Nice looking tank and welcome to Canreef.

AC33, the reason why nobody mentioned that the tang is in a tank far too small for its requirements is that everyone is quite properly polite. Obvious this new reefer who did not know the tank requirements for a tang when he bought the fish.

Genix, unlike many of the fish we have in our hobby that kind of poke around here and there for food around the coral heads, tangs are swimmers. They like to motor back in forth in large longer tanks (six footers). Your yellow cannot do that in your 30 gallon tall. Someone near you with a larger tank can keep it for you or you can return it to the LFS.

We all started as newbies. It is best to get information on fish and coral before you buy them from well known books and websites. The members of Canreef are an excellent source of really good information and can recommend many books for you. All you simply have to do it ask.

Good luck with your new hobby

Thank you

actually, i did know that my 30 gallon is too small for my yellow tang according to some people. i've read tons of posts by the tang police. but i also know that my yellow tang is quite content in my 30. he gets high quality food, good water quality, and peacefull tank mates with no fear of predators. i'm sure if i gave my yellow tang a 10 foot tank, he'd use all that swimming space. does that mean a 4 foot tank is too small for him?? all marine fish are used to territories a hell of a lot larger than we give them in aquariums, does this mean they can't be happy? who is to say how small is too small and what exactly would that be based on?

Yikes! sounds like another "showdown" or at least a call to load the old six shooters :mrgreen:

Well Said !!!

Well I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I was under the impression that keeping a tang in smaller tank like yours would stunt the growth considerably, and that the tang would not live as long as it would in a larger tank. I'm not sure if this is true or not, and please correct me if I'm wrong.

Good for you.. I agree with you 100% and while I do think a 30 gal is to small for a larger yellow I think it is fine for the size you have.

Steve

that is a fresh water thing. I have not heard of that applying to salt water fish, but you never know.. I think Naesco's intention is that the fish won't be happy in a small tank.

Steve

Genix ,if you are going to use photoshop to put a tang in a 30 gallon to get a reaction at least choose a healthy yellow tang. The one you posted "appears" pinched and thin which are the signs of starvation in a tang. They should be plump when they are fed properly.

AC33 You are correct that a small tank stunts a fish's growth. StirCrazy here is the cite you need. Please see
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/hcs3/index.php
The tang referred to is a hippo/regal tang.

Thanks

If you can see any edit artifacts in those pics then you must have a really special eye because I can't. I would also have a really difficult time making a judgement on the health of the fish, not enough detail. I may be a bit of a coral newbie but I've been keeping SW fish for a long time and I just can't see what you're talking about.

How do you know that research done on the growth rates of Regal Tangs has anything at all to do with the growth of Yellow Tangs? Additionally you should note that the linked article gives guidelines for judging the growth rate of a fish to determine IF it is stunted. It gives no evidence about the how and why a fish may end up with sub optimal growth. Are the fish that have been observed to stunt in dirty water, is the diet adequate, etc, etc. None of that is discussed in the article.

The research fish was not done using a the regal tang but was done on acanthurus species tangs. The author who IMO is an expert on fish in our hobby applied the findings to the hippo/regal. It seems reasonable therefore that they could also be applied using the formulae to yellow tangs as well.

The yellow tang shown appeared to me to be pinched and thin. I enlarged the photo, however, I was carefull to use "appeared" in my post.



Thank you