Well, I guess it's time to update the world about my Rabbitfish...
I removed him from the tank today. This fish grew fast, and got huge. I've been doing this a while and I've never seen anything like it. I've had plenty of fish before that technically "get up to 12," that never saw 6" but this guy actually did it, and in about 2 years! I had him in a 90 until the spring, and I accelerated my plans for the 180 for him. Within a few weeks of putting him in the 180, it was obvious that wasn't even enough.
This fish is a bundle of stress. He needs anxiety medicine. About once a week he would get startled and knock over some rocks and coral and scrape himself up. If you walk past the tank in the dark you can just hear him smashing into things. He was also starting to get short with the other fish (darting at them, etc), which I do not think is his true nature, but instead frustration from being in too small a space.
I'm sure I could have fed him less and he would have grown slower, but I like to feed my fish a lot. Removing him from the tank was super stressful for both of us, and he completely beat himself up smashing against the rocks in the process. I'm holding him for a few days in a 55 to make sure he's okay. I've got a local maintenance company that is going to put him into an 800g cylinder tank in a sushi restaurant.
I still love Siganus, but I really can't recommend this particular fish for anything short of a saltwater pond. It's not that he completely needs the swimming room (more would help, but he's not as active of a swimmer as a tang), but he's just a bull in a china shop... and big enough to actually do major damage. When most fish get scared they quickly dart into or behind some rocks, but he just completely loses his mind and runs full speed into whatever is in front of him...
Anyway, he's recovering in QT now and with a little luck his scrapes won't get infected, and he will be in a new home by next week.
