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tang police


treesprite

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I can't put a yellow tang in the 50g I'm setting up. It is 36x18x18. I'm sad, because it is my favorite fish of all time.

 

I have trouble without a tang though, so I have to ask, would tang police arrest me if I got an initially tiny version of the smaller species, like blue eye or kole, and keep it for a couple years in that tank, with tang-oriented aquascaping to maximize variation in swimming paths? I've got a history of dismantling liverock every year or two for various reasons, and have done it to be able to keep a tang before (to swap out for smaller), so I don't mind doing it if it means I can have a tang in the tank.

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The real problem is they like straight line swimming. I wouldn't In anything 48" or smaller even if small.. But that's my opinion.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

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Swimming/walking/slithering/etc in straight lines would greatly reduce food selection for any species of animal that gets it's food by foraging and grazing, so it seems illogical to me that a tang would prefer to pace back and forth in straight lines all day. When I see a fish in a tank pacing back and forth, it just looks bored to me and like it wants to get out. My old 75 had at 8 different covered passageways/tunnels, allowing the fish to go in many different routes that were not straight lines. The tang I had never once (while I was watching it) swam in just a straight line back and forth. The tang varied the routes it took, chosing to not take the same turns every time, and it never had to do a 180 degree turn as it would have had to do if swimming in a straight line from one end of the tank to the other.

 

We shouldn't underestimate the power of aquascaping to make a tank have twice as much swimming space as an identical sized tank with identical pieces of rocks just arranged differently.

 

I mentioned aquascaping in my original post, because it does make a huge difference.

 

Readers, please note that I did not ask, "is it ok?" I asked if the tang police would arrest me, meaning that I would like to know how people would feel about me following my tentative plan. If anyone has suggestions that would improve my plan should I decide to get such a fish, I would like to hear/read them.

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A smaller species tang would mean my tunnels could be shorter than they were with the zebramosa, so I could possibly have them at 2 levels even in an 18" high tank. It would affect coral placement, so I have to really think through the aquascaping some more. I won't be able to set the tank up until next week, because I can't transport the stand until Monday, but I am so itching to get to it!

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Ok, so, honestly, I am probably not going to get the fish, I'm just not ruling it out yet. I have a habit of having wishful thinking. I do want to hear what people really think either way.

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Go for it. I've had them in 36" tanks before and as long as you take Cliff's advice and move it (perfect reason for bigger tank one day) once it gets bigger it'll be alright. Try to get the smallest one you can find. I have a little one now in my 65 gallon that my girlfriend insisted we get while in BRK a few weeks back. The thing is a spaz. It's in and out of the rock work constantly. 

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I have a Kole tang in an 80 gallon. He is one of two fishes, the other is a mystery wrasse.

I don't think think he has grown a half inch since I got him.

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I still have the 120 to set up, but decided not to use it for now. The project was too much for me given the amount of free time I have (basically none). I had too many ideas and no time to follow them. I was cleaning the hard algae film off the walls and discovered a lot of scratches which were hidden by the crud; ordinarily I don't really care about scratches, but it gave me an excuse to tell people when I don't want to admit defeat. Now I have plenty of time to get back to it when it won't feel like an overwhelming burden.

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(edited)

Who's tank is it?

The 50 is mine, I just got it. All I have is a mish mash of little temporary tanks that have been stretched into use for a year and a half, because I never set up the 120. Edited by treesprite
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2 tangs can live perfectly happy in a 50g any yellow tang would be fine if no more then 4.5” big

 

 

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My experience with yellow zebramosa tells me to not keep one in anything less than a 48" 75g. I love that fish. It's my favorite color, like a giant sun going across the "sky", or a big yellow smiley face (except the smile is on me, not the fish). Yellow zebramosas make me feel happy. They generally eat types of algae that other tang species won't. I love them, but I won't put one in a 50g tank.

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