I Need The Tang Police!

DJM32189

New member
Hi,

At my work, a co-worker was getting a free fish tank from a friend, but the tank is saltwater, and she wants to keep fresh. She knows that I have a really nice 40 gallon reef tank, so she offered to give me all of the inhabitants of the tank she is receiving. I of course was delighted to oblige.

However, upon arrival, I noticed that one of the fish was a yellow tang. I know that they need a 75+ gallon tank and I only have a 40 gallon tank. What should I do?

Thanks
 
i hav seen a million tanks 55 gallon and smaller with tangs in them......as long as its not full grown...if its 3-4.5" take it
 
however, remember that many members on this site keep yellow, kole, and even larger tangs in 3 foot tanks. not that i'm saying it's a good idea, but you can keep a yellow tang for a while in a 3' tank. however, a 40g(if it's what i think it is 36x18x12") it does not offer enough dimension to be good for a yellow tang.
 
Yes, those are the dimensions of the tank, I just measured it.

Plus, my tank has a lot of Live Rock and A TON of LPS and soft corals. On top of that, there is a really large territorial brown saddle back clownfish....

I would love to be able to provide this tang a nice home, and I would rather not bring him to a pet store for some person to put him in a 20 gallon tank, or have the pet store kill him, but I think that I cannot provide him with a nice home.

It is also sad because the person that gave the tank to my co-worker was really concerned about the tang and that it would have a good home (the friend of the coworker does not know that my coworker is converting it to fresh). That is the main reason that she wanted to give it to me because I do maintain a very clean and beautiful tank.

However, I have known since I started reef keeping not to keep a yellow tang in a less than like 100 gallon tank. I feel bad about the whole situation.
 
put it up for sale in the livestock trading area here. and make sure yo talk to the buyer maybe. need pix of your tank so you know its XXXgallons large or what not.. just an idea =)
 
Yes, that is a good idea. I think I will probably try to find someone to give it to with a big tank, or one of the LFS has a 200 gallon saltwater reef, perhaps they would like it as they just restarted it with no livestock, just new live rock.
 
Thanks DJM for not listening to the "everyone does it" excuse for providing a poor habitat for a very free-swimming fish.
 
Your Welcome,

I try my best to provide the best habitat possible for my fish tank. It is not worth making the fish miserable, having it become aggressive to my other fish or arriving with ich (I heard that they are ich magnets!).
 
The biggest problem with putting in a 'small' fish, is as they grow they become personable in most cases and it's real hard to get rid of them, and not always easy to do.
 
Yes as we all know ,It makes alot of reefers feel alot better when we strip fish from the wild and give them an extra foot to swim around in.

Anyone in this hobby who thinks they are being kind ,or is a conservationist is kidding themselves!

just my opinion.................

Four fish died for every fish you have in your tank.........
 
Great points salenh2o. You spend thousands on your setup, get what you want in there and, at the very least know when its time to move a fish to a new setup.
 
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By your calulations I am only allowed 3 tangs.

I have 10. I can guarantee mine are as happy as any other tang sitting in a tank.
 
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