Why not tangs in a 55??

msb27

msb27

Member
I have read in the past on this board that you should not have tangs in anything less than a 75. My question is why? Is water volume, or is it swimming room. A standard 75 vs a standard 55 is only 6 inches deeper front to back. Does that really give it that much more room to swim? If its water volume, couldnt you achieve the same thing by adding a 15 to 20 gallon sump? If you have a 75 with 100 pounds of rock vs a 55 with 55 pounds of rock does the fish really have more swimming room. I got a few emails about my having a tang in my 55 when I posted my tank pics here for the first time. These are just my opinions. What do you think?
Scott
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
lenght not depth is important. Tangs like/need lots of room to swim. where you could have a small yellow in a 55gl if you don't have many other fish and they are small. purple and blue need more room.
but me, i'm waiting till i have a bigger tank to get a tang. More room is better.
is your tank a 55 long? if so a yellow tang should be fine for now, (he may out grow it...but i've always been told yellow will be ok in 55).
Hope this helps.
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
nice tank. I see one yellow tang, 2 clowns, and two fire fish. is that correct?
I have no idea how long a 75gl is. do they have 75 long and tall like they do with 55gl?
I may be wrong, I always thought it was length that was important.
how long have you had the tang?
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
ummm...i don't know. That seems to be like the tang would be crowded but i'm not sure. maybe someone else can help you better.
my two cents: if all fish are doing fine, and you keep an eye on the tang don't worry about it unless you feel the tang is unheathly or not happy. other people put tangs in 55gl (and less).
 
msb27

msb27

Member
I understand that people do put them in 55s and less, me being one of those people. I was just wondering why people say not to put them in anything under 75s.
 
hunterdaddy

hunterdaddy

Member
I have a naso tang in my 55 and he is happy as can be.
Lotsa different opinions here so you just have to get used to it.
I have a cousin who has a snowflake eel with a tomato clown in a 30 gallon. He does his water changes about once every 2 months and feeds them shrimp from the grocery with vitamins.
Point of that is what works for some might not work for others.
 
jdl/dayton

jdl/dayton

Member
A yellow tang should be fine in a 55 gallon. I would say the same goes for Scopes, Purple, and Kole. Total fish load for a 55 would be 8 inches. This leaves you some room for growth up to the 11" ideal maximum for a 55 gallon.
My 55 gallon if (I had one)
1 Purple Tang (Very Hardy)= about 2"
1 Bicolor Angel = about 2"
1 Flame Hawk = 1"
1 Raccoon Butterfly = 3"
How you care for your tank is more important than how big it is. Proper maintainance and acceptable fish load. As a bonus you will have an excuse to get a bigger tank down the road. Especially if you go with the Purple seeing as how they are very hardy and can get rather large.
 
msb27

msb27

Member
I know that there are more opinions than this. Some of you who believe you shouldnt keep tangs in anything less than a 75gal speak up.
Scott
 
B

bcarp

Guest
I had 3 tangs in my old 55 tank for 3 years and they did great. If you buy them at 3" you should be fine. Mine hardly grew at all in 3 years and if they do buy a bigger tank! :) I have a 72 bow with 2 4" tangs in it now (Yellow & a Blue Powder)They are doing fine. I just would make sure your bio load can handle it, whatever fish you put in.
 
stacy

stacy

Member
I wouldn't recommend keeping them in less than a 75 for the life of the fish. They do grow a bit on the slow side. I think anyone that has say a 55 for a few years will end up upgrading. If you stay in the hobby long enough I'm sure you'll want a bigger tank. My goal is another 240 and 500 by the end of next year. I went to a guys house yesterday to by his used 70 gallon. He just setup about a 110. I was shocked to see that he had 2 hippo tangs, 1 naso tang, 1 convict tang, and 1 purple in his 100.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally posted by BCarp:
<strong>I had 3 tangs in my old 55 tank for 3 years and they did great. </strong><hr></blockquote>
What happened to them?
Not to flame, but I feel it's irresponsible to try to convince people that it's fine to have 3 tangs in a 55.
I have a 155 and it's about the right size for a single Yellow I wouldn't ever consider having a larger species nor more than one in a 6' tank.
 
msb27

msb27

Member
Im not looking for an okay, just want to hear from the ones that say no to a 55 but okay for a 75. I want to hear why.
Scott
 
seaguru

seaguru

Member
O.K. lets put things in perspective... the area of ocean that a tang usually claims as his is almost infinitely greater than the spaces we allocate them in our home systems. For this reason I discount/argue with the opinions of those against putting tangs in less than 75g systems. Relatively speaking a 55, 75, 150, or 220 gallon system still is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of space the tangs are used to. So in my opinion yes the larger the tank the better, but all our fish in captivity are essentially cramped no matter how you look at it. In my 20+ years in this hobby I have always kept at least 2 tangs in my tanks rangeing from 55g to 70g to 125g to 150g. Again I say sure the larger the better but this does not rule out the smaller systems. More importantly quarantine, not overcrowding (as in total fish) and judicious upkeep/maintenance is more important... just my .02 for the record. Regards, Joe.
 
bluemarlin

bluemarlin

Member
Well since we are all tossing change into the equation, here's my 2 cents.
I think the key here is that a 55 gal tank may work IF the fish were one of say three total in the tank. The problem is that most people see "all that open space" in their tank and they look to occupy it with fish. Now the tank is overloaded and the tang will be one of the first to stress out over it. The tang needs room.
So, if you want a tang thats fine just don't toss in a grouper, a wrasse, a trigger and a handful of chromis. It won't work. (I'm not saying you would do this but I've seen others do it)
 
flamehawk

flamehawk

Active Member
Be careful. Our quest s/b to try to keep these living creatures in the better accomadations. Two or more tangs in a 55/75 is just plain wrong and cruel. One tang is pushing it but if bought small enough would work for a rather long time. Tangs need to swimm and when you load up a 55 w/ L/R, there isn't much swimming space. This is where the 75 does make a difference( increase depth helps w/ LR) although they are the same length.
 
kris walker

kris walker

Active Member
In my opinion, people are just extrememly cautious with tangs because they are so susceptible to parasitic infection. So they try to minimize all possible causes of what we perceive as fish stress. Lack of what we feel is enough space for a tang seems like it would be stressful. So many are adopting a tanksize threshold for tangs at anywhere from no less that 55 to 125 gal.
EDIT: I do think people need to chill out though regarding this issue. What is "cruel" to some others prove to be no problem to the tang's health and well being. We can all leave the emotion at home and focus it on other more important things.
cheers,
kris
 
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