question regarding tangs and tank size

[asylumdown]

In my newb days, I had an 8 inch sohal tang in a 90 gallon tank. Bought it as a 4.5 inch fish, had no idea how fast it could grow

I vividly remember the conversation in the fish store

Me: "wow, that's a beautiful fish, how big of a tank does it need?"
LFS guy: "How big of a tank do you have?"
Me: "90 gallons"
LFS guy: "It needs a 90 gallon".


It started going crazy around 7 inches long. Would have these little freak outs that lead to the carpet surfing of probably 2 grand in rare wrasses. At that size, I couldn't give the thing away. Eventually ended up giving him to Red Coral when they were in their old location, but I'm pretty sure he bit it after the move. I literally still feel guilty about that fish.

Even now that I have a tank that's 6'X3', I still feel like it's too small for a larger tang. You rarely see a full grown PBT or achilles in a fish store, but when you see one that's hit it's near max size, even in a 180, they look outrageously large for their environment. Who knows what the subjective emotional experience of the fish is, but from a design point of view, huge fish in small tanks just looks wrong to me.