Am I a bad fish person?

[Kizzy911]

I understand that you can't have pretty much ANY tangs in a 40 breeder because they require a lot of swimming space. I was thinking of getting a scopas tang in my 40 breeder (small) and once he gets bigger i would trade him to the LFS for another small one, and keep on replacing them once they outgrow my tank.
I want a bigger tank later on but I'm still saving up for it in the long run.
At the moment being i want a tang in my 40 gal, because that's what i have. Does that make me a bad person to keep a smaller tang in my 40 breeder?

Will the tang be alright?
I don't want him to develop ich or anything, but i've seen people with much much smaller tanks than i have that kept smaller tangs.

 

[jraker]

I have seen people with some success with tangs in that size tank, but I would never do it. Tangs will always need swimming space throughout their life. And a lot of it. IMO juvenile does not really matter.

 

[A.Astore]

The fact that you are questioning it in the first place should give you a pretty good idea of the answer you are going to get here. I am one of those people who get attached to fish and once I get one, it is mine and nobody elses. On a different note, if you dont get attached to fish, and dont mind stressing him out by buying him then quarantining him then stressing him out again by selling him to a LFS then again when he is bought by someone else then again when he is quarantined by said person then again when introduced to their DT...why not? Have a field day. Maybe even get two.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

You're not going to get any votes of approval on this one. I'm pretty sure you already knew the answer to your question by the way you worded your OP :hammer:

 

[Breakthecycle2]

No offense, but that's like putting a Great Dane in a studio apartment as a puppy and saying..."i'll just trade him in later because he doesn't suite my needs anymore".

 

[MondoBongo]

rehoming can be more difficult than you're probably anticipating.

for example, i have a 160 gallon tank, that could easily accommodate your tang. however, i already have a tang of my own that don't take too kindly to other surgeonfish. so i wouldn't be able to accept him as a rehome.

that's likely going to be a common story. once you start getting in to people with truly large tanks, most of us have already spent/are spending countless hours pouring over potential stock lists and making plans. i can tell you right now that i have my entire stock list selected for my tank, i'm just waiting to find the right fish, right amount of free time for QT, and the right amount of disposable income to complete it.

so then this puts you in the position of taking possibly having to take it back to the fish store. i don't like doing that. odds are that the fish will just end up in another entirely unsuitable tank. i've had to return a fish before, a six line wrasse which was a bad newbie purchase. now i know better, but it's not a good feeling. when i get a fish i fully intend to keep it happy and healthy for the duration of its natural life, just like i would with a dog or a kitten. in my mind pets are pets, they're part of the family, so swapping them out at your convenience isn't a good strategy, and creates problems for an industry that is already hard on natural resources.

you also won't get to truly enjoy the fish in a smaller tank. when i started i set up my 75 and got a yellow tang, another ill advised newbie purchase, and he was never very happy in that tank. quite often irritated and exhibiting compulsive behavior like pacing or fast back/forth swimming.

after upgrading to my 160 there is a world of difference in how he acts. much more relaxed/swooping style of swimming, and considerably less aggressive towards other fish.

there are a lot of really gorgeous fish you can get for that size tank, i would recommend focusing on size appropriate options, i think both you and your fish will be rewarded in many ways.

-edit-

in re-reading your original post you also seem to have some confusion regarding ich, i would suggest checking out some of the stickies in the fish disease forum, starting with this one:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2159738

misconceptions about Cryptocaryon irritans abound in this hobby, but there's excellent information available to dispel them.

 

[A1t2o]

You have 2 viable options, get a bigger tank first then a tang, or find a different fish that will do better in your tank. Saying screw it and getting a tang anyways is a good way to end up with a dead tang. They will be much more likely to die from stress when added to a tank that is too small, and way more likely still to die of disease or other complications later on.

 

[gone fishin]

I agree with Mondo. I would not rehome a large fish in my tank. I have my stock list as well. IME with LFS a lot of them do not like to take large fish in trade. They have a hard time selling them. It is one thing for a person to buy a small fish that will get to large for their tank, they can picture the small fish swimming around. They can also now picture a large fish not fitting into the tank and do not buy or want to pay the money for a large fish.

 

[Kizzy911]

Sounds good ill just aim for a different fish to be well suited for the tank i have. Thanks