For the record, I think all tangs deserve the largest possible quarters, but that isn't always possible. That being said:
If it isn't possible to provide proper care for a fish, then you should not bother buying it. At the Moment I only have space for a half dozen nano tanks, but you won't see me going out and buying a tomini for my 29g and justifying it through large posts about how much I trust the judgement of my LFS. I decide for myself what what is a proper tank size, and I personally believe that 4' is too small. Thus, I posted about my concerns.
First and foremost, I would suggest relooking over LiveAquaria's tank size suggestions. A good majority of them are on the high side and they are known for being likely
the best fish supplier bar none for good reason. They don't just go willy-nilly on their tank sizes, care guides, etc. Are they always 100% accurate? No, but that's the responsibility of the buyer to research. But looking around at some places that have no interest in selling fish: aquaticcommunity, among others, suggests only
60g. That's not what I would think, but they still have no interest in selling the fish.
Though LA provides decent tank sizes for some fish, that doesn't mean they should be used as a source of research. Rather a stepping stone. Just because many places suggest small tanks, doesn't mean I think they are acceptable. Bigger is better in most cases, and large, active fish like tangs need the most space they can get
Regarding health, take a look
here. This is just one experience with tangs in cramped quarters, but I've read quite a few others and even seen others (we get in lots of "rescues") that are similar.
120g is small for a yellow tang? Even cruel?
Try this on for size. Even some
tank of the months have YTs in smaller quarters. I realize it isn't the best argument to say "worse things have happened," but that's just what it is. Countless people have come into our store wanting to buy tangs for biocubes - that's not ok in my book, but I'm sure many of them just move onto the next store to buy their Tang. At least it's a better habitat than that.
There are worse tanks for it to be in. But a small tank is a small tank
Let's play Devil's advocate for a minute. First and foremost, we need to consider way more factors than footprint or tank size, most importantly: tankmates, temperature, aquascape, amount of rock, and
flow.
Temp. is irrelevant as we assume these fish are kept in tropical temps. Aquascape and amount of rocks will not make a 4' tank bigger. I think a 4' tank is too small on its own. You'd have to have a large amount of flow to provide much resistance to these fish. They're designed to handle waves, that are much more powerful than any pump could create
Anthias are a great example of the "flow" requirement for swimming. Tangs are often said to swim for miles per day, which is true, but so do a lot of anthias - the difference being they hover, but must fight the water current to stay in place. They swim for miles per day. Yet many people have no objection to a single male anthias in smaller quarters? Hmm.
Many anthias are far smaller than tangs, and thus don't run out of room as quickly. The ones commonly kept in smaller tanks stay around 3"TL. Groups of anthias need a large area, because believe it or not, females are aggressive towards each other. Personally, I wouldn't keep any species on anthias in a tank smaller than 4'.
Take a look around on underseaproductions and look at some "active" fish that can be kept in "smaller" quarters (~50g) - flasher and fairy wrasse, chromis, or even some dwarf angels. Most of these fish are extremely active in the wild, yet it's ok for them to be kept in smaller quarters? Why?
None of these fish are half as active, nor as large as tangs. Not to mention their lesser height allows them to swim through rock structures. Again, many species I personally wouldn't keep in a tank under 4'
It's also interesting to note that
on wetwebmedia, 50g is the (from what I've seen) suggested tank size for Zebrasoma tangs. That seems way, way low to me but it's from Bob Fenner who has a very strong reputation.
Many old references suggest smaller tanks for fish like tangs. I think it may have had something to do with previous ignorance on their parts. If you look at the Bibliography, you will see that none of his sources are newer than 2000, with the majority dating back well before the '90s
Nevermind the fact that we're talkin' a Yellow Tang here: not a super-active Powder Blue Tang, Sohal, or Clown Tang. These guys are highly adaptive as I've said and I rarely see "pacing" behavior with them that is so often reported with other tangs. Do they use up all their swimming space? Sure, but so do most other fish.
Every tang I've seen in a tank smaller than 6' paces. Yellows included
Few things are cut and dry in this hobby: tank size is not among these. Without a picture of the tank, I honestly don't know if this is a suitable habitat for the Tang. I've read estimates 300,000 yellow tangs are exported from Hawaii per year: considering the sheer amount of uneducated hobbyists, I'm willing to bet OP's is one of the luckier ones. After him saying:
I agree, what works in one tank, may not work in the other. But there are things we can do, like ensure our fish have more than enough swim space, to help our tanks along. Maybe if we stopped getting sites that say 55g is plenty for this active fish, we will stop getting so many ignorant newbies. I think the best advice is the most conservative. Let the ones who have experience do the harder things.
"I am not removing anything."
My largest concern was that the OP wanted to add species like mandarins or pipefish to the tank. IMO, these should get their own dedicated system, as clownfish are extremely territorial, tangs can be as well.
I'm surprised this wasn't just left alone, agree or disagree. If you want to continue, you're free to PM me but I don't want to murky up OP's topic anymore, so
my apologies there fishmanstan. :wavehand:
My pm box is full and I don't want to empty it :frog:
Each and every one of us are entitled to an opinion, and what works in one tank may not work in another. As I said we can only ensure that we optimize our tanks potential. How many people have kept a yellow tang in a small tank for a decade? How about two?
They're still a pretty reputable source, but I certainly don't agree with them all the time. I'll stop talking about Tangs now, but I do find Tang threads to be quite informative when the tone doesn't turn aggressive.