Yellow Tang

[spaul1991]

I recently saw a 60 gallon tank that had several clownfish and a blue tang. the owner of the tank desperately wanted to add a yellow tang but said that the yellow tang in particular... well, vacated its bowels too frequently and would make the ammonia levels in the tank spike.
i called[profanity]on this, i have never heard of the Yellow tang causing any ammonia issues and they seem to be a pretty hot commodity in saltwater tanks... not the most rare in the world.

is the yellow tang actually known for causing ammonia level issues?

 

[CockyBrock]

not that i'm aware of...i don't know of any fish to cause an ammonia spike by their normal bowel movements...no worse than any other fish..and if you have some corals or adequate bioload...it should be fine...

that does sound like a lot of BS to me; and why a yellow tang..one of the MOST popular fish in SW

 

[Toddrtrex]

I could see it happening, in certain cases. A large tang, in a small overstocked tank, could produce enough enough to case ammonia spikes.

And given that that person already has a "blue tang" in too small of a tank, adding another tang (( excluding the fact that the 2 tangs would most likely fight )) could cause parameter issues in that tank.

 

[bues0022]

I don't see why the tang would cause anymore ammonia spikes over another equally sized fish. Size is definitely the key. While it's generally agreed that tangs should have a larger tank - if the tangs are small and an exit plan is proposed from the start, it could be used as a temporary setting for say, the said owner is planning an upgrade in the near future and HAS to have this fish NOW. Doable, but not advisable.

I housed a sailfin and a tomini tang in a 58 gallon tank for ~2 years. I wouldn't do it again though. I fed lightly which may have contributed to them not growing like mad, but they were getting far too large for the tank and were going stir crazy in my small tank. They now happily reside in a 180 (not mine though unfortunately).

Lastly, and not that I even care or mind at all, but why post this question in the clownfish and nem forum?

 

[spaul1991]

the tank has clownfish, i figured this is a reasonable location to post seeing that im looking to facilitate an ecosystem