True or False: All tangs (surgeonfish) need at least a 6ft tank to thrive.

MT. Reefer

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I live in Montana on 30 acres with three pastures separated by trees and have had up to 4 horses who could run and eat grass till they got too fat and we had to trim them down. Every day on my way to work I drive by a house on 1 acre with 2 horses out in front. They look healthy and I can see they are fed and watered everyday. Are my horses happier and thriving more than the horses on one acre? Do they even know the difference if they are cared for properly? Should I go up to their front door and tell the owners they are not treating their animals right? I don't think SO!
I've had a large Golden Retriever also at this house. She could run and run all she wanted. In New York, people have full sized dogs in apartments and condos and have dog walkers and these dogs NEVER have a chance to run as fast as they can. Who's dog is happier and thriving better?
To tell you the truth, I'm fed up with TANG POLICE who judge other people based on the size of their tanks. And most of these TANG POLICE have huge tanks and they tell the rest of us poor slobs that we should not have tangs because our tanks are not worthy.
I have snorkeled all over the Caribbean and Hawaii and can tell you that any tank you stick a tang in is going to be confining. So sorry TANG POLICE. I really don't care what you think!
 

BestMomEver

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Had an 8’ tank... 500 gallons. I had five species of tang (powder blue, hippo, orange shoulder, yellow, naso). They did fine. I downsized to a 300 gallon and they were still happy and healthy, but I felt terrible. These guys were wild caught (this was 2002) and although by most standards, 500 gallons is more than adequate, it is not the ocean. I’ve seen huge schools of tangs swimming freely. It’s crazy amazing. And, unfortunately, there’s very little as hobbyist that we can do to replicate what nature provides.

My answer.... there’s not an aquarium anywhere that’s large enough for a group of tangs (or shark, ray, etc). They are open ocean fish and swim miles and miles every day. But we can try.... six feet minimum and only one or two.
 

stevieduk

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you do realise that when fish are in the wild they are severely stressed and risk being eaten at every turn. when a fish is in a tank and knows its safe in the tank the stress level is less. so although i like seeing fish in the sea, the poor little buggers are frightened to death all the time. Unless you are a great white. BEWARE THE BOBIT WORM
 

vetteguy53081

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It depends on species. Sohal, barienne and similar - most definitely not. I have a very happy yellow tank in my 93 cube whereas iHave larger such as naso, etc in my current 360g being transferred to my new 660g and hope they get no larger than they already are


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I live in Montana on 30 acres with three pastures separated by trees and have had up to 4 horses who could run and eat grass till they got too fat and we had to trim them down. Every day on my way to work I drive by a house on 1 acre with 2 horses out in front. They look healthy and I can see they are fed and watered everyday. Are my horses happier and thriving more than the horses on one acre? Do they even know the difference if they are cared for properly? Should I go up to their front door and tell the owners they are not treating their animals right? I don't think SO!
I've had a large Golden Retriever also at this house. She could run and run all she wanted. In New York, people have full sized dogs in apartments and condos and have dog walkers and these dogs NEVER have a chance to run as fast as they can. Who's dog is happier and thriving better?
To tell you the truth, I'm fed up with TANG POLICE who judge other people based on the size of their tanks. And most of these TANG POLICE have huge tanks and they tell the rest of us poor slobs that we should not have tangs because our tanks are not worthy.
I have snorkeled all over the Caribbean and Hawaii and can tell you that any tank you stick a tang in is going to be confining. So sorry TANG POLICE. I really don't care what you think!

Interesting reply. Do you own a tank, and tang, and if so housed in what? Just wondering - not to argue.

I don't think most people blindly comment on what people stock other than if they ask about it first or post later with an issue. At least on this forum. Some have really good bed side manors, others, maybe not. Keep in mind that this was asked as a question so you will get a lot of different replies. Just like I provided with my answer no. Similar to my belief with other animals. Dogs - since you mentioned, usually know and show signs of aggression. I have a GSD and it has very high drive. It needs to be walked daily. It needs to be worked. Even though it is trained I will put it on lead in the house and go through a series of routines just because of her drive. Sit, heel, stay, down, etc. Then we go through play time. Then she is calm. She would go bat **** crazy otherwise and tear up the house. Excellent trained dog, needs to be worked though. Great Dane - you need to run it. Whippet, etc. You get the point but then again you know this because of how you said you treat your animals.

