Tank Space for Fish

[ScubaPrincess]

Hey I am new to marine aquariums. I am taking the advice of some fellow reefers and looking at the fish I want before I pick the size of my tank, as I have a couple of choices in size; 55 or 29 gallon, or larger. How important is it to follow space parameters for specific fish. For example online it says that a yellow tang needs at least 100 gallons; what if I put it in a 75 gallon? I would like some inputs on what has and has not worked for them.

 

[trivan]

Welcome to NJ Reefers, and please ask away with questions. There are a lot of people here with great experience.
Yes, that is the recommendation on the yellow tang, anything smaller and the "tang" police will be knocking on your door. j/k - but is somewhat true. The recommended sizes are based to keep the fish happy and healthy as it needs a lot of swimming room. Can it be done? Sure, but not favorable for the fish. The general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish for each gallon of water. If you want to have a lot of fish, then a lot of water changes or some other denitrification system will be needed. All these are guidelines and they certainly been broken many times w/success. Also read up on the order certain fish need to be introduced, Yellow Tangs are generally aggressive and will own the entire tank if it's one of the first in.

Plan on a QT for tangs as well. They are highly prone to Ick.

 

[JRWOHLER]

Well, generally speaking the best thing to do is to go big or go home...just kidding but the bigger the tank the less restrictions you will have and the easier it will be to keep your parameters stable. Specific question about the yellow tang...well yes you can keep one in a 75 gallon. It all depends on your bio load etc. I would suggest that would the smallest tank you would keep a yellow in, while a 120 or larger would be better. There are a lot of great smaller tanks so my suggestion is more about the what is easier to keep and gives you a greater variety. I went from a 10->24->120 and the 120 is by far the easiest to keep stable.

 

[Rwc]

Go big save yourself the money from transitioning from a small startup system. And welcome to the hobby

 

[m28cruiser]

I could be wrong, but I think if you get a juvenile fish, you can get away with having a slightly smaller recommended tank size. Juveniles are cheaper and you will have more pleasure watching it grow. After it grows up you might be ready to upgrade or sell it to someone with a bigger tank.

If you want a tang, check out Kole tangs. They are less aggressive, look pretty, good cleaner, and don't require as much space.

 

[mnat]

Recommended tank size for fish is something that gets debated quite often and at great length in this hobby. For every fish you will see 10 people with 10 different experinces tell you 10 different things. Tank size guidelines have changed and a lot of websites will give you different sizes. I would stick with Live Aquaria as theirs seems to be the most thought out. Here are a couple of questions to think about when stocking that tie into tank size.

Where does the fish "live" in the water column? Is is a tang that swims actively all day throughout the whole tank and therefor needs a longer tank (tank requirements for tangs are usually in feet so 4 foot, 6 foot, 8 foot etc.)? Is is something like a clown fish or cardinal that generally swim in the same spot and just sort of hang out? These fish don't really need a long tank and you will see their tank sizes are smaller. Does the fish live in the rocks or burrow in the sand? These fish you can get away with in almost any size tank as they basically live in one area and never really leave. When stocking you want fish that kind of do all three because if you have too many fish in the rocks you can get aggression and on the flip side too many fish in the water column could lead to aggression. A healthy mix of the fish will lead them to mostly ignore each other and stay pretty happy (obviously certain fish are just jerks and will always be so).

The other question to look at is why do these fish have tank guidelines. Tangs are incredibly active swimmers and certain kinds are known to be aggressive. Couple that with the fact that they are disease magnets, and you can see why people recommend big tanks for them. Also, they actively eat all day so they also actively poop all day which can foul your water qualtiy pretty quickly. Tangs in a small tank can become aggressive and stressed which can lead to ick and death and/or poor water quality which is all going to make this hobby not fun. Last but not least, tangs can get very big, a full grown yellow tang can get to almost dinner plate size, so just cause you can does not mean you should.

When stocking a smaller tank, fish selection has to be very careful as you do not have a lot of room for error.

 

[downbeach]

I'm not 100% on everything in these articles, but I think they will give you a starting point.

http://www.fishlore.com/SaltwaterAquariumSetup-QA.htm
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...h-compatability-creating-stocking-list-38579/
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/ft/index.php
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/quarantining-marine-fish-made-simple


As Mike mentioned, LA is a good reference for size. Keep in mind these are recommended "minimums".

If I were starting a Marine/Reef tank today, knowing what I know now, I would start with a tank that has dimensions of 4' x 2' x 2'(120 gal.), either pre drilled or have an internal overflow. I would avoid a siphon type overflow due to potential flood issues. I would use as large of a sump as my space could accommodate, allowing enough room for equipment, etc.

 

[JRWOHLER]

If I had one thing to do over it would be to put my sump out of the room with the tank instead of under in the stand. The 120 that Jim is what I have and it is a great size not to big not to small.

 

[ScubaPrincess]

Thanks guys for you responses! Very helpful and now I'm getting a better feel of who I want to put in my tank!

 

[Hawkeye]

My dad inherited my 55 gallon and added a tiny (quarter sized) hippo tang and a yellow tang. 8 years later the hippo really needs a new home and so does the Yellow tang. My dad would like to re-home them in my 120 but I feel like they deserve a bigger place. My point is that while it's possible to keep them it's not ideal.

In terms of what to pick - obviously the fish you want might drive part of the answer. But I've seen really badly neglected large tanks - simply because it got overwhelming, and really amazing beautiful nano (small) tanks. Vice versa applies too - but just saying it's perfectly fine to have a small tank and it be stunning. As you're new to the hobby consider what level of time you will be able to devote to the tank in terms of water changes, feeding, do you travel a lot - will someone be able to help watch the tank while away? etc.