Originally Posted by SCSInet
It always puzzles me when people deliberately ask the question, already predisposed to not accept one of the two possible answers.
Without calling any one or number of individuals out here, the frustrating posts I see here are the ones that are saying "If all you have is a xx gallon tank, then that's what you have to work with, so go ahead and get the fish you want." Sorry... wrong, unethical, and asenine. The size tank you have, among many other factors, dictates what fish you get. No matter what you do in saltwater fishkeeping, there are always compromises, decisions, and tradeoffs. If you have a reef, you can't keep certain fish. If you have a lionfish, you can't keep fish that will fit in his mouth, etc etc.
These decisions should be based on the welfare of the fish FIRST, PERIOD. The decisions should never be based on your selfish desire to keep a fish, regardless of your chancess of success, or your ability to provide a proper environment.
To address this question specifically, I have a 55g reef system myself. It's an older, well established system, with several fish that are several years old or more. But my attempts to keep tangs back in the day failed with this tank. No matter what I did, the wouldn't survive long. In my experience, you shouldn't try to keep a tang in a tank this small. All they do is swim... all day long, back and forth. If you do try, you may succeed, but if you fail, the fish paid the price of your attempt with his life... a life lost because you went against advice of others that often made the same mistake in the past. It's unfortunate that those who participate in a hobby that requires a certain level of respect for the ecosystem in which we take from to sustain it can have such a deliberate disregard for it.
Regardless.... Not to anyone specific... but if you aren't going to like a particular answer for a question you are about to ask, or you know you aren't going to give the answers you don't like their due consideration, then don't ask it. Getting beligerant with people who disagrees with you will wear out your welcome here very quickly. You may feel people are blunt or inconsiderate with their answers, but a lot of the folks called out here as being such are merely tired of answering the same question over and over, knowing they are going to be hammered for it, yet unable to just ignore it because they are trying to save the lives of the fishes.
If you really cared about the welfare of the fish, ANY FISH, you wouldn't be housing them in ANY tank in your house, no matter how big it was. If you want to be a true humanitarian, take all your fish to a Sea World or large aquarium and donate them to their organization. At least they have environments that are close to the ocean. I see from another post the Tang Police berated Nathan into submission, and he pulled his BH out of his 55. Good for you. Nothing like telling someone how to spend their money in this hobby. And SCSI -- go ahead and be specific who you are referring to. Trust me, I have no problems calling anyone here to the carpet.
