ideally they should be in 200+

 

[Trebol]

So I have set up a 150 tank a couple of days ago sorry I haven’t kept up but I agree with keeping it in a larger tank so I will be moving it as in two months and I refuse to to take it to my LFS because most of their fish already have ich and since their filtration system is connected my tang will end up getting it as well. Right now it is happy in my 10 gallon and is eating fine and I love watching her swim she is the size of a quarter right now but will grow fast with how much it eats. I plan on keeping this tang as long as possible. No signs of ich on any of my fish and I’ve had the tang for two weeks so far and I check tank parameters every three. I tend to wait two months to cycle a tank so I’ll be putting it in after that. It will stay in the 10 gallon for those two months however but I doubt it’ll grow to three inches within that time span.

 

[DJF]

Well played.

 

[Salty Lemon]

Christmas is coming...Ask Santa for a 200 gal set-up since you have been really well-behaved this year. I like the idea of finding someone on here to house it for you until you can get a large tank. These things happen, but your fish will grow fast.
EDIT: Oops...just saw that you have a 150. Sorry. I missed that.

 

[Reefermadness89]

Neit, drug.

 

[Jesterrace]

I have no experience with fish yet, so I'm just curious. Not trying to argue here, only trying to learn;

Is it really true that the required size of the tank isn't related to the size of the fish at all? I understand that it'll need 180g as an adult, but doesn't that requirement go down the smaller the fish is, at least to a point?

Are there other factors than chemical stability and space to swim in that I don't understand?

The size of the tank boils down to many factors such as max size of the fish, level of activity, temperament (ie peaceful, semi-aggressive, aggressive) as well as the bioload. Tangs are very dirty fish they eat a lot of green and poop most of it out. I had a 4 inch Yellow Tang that could fill an entire corner of my 90 gallon tank with it's poop 3-4x a day (Keep in mind a Blue Tang can reach 3x the size of my Yellow). I can't imagine even what a tiny Blue Hippo would do to a 10 gallon tank and that is putting aside it's desire to be an active swimmer in a big open space in addition to that. The point is that even a tiny tang could easily overwhelm the biofilter on a tank of that size by itself, let alone being in a tank with 2 other fish and it can be aggressive to boot. I would say that the tank you have is suitable for a Blue Tang for a month or two AT BEST.

 

[Jesterrace]

There is a difference with a fish in a small tank at a store and a fish in a small home aquarium. The stores separate tanks are all connected to one large system which makes it easier to keep everything stable. A fish in a 10 gallon home aquarium doesn't have that stability.

Agreed, both of my LFS have their tanks hooked up to a massive sump system so it's getting way more flow and filtration than a standard 10 gallon tank, and I have yet to see them have a tang of any size in a 10 gallon holding tank (usually even the small tangs are in 20-30 gallon partitions).

 

[Trebol]

I forgot to add that I always overfilter my tanks while making sure the current is to strong for my fish. In the ten gallon I am running a 50 aquaclear filter as well as a protein skimmer and a uv sterilizer 3 stage filter (forgot the name got of amazon and works just fine) and I also have a fluval canister filter with it as well I try to make sure my water quality is always in the best condition possible. And I also plan on housing just three fish in the 150 maybe I might get a goby later down the line but I don’t really want more fish.

 

[saltyhog]

I think you are in a difficult spot with this tiny fish that needs your care, a mother who has unwittingly bought into your hobby/habit, and the significant peer pressure on here from staunch advocates for Hippos rights. The solution is beautifully simple:

Show your mom this thread and explain to her that "Dory's life is in danger!" The only viable moral solution is for her to purchase a massive custom upgrade with all the bells and whistles to allow this blue tang to live comfortably for it's entire life expectancy.

How much room is available at Mom's? Most of us don't get this kind of a clear pathway to the upgrade of our dreams, but you have been given a green light directly from Neptune, The King of the Ocean to set up an utterly rediculous reef tank at mom's expense.

What a wonderful opportunity for you and Dory. I look forward to following your new build thread.

Welcome to Reef2Reef! We have a lot of fun on here supporting each other in the hobby.


