I have one YT in my 4 foot tank, 75 gal and I tend to agree with Aquattro. We're not doing this for the fish's sake, but our own. I guess you have to draw the line somewhere, but if it's true that a tang likes to swim 200 yds in one shot then even 10 feet isn't going to make a captive fish much happier in the long term. So unless you have an olympic size swimming pool for a tank, you're really not doing the fish any favour.

My YT appears quite content in the 4 foot tank, but sometimes I do wonder if I shouldn't free Willy? I purchased him for another reefer who shut down his 60 gal.... a 3 foot tank. He's probably the most well adjusted dude in my tank, doesn't pick on anyone unless provoked and even then he wags his scalpel just enough to get the point across, so to speak. People keep birds in cages with clipped wings and all, so I find it surprising that there is so much controversy among marine hobbyists regarding tangs and tank size.

I do agree we aren't giving any favor to a Tang (or any heavy swimmers) we pull out of the ocean.. I think yellow tangs are more accepted in smaller tanks because they don't get as big as some of the big swimming tangs.... Untamed's tank is a clear example of why an Achilles shouldn't be in a 4ft tank... That Achilles SAILS thru a 400G tank without intrusion from rock walls and such. Even at 8 feet long, the tank is still 4 feet wide, so that tang is making big large laps, compared to the stop and go in a 4ftx20". Regardless, there are tangs that I am thinking about for my 75 that are recommended to be housed in 100-135G...

Awww, shucks. Thanks, but they're actually Irene's Yellow Tang. She's the one who wanted a school of YTs in the reef tank.

Anthony

If you are going to do a school of tangs I wouldn't do it in a less then a six foot long tank. I think two smaller tangs in a four foot tank can be fine as long as the tank's not over stocked. I had 5 tangs in my 120g and they were not happy. Upgraded to a 230g and they seemed much happier, until I started adding more fish. Now that my 230g is over stocked I ended up buying another 230g so that in the near future (once it's set up) I can split up the fish I have now and hopefully with less fish in the tanks, the fish I have will be happier.

I have seen a school of sailfin tangs together in a very large tank, but I noticed that they don't often swim together. Not sure if yellow's are more prone to school together then sailfin's are or not, but that's just what I noticed.

Irene's YT school split their time between swimming independently & in a school. Lights out, everyone scatters. Lights on & feeding time or they think I'm going to feed, then most of them start to school.

I gotta admit my wife was right on this one (for our tank at least) and that her school is very beautiful to watch.

Anthony