what to do with my yellow tang

[ag0r]

i have had my 40 gallon tank established for close to 4 months. my yellow tang is the only fish left in it, and he seems to be thriving since day one, 4 months ago, growing lots, swimming happily, tho occasionsally he does stay staionary then dart from one place to another. anyway, my dealer recommended before adding fish to rearrange the rockwork and turn the lights off, which should reduce all his territorialness. also, i have read in a couple places that putting a mirror in the tank makes him forget about harassing the other fish for a little while till he realizes whats gonig on. giving the other fish time to acclimate properly. i am thinking about adding a coral beauty and a yellow headed goby in another couple weeks. then some weeks later two percula clowns. and finally after that a royal gramma and a scotter blennie or another blennie. these appear to be good fish. i was originally considering a six line wrasse. but he could present problems with the royal gramma, since they both can be territorial,. so i heard that blennies are great adds and very interesting. should i add the six line and not the RG, or is the RG better and more gennerally peaceful. i have also read in a couple places that putting a picture of a hosting clownfish will make them more readily host to my anemone. my last pair didn't befrore they died, in like aweek or so. anyway, thanx in advance ofr the help

 

[loopy]

Tang is to big for your tank. Sorry. He may be happy now, but when you start adding stuff, he's going to be crowded and they need a lot of room to swim. Mirrors and pictures, sorry, that's new to me, never heard of that. Some one will know. Would consider trading the tang...doubt he will be able to live very long in a 40 gallon.
Sorry.

 

[mudplayerx]

The 40 gallon tank may be too small for a fully grown tang, but as long as you are ok with eventually giving the tang away, then you can safely keep it in a 40 gallon while it is juvenile.
As far as the mirror technique for breaking up territorial disputes, make sure you put the mirror on the outside of the tank as mirrors contain metal which is toxic to all marine bacteria and inverts.

 

[scubadoo]

A 40 gallon tank can only house a yellow tang for a brief period if very small. Once the fish feels stressed due to cramped quarters, he could develop disease quickly before you move him or find another home. This is the problem with placing a small fish in a tank that will be too small for the animal in the near future. Once the fish shows signs of stress it could be too late.
Whatever you decide to do..add your fish slowly...waiting 2-4 weeks between additions. ALso, no hard rule but one inch fish per 5 gallons water. Your max bioload is about 5 inches of fish. You are already probably half way there with the tang...assuming 2-3" long. Some say you can push this depending on filtartion. JMO

 

[dmitry]

Opinions seem to be divided how many inches per gallon there should be. Some respected sources I've read say 1 inch per 2 gallons. Though of course: the more space the better. :yes: I wish I had room for a 180 gallon tank!!!

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
I agree, way to many fish for that tank. I've got a 37 and have four small fish in it, including a royal and a six-line. HOWEVER, I have over 70lbs of LR in my tank with plenty of places for them to hide. No big cruising fish in there.
I'd seriously consider only adding one or two more fish to that tank. You're going to way overcrowd it and you're going to loose more fish. Do you know why your original clowns died? From my experiance, wild caught clowns are pretty prone to stress. One of my LFS says only about 40% of the clowns that he gets in make it due to stress. IF I plan to add a clown to the tank, it will be an aquacultured one. They seem to take stress much better.
Meadbhb

 

[ag0r]

yeah. ive pretty much decided that i am going to take the tang out of the tang. if not only for that territorial fact and how hard it will be to add new fish but that he will get to big. now, when u count the inches of fish, do you count just their body, or their body and their tails and fins and stuff, cuz that could add a lot. that last clowns i got died of ich, the were both percula. and when i got them, they would be relatively small no more than about an inch when i got them. the royal gramma and blennie would also be just about an inch. however, the goby cb and six line would probably push two inches each. i have heard anywhere from 1 inch or so every 2 gallons to 1 inch ever 5. i will only put in either the gramma OR the six line. which one swims around much more, is out more. and basically has more personality. my revised list will be two clowns (2 inch) 1 blennie (1 inch), 1 wrasse or gramma (1.5 inch) 1 goby (2 inch) and 1 CB (2 inch). That puts me at around 8.5, well within that range of 5 inch to 15 or so inches. thanx again

 

[greatfullreefer]

When attempting to determin the inch per x amount of gallons you need to use the adult size of the fish. eg:- a Coral Beauty may well be 2 inches when you get him but will grow to about 4 inches so you would need to use the full 4 inches in your equasion.

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
I have both the RG and the 6-line in my 37 gallon. My RG was aquacultured and is always cruising around the tank in full sight. I paid a little more for him, but I didn't have to worry about him eatting.
My 6-line is wild caught and is also very visual. He cruises in and out of the rockwork more then the RG.
In my opinion...it would be really hard to decide which one to have in the tank if I was limited to one. I'd probably go with the RG since it was aquacultured and not wild caught.
Meadbhb