I have been throwing around a lot of ideas for a future upgrade recently and one question I have is how important is the length of a tank in stocking choices. I hear a lot of talk about how some fishes shouldn't be kept in a tank less than 6' which makes perfect sense, but what happens when you make the tank deeper front to back? One of the tanks I am looking at is the Marineland Deep Dimension 150 (36X36X27), technically this is a 3' tank but it is a 150 gallons. It has a lot of room, but it is distributed differently. Would this be an acceptable tank for some medium size tangs (aka bigger than a kole tang, but not the 2' variety)? Or would I need to stick to smaller fish. How about the 200 that is 4'? should it still be looked at as a 4' tank or are there more factors to be considered?
Stocking Deep/Cube Tanks
- Thread starter wfournier
- Start date
flfireman1
Wrasse aficionado
I think this is an excellent question, since I have also been contemplating an upgrade to a 150 cube. I currently have two tangs that are in my 92 corner that are part of the reason why I need to upgrade.
I know most will argue that the 3 ft squared aquarium won't provide enough room. But I would have to disagree, I've seen a couple of 150 cubes set up with tangs and there was plenty of swimming room.
I know most will argue that the 3 ft squared aquarium won't provide enough room. But I would have to disagree, I've seen a couple of 150 cubes set up with tangs and there was plenty of swimming room.
I'm no expert (nor am I the tang police)...
I think a couple arguments can be (and will be) made here.
1. A cube tank set up properly will have more swimming room than a 4 foot tank therefore there is plenty of room for a tang as long as it is kept within reason.
2. There is more to keeping tangs than having enough space to swim and although the deeper dimension will give more room to swim it won't give enough room for "territory".
I think both are valid points and many times tangs can be housed in 4 foot tanks but really never flourish or act the same as they would in a 6 foot tank. I think you will find the same with a cube (3 foot as discussed above). I think you will be fine with a yellow, purple, blue (regal), etc but I dont think they will thrive. I really dont think you should stock more than 1 because they just wont have enough space to establish territories and i think you will run into aggression.
this is my .02 and I will be looking to see what others think as well
I think a couple arguments can be (and will be) made here.
1. A cube tank set up properly will have more swimming room than a 4 foot tank therefore there is plenty of room for a tang as long as it is kept within reason.
2. There is more to keeping tangs than having enough space to swim and although the deeper dimension will give more room to swim it won't give enough room for "territory".
I think both are valid points and many times tangs can be housed in 4 foot tanks but really never flourish or act the same as they would in a 6 foot tank. I think you will find the same with a cube (3 foot as discussed above). I think you will be fine with a yellow, purple, blue (regal), etc but I dont think they will thrive. I really dont think you should stock more than 1 because they just wont have enough space to establish territories and i think you will run into aggression.
this is my .02 and I will be looking to see what others think as well
Thanks for the input so far, I threw tangs out there as an example of a fish that generally needs some room, not that I am necessarily planning on a dozen lol. I do think that the point about "territory" isa good one, however I wonder if they can really have different territories when keeping more than one unless you move to a truly huge tank (1000g+).
It depends on the fish, IMO. Those that pick at the reef, and stay near cover should do fine in a cube tank, while others seem to need a long run, based on their behavior. I don't think it's just the size of the fish, but it's activity level and where it tends to swim, that needs to be considered.
velvetelvis
Active member
I agree with LisaD. I'm dealing with this issue, albeit in a much smaller footprint (34G Solana, which I believe is 20 x 20 x 20. I get around it by keeping fish that either swim through the rockwork (an orchid dottyback, now RIP), or stay close to the rockwork and simply aren't very active (currently, a small group of threadfin cardinalfish).
If you want to keep an active fish that still stays close to cover, maybe you could look into a dwarf angel, or even one of the Genicanthus species.
If you want to keep an active fish that still stays close to cover, maybe you could look into a dwarf angel, or even one of the Genicanthus species.
