What is the biggest Purple or Yellow Tang you have seen in captivity?

[Zionas]

Hi all, I would like to know how long you have kept your smaller Zebrasoma Tang (Yellow, Purple, Gem, Black) and how big is it? Or, what’s the biggest specimen in captivity out of these species that you have seen? If it was an extra big one, was it caught at that size? How big can they get in the wild and what’s a reasonable size to expect in captivity if started below 4 inches?

Do they all need a 6’ tank for life?

I have never heard of a 7-8” Yellow Tang in captivity, largest I heard was maybe 6”. Not sure about Purples, Blacks, Gems.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Biggest yellow was one by Salgado aquatic and was shy of large paper plate size

 

[Zionas]

That’s a huge one. Was it caught at that size?

 

[brightlifeaquaculture]

I’ve seen yellows imported size of dinner plate just like Tony said! From a baby I think it’s a little harder to get that size as most never go in a size tank for them to achieve it!

 

[Zionas]

Yeah I definitely like smaller fish!

 

[JCM]

I can't comment on the largest but I can say that they don't grow super fast. I kept one for about 10 years and it reached maybe 6 inches. started out around 3 inches.

 

[Beau_B]

I can't comment on the largest but I can say that they don't grow super fast. I kept one for about 10 years and it reached maybe 6 inches. started out around 3 inches.

Uh... my purple was +/- 2.5" end of March when I got him, smaller than my full grown Bangaii. Now, mid June is all of 5" and competing with CBB for largest. I would call that fast growing... I don't think I dropped any MiracleGro in the tank.

 

[JCM]

Uh... my purple was +/- 2.5" end of March when I got him, smaller than my full grown Bangaii. Now, mid June is all of 5" and competing with CBB for largest. I would call that fast growing... I don't think I dropped any MiracleGro in the tank.

Maybe I should edit that to say "mine didn't grow very fast" rather than assume no ones does. I would agree yours is growing fast. Mine seemed to max out around the 6" mark in the first year or so then didn't grow much after that (except in fatness).

 

[albano]

Biggest yellow was one by Salgado aquatic and was shy of large paper plate size

There was a picture posted here on R2R of that XXL yellow tang… post was about a frag swap.

 

[Zionas]

Nice. Was it a Yellow or a Purple Tang?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

There was a picture posted here on R2R of that XXL yellow tang… post was about a frag swap.

I think you're talking about this one?

This bought by @Brimartin16 and her boyfriend at RAP. @Brimartin16 how's this guy doing?

 

[albano]

I think you're talking about this one?

“Ask and ye shall receive”… thank you, Sir!

 

[Goaway]

I keep seeing "purple tang" popping up everywhere. I wish I bought a purple tang over a powder blue.

 

[James_O]

A tang the size of a dinner plate!??? Crazy... :0

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think you're talking about this one?

This bought by @Brimartin16 and her boyfriend at RAP. @Brimartin16 how's this guy doing?

Yes- This guy.

he was in this tank at RAP 2019 Chicago

THE NASO WAS 11 INCHES AND KOI TANG A LITTLE LARGER THAN SMALL PAPER PLATE

 

[cmross13]

I rescued an Ich-covered purple tang from Petco at roughly 6” for $50 about 2 months ago. Within 3 days in Cupramine QT all signs of Ich were gone. Healthy eater, VERY active. Kept him in there for the full 3 weeks plus one day, dropped dead out of nowhere earlier this week in my DT

 

[Suohhen]

Makes you wonder if the reason we rarely see them that large has to do with the fact that some alpha fish get a lot larger and none of us keep schools of Yellow Tangs afaik.

 

[radiata]

I hope you're counting the Desjardin Tang among your other Zebrasomas. Many years back I bought a Purple Tang and a Desjardin from the same Red Sea shipment. At the time they were both the same size. Fast forward a few years, and the Purple hasn't grown, but the Desjardin is a good 8" in diameter. Go figure...

 

[Dania]

I had no idea how big they got!

 

[MaxTremors]

I hope you're counting the Desjardin Tang among your other Zebrasomas. Many years back I bought a Purple Tang and a Desjardin from the same Red Sea shipment. At the time they were both the same size. Fast forward a few years, and the Purple hasn't grown, but the Desjardin is a good 8" in diameter. Go figure...

Yeah, when I first started keeping marine fish 20+ years ago, I bought a Desjardin, I was clueless, and the store told me my 55 gallon was plenty big enough. Over the next three years I moved it to a 75, then a 120, and finally a 180. By then I knew a little more and had a full on reef tank. And then while on a 3 week vacation, there was a power outage, and I’m not entirely sure how it happened, but the surge protector that had the return pump and all of the circulation pumps didn’t come back on when the power did. My house sitter didn’t notice anything wrong, kept putting food in it. This,despite the dead 8” tang and probably 10 other fish all in a massive blog of green slime the size of a beach ball in a tank of stagnant water. It smelled awful, and the guy was sleeping at my house on the couch a few feet away from it! Still didn’t notice! And he refused to take any responsibility (and I don’t mean financially, not even an apology, just excuses and acting like it wasn’t a big deal). To say I was enraged would be an understatement. We weren’t friends after that.

Anyway, yes, Desjardins get massive, and fast.