One of my all-time favorite fish was a baby hippo tang I had in a 50-gallon cube. It started out the size of a nickel and grew to about 4 inches in a very short time. I loved that fish, it was friendly and always busy swimming and the most fantastic blue coloration. I traded it back in as it was getting too large for my tank and I worked at a fish store where I could oversee the rehoming. I still miss that fish.

Post of the day. Work it....work it.....

 

[Urtie]

The size of the tank boils down to many factors such as max size of the fish, level of activity, temperament (ie peaceful, semi-aggressive, aggressive) as well as the bioload. Tangs are very dirty fish they eat a lot of green and poop most of it out. I had a 4 inch Yellow Tang that could fill an entire corner of my 90 gallon tank with it's poop 3-4x a day (Keep in mind a Blue Tang can reach 3x the size of my Yellow). I can't imagine even what a tiny Blue Hippo would do to a 10 gallon tank and that is putting aside it's desire to be an active swimmer in a big open space in addition to that. The point is that even a tiny tang could easily overwhelm the biofilter on a tank of that size by itself, let alone being in a tank with 2 other fish and it can be aggressive to boot. I would say that the tank you have is suitable for a Blue Tang for a month or two AT BEST.

Thank you for the explanation! That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Just to clarify though; I'm not OP. I don't have a tang, or any fish for that matter, because my tank hasn't arrived yet.

I guess I should have clarified that in my post, since my question seems to have irritated some people, despite it not being my name at the top of the thread. Clearly an infected topic!

 

[Jesterrace]

Thank you for the explanation! That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Just to clarify though; I'm not OP. I don't have a tang, or any fish for that matter, because my tank hasn't arrived yet.

I guess I should have clarified that in my post, since my question seems to have irritated some people, despite it not being my name at the top of the thread. Clearly an infected topic!

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.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

So I have set up a 150 tank a couple of days ago sorry I haven’t kept up but I agree with keeping it in a larger tank so I will be moving it as in two months and I refuse to to take it to my LFS because most of their fish already have ich and since their filtration system is connected my tang will end up getting it as well. Right now it is happy in my 10 gallon and is eating fine and I love watching her swim she is the size of a quarter right now but will grow fast with how much it eats. I plan on keeping this tang as long as possible. No signs of ich on any of my fish and I’ve had the tang for two weeks so far and I check tank parameters every three. I tend to wait two months to cycle a tank so I’ll be putting it in after that. It will stay in the 10 gallon for those two months however but I doubt it’ll grow to three inches within that time span.

Too many times threads like this are people justifying their actions rather than actually seeking advice. Initially when I saw the title I was avoiding the content, just figured it is another person trying to torture a fish. I am happy to see your situation is different. It will be fine in a 10 gallon for two months and will be happy in the 150 gallon. Even after a cycle you want to watch ammonia in a newly setup tank when adding fish, as the bacterial load has to catch up with amount of waste being produced. I doubt it will be much of an issue, but just something to keep in mind.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Good . Now I won't be calling the Tang Police

 

[Katrina71]

I'm glad you care about the Tang enough to ask about ideal tank size. Excited to see the bigger tank too! Fish gifts are difficult once a family member falls in love with them...

 

[siggy]

I couldn't resist not posting this

Tang Police T-Shirt

Tee design by Zreefs for the hobby by a hobbyist. There is no doubt that Life is better with a reef aquarium (at least for fish addicts like us) This is the t-shirt for true aquarium hobbyists! Soft and lightweight, with the right amount of stretch. It's comfortable and flattering for both men...

aquariumreefers.com

 

[JohnThomas]

lol is this for real?

 

[WVNed]

I keep a whole bunch of anchovies in a little tiny can.

 

[Jvesche20]

I couldn't resist not posting this

Tang Police T-Shirt

Tee design by Zreefs for the hobby by a hobbyist. There is no doubt that Life is better with a reef aquarium (at least for fish addicts like us) This is the t-shirt for true aquarium hobbyists! Soft and lightweight, with the right amount of stretch. It's comfortable and flattering for both men...

aquariumreefers.com

This thing is actually hilarious