Originally Posted by sepulatian
Tangs are also the first to die from stress. These fish are open water fish. They are distance swimmers. A 72 gallon bowfront is not very big. If you notice the people that successfully keep tangs are the people with a 125 or larger. Why is it this board that says it most? I don't know, maybe because we have responsible hobbiests on these boards that actually care about other people's fish and their health. Sure, you could put a tang or 2 in there and they would probably be fine for a few months, but what happens when the stress of a small tank finally gets to the fish? It is not going to be a pretty sight.
Actually very few species of surgeneonfish or tangs are open water fish, most, according to a very popular highly read book, occupy only a few square yards on a reef. In the author's same experience with tangs, he has found that juevenile tangs do quite well in a well setup 55 60 or 75 gallon. Of course there always the issue of overcrowding, but a couple tangs in one those tanks should be fine.
In case youre wondering the author in question has about 30+ years of marine fish experience.