What type of tangs can I fit in a 72 gallon bow tank.

he got to be 4.5 inches....got him when he was 2.5 inches.

 

you do realize that tang was not happy in your tank right? why would you put another one in?

 

Yeah i do relize that he was very happy....ate like a pig....swam around happily...never got sick...or ich....and always had great color.....

And i added another one....because the one i had before got to big.

PS: its my tank..i do what i please.

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/what-about-tangs-29728.html

here is a very good article/ thread with a lot of good information about Tangs

there are general principles/ guidelines when discussing what sized tank you need to keep any 1 species of Tang and how many Tangs you can house in X sized tank etc

there are always going to be exceptions to general principles
but being fortunate to have a positive experience outside of the generally accepted principles - does not mean those principles are invalid

for every tang that does well in a tank thats undersized for its true needs
there will be X amount of Tangs that did not get so lucky , but their story goes unheard
simply because nobody wants to post
" I had a yellow tang in a 2ft and it died in 6 weeks" or My Regal died 3 months after I put it in my bio cube"

people in general prefer to keep their failures to themselves
and only post about their achievements

the 1st rule of giving advice on a forum like this should be - " Do no harm" same as the medical code , because after all it is life we are dealing with

so my advice on this subject will be
listen to those who give you advice based on the general principles and accepted guidelines

select your fish for your long term enjoyment of them
and the more room you can give any species of fish, the better it will be IMHO

Steve

 

the fact of the matter is, tangs need room. They, for the most part are open water swimmers in the oceans. the need that room to swim to keep their muscles working and water flowing over their gills. I have seen many tangs that have been kept in smaller tanks long term, come out with deformations because there isn't enough room to get the proper exercise.
Another reason tangs need larger tanks is that they like to eat, ALOT! An aquarist needs that water volume to keep the waste dilluted enough that it doesn't become toxic.
Now as far as the 72 gallong goes, I would shoot for a tomini or another one of the "bristletooth" tangs. they have great personalities, in the wild the stay closer to the rock and don't use the open water like most of the other tangs do, and they are very good at keeping algae in check.

 

Any tang, except a very small juvenile tang, will get bored and not have enough room in a 29g.

Heck, my sailfin that I had in my 90g was definitely bored in that tank and it was only about 5" then. Once it put it in the 200g, it was much happier.

Ina 72g, you can pretty much put any tang in for a while as long as the tang is small when you get it. Once they mature though, most tangs will be too big for that small of a tank. If you don't have an issue with moving the tang after a year or 2( or 3-4), then you shouldn't have an issue. But if you never plan on upgrading or selling the fish when it gets big, it will be bored and not happy.

 

i feel like i am going to be arrested for a having a yellow tang in a 29g !!!
i had that tang for a year....he is still alive today! i gave it to my neighbor who has a 75g. and the one i jsut got is 2.5 inches

 

Did someone say TANG POLICE??

 

You did on your post above - look see there it is

Steve

 

haha