My point is you are more than likely different in how you treat animals be it fish or horse. I agree we shouldn't go to our neighbors and say you are doing this wrong or whatever. But to your point about anything we keep in aquariums, well, you are again correct. It will be confining. Where I think we may disagree a little is that it doesn't give one a pass to put a elephant in a 10x10 room. The hobbyist should try and at least provide a proper environment for it to thrive.

I think the gray area here by some is how do we measure success and that is a lot like trying to measure a planet. Longevity, looks, spawning if pairs, etc. Can be hard because we don't know the age upon our purchase but again I guess this is just rambling now :D
 

Thaxxx

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My tomini is extremely content in my 40"x26"x21" tank, with minimal rock and tons of swimming room.
I saw a homeless guy the other day living in his car. He looked very content. Was eating and still accepting money from others. Don't bust my chops. Just having some fun.
 

Skynyrd Fish

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Fish grow to the size of their tank. I have had numerous tangs at one time and I start them off small. They hit a certain size and stop. This is what I have seen over and over the last 27 years. My fish usually last nine or ten years. I am qt’ing three small tangs now, and will add them to the 125. I do find it interesting to go through the beginning of this thread and see the members names who we don’t see posting any more. Makes me wonder what happened to them and their tanks.
 

vetteguy53081

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Get a small tang and trade it in for a new small tang when it starts to get to large for the smaller tank.

Not sure by you, but due to disease prevention, etc, many stores will not, at least by me accept trade-ins
 

MnFish1

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totally agree. and by saying they need larger than a 4' tank doesn't make it true either.
Right. - I have no clue. I just don't see the logic of the people saying 8 or 6 feet is 'ok' - but 4 is not.
 

4FordFamily

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Mostly true. Zebrasoma can be happy for a few years in 4-5 feet and some bristlooth tangs can live their life in a 4 foot tank, IMO.
 

MnFish1

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I say define "thrive"

In the wild.... tangs swim on avg 10+ miles a day up n down the coastline. Tangs swim 10 miles a day bc they dart and swim lightning fast. Speeds that can not be feasible in a glass box.

52,800 ft in 10 miles ÷4 foot tank = 13,200 times swimming back and forth in a 4ft tank to get to 10 miles....roughly 9 lengths of the tank per min over a 24hr period. Wow

8,800 times swimming back and forth in a 6ft tank...6 tank lengths per min

Sorta like us running a 5k in our empty garage space isn't it?...

Some tangs do (apparently travel great distances). The question in the poll was (with all due respect) All tangs. It was interesting - I had heard this before - and wondered - why (when I have owned them) - they don't seem to have a problem. Based on your logic no one should have a tang at all - yet many keep them successfully? In the wild, lots of fish do different things. Do you think the new tank raised blue tangs will have a problem being in a tank? Perhaps. IDK. But the article that was posted earlier (which actually was kind of interesting - I never knew about this 'tang police' thing) - suggests that the reasons tangs in the wild travel is to find food - not for 'fun'. And that if adequately fed in a tank they do fine. Again - I'm no expert just trying to learn.

BTW - Do you think flow plays a role in a tank (I happen to be a big believer in high flow).
 

MnFish1

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Or in my spare bedroom, on a treadmill... lol
But yes, you do make a good point. However, how much of that is choice, and how much of that is swimming searching for food? For me, having seen full grown tangs, no way I'd add almost any of them to my 3 ft 65. Active fish need space. I would say its impossible to just give a length, it really needs all dimensions, LxWxH. A super long tank that is either very thin or very shallow won't do much for the fish either.
I think this is the key point. I would not take a wild 12 inch tang and put into a 55 gallon tank. If I had a quarter sized tang that grew to x inches - and was doing well. I would keep him/her there. I have never seen (except in a public aquarium) or the ocean a fully grown tang. When I have seen them snorkeling - they were not traveling 10 miles/day - they were in a school surrounding certain coral areas - each school next to its chosen spot. When someone got too close - 50 tangs would dive to their 'spot' the same one each time.
 

MnFish1

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Of course, but since the (7 year old :D) title of the thread was about tank size, I chose to focus on that.



