Dinner plate tangs

[mark]

so just how long does it take a Tang to out grow a tank?

See often "your tanks too small, those fish grow the size of dinner plates", but doubt my Purple (had about 8 years) and the Regal (~4 years) are much bigger than 5".

[christyf5]

Personally I think its all about how well they're fed in the first year or two but thats just my opinion. I've had my regal since 2005 and he was about 5" when I got him from a fellow reefer. He's maybe 7" now he eats like a pig.

Contrast that with the orange shoulder tang I got this past March (no idea on age, I got it from the LFS and it had juvenile colors). It was about 4" when I got it and is now approaching the size of the regal, that is some crazy fast growth and yes, he also eats like a pig

[Aquattro]

I agree with Christy. My yellow never grew at all, and I had it for almost 10 years.

[Lance]

Interesting thread.
Whenever I buy a fish I record the date purchased and the length of the fish. So I can give you a pretty good idea; at least with these three species. I also feed quite heavily and they are all fat.
Sailfin Tang: 4" to 6" in 30 months
Kole Tang: 4" to 5.5" in 19 months
Chocolate Tang: 3.5" to 4.5" in 11 months

[marie]

I have a yellow tang that I've had for 5.5 yrs and is still the same size as when I bought him.....my achilles on the other hand was 3" 4.5 yrs ago and is now approx 9" (90% of his growth happened in the first 2 yrs)

[Delphinus]

Someone linked to an article (well, more of a blog I think) a couple weeks ago where he talked of carbon use and the buildup of generic "organics" and his theory was that it was the buildup of organics over time, that which can't be easily skimmed out, that contributed to the max size of fish, smaller than that of their wild counterparts .. more so than tank size and the old addage that they grow to the tank and stop. I don't think he cited any research so who knows how close to the mark that was but nevertheless it does seem an interesting (and plausible) theory.

My desjardini sailfin tang is 9 years old and I'm not sure that he has stopped growing but I don't have a good way to quantify that. He's certainly 3 times the length that he was in 2001. That said he's considerably smaller than those I have seen in public aquariums.

Heard lots of theories about this sort of thing, ranging from "they grow to the size of the aquarium" to "they never stop growing" to "they don't really stop growing but they develop skeletal issues and eventually perish prematurely because they CAN'T grow properly" and now this last one (that was clearly in favour of carbon usage to combat the buildup of "organics") in that it has nothing to do with water volume but rather the chemical soups that tanks tend to become over time.

[Lance]

Did he say the carbon as well as the organics led to diminished size? That's interesting as I've heard that carbon may be a link to HLLE in Tangs and Angels.

[Zoaelite]

Had to sell a few of these tangs as they out grew the tank (Much faster than anticipated but it varies between genus). My Acanthurus and Naso genus tangs grow really fast while my Zebrasoma and Ctenochaetus grew muuuch slower.

Vlamingi- 3-6.5" in 8 months
Yellowfin- 4-7" in 5 months
Orange Socket tang- 2-7" in 18 months
Yellow- 3-5" in 13 months
Purple- 6.5-7" in 3 months
Chocolate Mimic- 3-4" in 13 months
Orange Chocolate Mimic- 5-5.5" in 6 months
2 Spot Bristtletooth- 3-4" in 13 months

And there all fat little piggies.

[daniella3d]

I don,t think that a hippo tang kept in a 30 gallons will ever become large. I saw one kept in a 38 gallons and it was only like not even 3 inches tail incluede and it was more than 2 year old.

I know that with discus it is very easy to stunt them. If they don't eat enough in the first year they will remain like 2 or 3" at max instead of 8" to 10". Sometimes a well developing fish catch a disease and stop eating for like 3 to 4 weeks and that's enough for that discus to remain small all of its life.

Originally Posted by mark

so just how long does it take a Tang to out grow a tank?

See often "your tanks too small, those fish grow the size of dinner plates", but doubt my Purple (had about 8 years) and the Regal (~4 years) are much bigger than 5".

[naesco]

Originally Posted by mark

so just how long does it take a Tang to out grow a tank?

See often "your tanks too small, those fish grow the size of dinner plates", but doubt my Purple (had about 8 years) and the Regal (~4 years) are much bigger than 5".

I had a powder brown tang that I had for 14 years that grew to about 7 inches.
I had an orange shoulder tang that grew to about 9 inches in about a year and a vlamingi tang that grew to almost a foot in about a year.

The 'your tank is too small' in the case of tangs arises from the fact that tangs are swimmers and require the longer (6 feet) tanks that accommodate their needs not because the tang grows big.

Some reefers try to justify the purchase of a tang when they do not have a suitably sized tank by observing it size at the LFS. THe Pie Plate comment is meant to have the reefer visualize a larger fish in his/her small tank with the idea that they will pass on a purchase until that have a tank large enough to accommodate. it.

It is a dangerous myth to suggest that a fish will adapt in size to the size of the tank.

IMO fish are larger in the wild because they are eating every daylight minute whereas they may only be feed 1 or 2 times a day by the reefer.