Keeping juveniles temporarily

The more reputable place that I prefer to go to has basically said that is okay to keep juvenile fish in smaller tanks for a period of time. He said it would be okay specifically the put a sailfin tang or a Lyretail Anthias in my 40g until they grew to be too large. The place is very good in terms of keeping their fish healthy and not selling people the wrong livestock. Their policy is that refuse to sell fish to people who's tanks are still cycling, and they make a point to ask. Now, I do realize they are trying to make a sale, so I just wanted to get more opinions on this. I feel like this wouldn't really be a good idea, but maybe there are certain fish that naturally grow very slowly or something like that.

Thank you
Doratus

 

From what I have heard on here even young tangs need a lot of swimming room and placing them in a small tank may stress the fish and bring on disease.

 

they day u put a sailfin in a 40, is they day it gets too big.

 

Tangs do need room to swim. There is a huge debate between how much space they really need. They swim for miles in the ocean each day, but that is not in a straight line. However, swimming back and forth in a tank isn't the same as swimming circles in the ocean. Personally, I feel you can get away with a small tang in your tank long term provided the tank is not filled full of rock. A sailfin is to big even when it is just 4" long for your tank. It is not only 4" long, but 4" tall. I am not a fan of buying a fish just to trade it in. Look in to the bristle tooth tangs.

Anthias are hard fish to care for. You need to make sure they are eating before you buy them. even then, most don't live for more than a few months.

What?!?!?!

 

my LFS also isn't against smaller Tangs in 55g and up. They are great guys and all very knowledgeable. When I started I felt it was do-able and I got a little blue hippo for my 55g. After seeing how fast it grew and how much it ate, and most importantly how much of a PAIN it was to catch, I won't get another Tang unless i had a 100g+.

On a sidenote, my hippo never got ich, was always healthy, eating, swimming around, so it didn't seem depressed in that size tank. However, as it doubled in size, it got aggresive towards my clowns. I'm sure as any fish gets too cramped it may become a terror.

 

Grow out tanks are perfectly fine. Some of my fish are not big enough to even go into their adult sized tank just yet. But at some point the fish will need to come out or be traded or sold. But there is absolutely no reason why you can't put a small fish in a smaller tank until they grow.

So, tangs may be swimming room. But a 1" tang in, say, a 40g, will actually have more room to swim than a full grown one in, say, a 125g. How can that 40g be too small if he has room to swim 36 lengths of himself verses a larger tank where he can swim 10-15 times himself (for example).

 

I would say that yes, this is an acceptable way to keep fish, for the reasons mentioned above by Incognito. My LFS has also agreed with the assessment of yours.

The reason I advise against it, though, is that there's no guarantee you'll ever upgrade. I don't like planning on events that may or may not happen, and I think it's bad practice to do so when it's an animal's life in the balance.

 

You can get away with it in the 40 for a while Just keep the tank lightly stocked.

On another side note, Picture it as QT tank for the fish. Lots of aquartists QT fish anywhere from a few weeks or sometimes up to a 3-5 months depending if there are health issues. You dont see anyone yelling at them for putting it in a smaller tank ?

Yes a lager tank is more suitable, but you can let it outgrow then sell or trade.

 

Well here is the state of my current tank. I think there is quite a bit of swimming room. Nothing like the whole ocean though.

 

I agree, but the answer to the question is "Yes." Which then should be followed by all the potential future complications that can occur when doing so, as you mentioned.