I'm flattered that you put my comment in the same sentence as logic. It was mostly intended tongue in cheek; though I do largely view my 8' 450 as both too short and too small since you asked :). That's why I have a 1.600 gallon tank thread (though that's probably too small also). While I might view putting a 6" fish in a 36" cube (as example) as cruel, perhaps the fish would view regular meals and the absence of anything trying to eat it as an acceptable tradeoff.
Curious though - besides 'conventional wisdom' why do you think what you think. Again - I'm not really trying to debate - I want to know your rationale. Part of it is on some of these topics, people dont take the 'reasoning' of the other person into account. It just becomes I do it this way - so it must be right. But the next person says I do it differently so it must be right. The article posted did a fairly good job of suggesting that this tank size thing might be overblown for tangs. Im curious as to your thoughts.
 

MnFish1

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I just ate a bacon cheeseburger and I am not dead, so how is a bacon cheeseburger not healthy? Exactly.

This is actually interesting. Define 'healthy'. Like someone else asked to define 'thrive'. If that cheeseburger made you happy - was it healthy or unhealthy? If you came out and said 'no tank is big enough for tangs' I could accept that. But the idea that somehow its 'proven' that a 4 foot tank is too small and a 6 foot tank might be ok and an 8 or 12 or whatever tank has no basis in fact (IMO)
 

MnFish1

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You know what would solve this debate? We need to set up a diving excursion, bring along one or two marine biologist, and go on a tang tagging expedition :)

Then we can collect the data and make some beautiful coastal maps that show just how far various tangs swim in a given day. Also see if they have any patterns, same sleeping quarters, etc. Being that I'm an active scuba diver, can use a break / vacation, long over due on a vacation, and also a data hoarder I think this checks multiple boxes hobby wise that I can justify the cost.

Who is with me? :D
then we can do it for angelfish, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.
 

MnFish1

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I think your analogy works because people claim, well I have X and it is just fine without saying I have 3 tangs in my 55g that have lived together for 3 years and they're fine. For all we know he may have 3 2" tangs in a 55g for a month and all is good. Tangs can live like 40+ years. Yellow tangs can get pretty big. Even when I see a Naso tang or even worse, a vlamingi tang in a 180, I often wonder how long before it goes crazy. I've dove in Hawaii and seen Achilles tangs, Naso and unicorn tangs, and I have to say, they get HUGE! like beyond 12". Can a juvenile live in a 90g, sure, but not for more than a year or so. I have a yellow tang about to go in my RS reefer 450, which is a 5 foot tank with my Kole tang and I a nervous about that, but I am going to give it a shot because I have seen several instances where it did work but I am full prepared to remove the yellow at any time if it comes to that.
I asked the other person about this - what criteria would you use to remove it? I don't think anyone here is talking about keeping a 12 inch tang in a 4 foot aquarium. First - it would look silly. Second it wouldn't be good for the fish. I don't personally believe that a captive tang would get to 12 inches ever (unless they were in a thousands of gallons aquarium) - Not sure its fair to compare tangs in the wild to tangs in tanks. MOST fish in the wild get a lot larger than they do in our tanks. Look at corals - they get to be feet across. Anemones - some 3 feet across. Again just to me - it comes down to why do people ignore the other wildlife - and go nuts about tangs (not to say you're nuts)
 

MnFish1

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After raising a hippo tang from the size of a quarter to 6 inches long, I can say that the species can live in a 48 inch long by 20 inch wide/high tank for quite some time without visible or health issues. Depending on thier personality / temperament and quarantine practices.

Once mine neared 6 inches though, I could almost feel the fish’s agitation and aggression building. Can a hippo tang at 6inches live in a 48 inch tank? Yeah. Might it start getting stressed, aggressive, and start to get sick? Maybe/probably.

Every time I saw the fish start to get more aggressive, getting a bigger/longer tank seemed to stem it for a few years.

I’m looking to re-home it now into a bigger longer tank and start over with a tiny one. I don’t have the space to go 60 inches and I want my dori to keeping swimming swimming swimming. :(
at our LFS - they have a hippo tank - perhaps 6-7 inches. It is in a 5 foot tank (it was a 'trade in' from someone that wanted to regime it). well everyone is paranoid to buy it - so there it sits. When people come up to the glass its like a cichlid - lol - it knows the owners, etc its almost become a favorite. So I dont know - I almost bought it - but held back based on comments here. Instead I bought a harlequin tusk so will see how 'reef safe' he is - FWIW - never has touched a snail/crab/shrimp (that I have seen) but he eats like a pig.
 

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