Yellow tang

amazonjoe · Mar 25, 2016

I bought a yellow tang and had it in my 29 gallon biocube. I noticed it was stressed and upgraded my tank to a 40 gallon breeder. My question is will I need to eventually upgrade to a bigger tank. Some say 55, while others say 75 and more. Is it more the length of the tank or water volume. A 4 foot tank can be 55 gallons. A 3 foot cube is over 60 gallons. Can someone help clarify. Thanks

tj w · Mar 25, 2016

IMO most tangs in aquaria need at least a six feet tank. If u have observed these fish in the wild they are active swimmers and grazers. They swim miles everyday. Like I said that's just my opinion.

Duke4Life · Mar 25, 2016

tj w said:
IMO most tangs in aquaria need at least a six feet tank. If u have observed these fish in the wild they are active swimmers and grazers. They swim miles everyday. Like I said that's just my opinion.

+1 it's the running room/length they need.

PatW · Mar 26, 2016

I usually see references for yellow tangs needing 5' of running room. Some sources claim that a large 4' tank is enough (120). If you really want to keep tangs, you really need to go to 6' like a 180. Even then, the really big and fast swimming tangs need 8' or more.