http://glassbox-design.com/2009/large-acanthurus-tangs-surgeonfish/ the modern reef blog Thu, 17 May 2012 17:21:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 http://glassbox-design.com/2009/large-acanthurus-tangs-surgeonfish/comment-page-1/#comment-5062 mcliffy2 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:14:09 +0000 http://glassbox-design.com/?p=3635#comment-5062 I agree, which is why my Mata that is pictured will be finding a new home soon in the 10s of thousands of gallons range :) I won't be stocking any such large tang again. I've seen their territories in the wild, and would honestly say that anything less than a 10'x5' space is too small for these beasts. I agree, which is why my Mata that is pictured will be finding a new home soon in the 10s of thousands of gallons range I won’t be stocking any such large tang again. I’ve seen their territories in the wild, and would honestly say that anything less than a 10′x5′ space is too small for these beasts.

]]> http://glassbox-design.com/2009/large-acanthurus-tangs-surgeonfish/comment-page-1/#comment-5039 Nicholas Sadaka Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:10:16 +0000 http://glassbox-design.com/?p=3635#comment-5039 I have to say that this is one of the decisions I most regret in my time keeping fish. My 125 gallon reef tank with 30 gallon sump has been in existence for about 7 years and was pretty much fully stocked after the first year. I certainly did not know then what I know now and since my parents partially financed the tank, they decided they wanted a pair of the cute little 50-cent piece sized blue regal tangs along with the still very small yellow tang we already had. Of course at that size it was absolutely fine, but we certainly never had any intentions to upgrade the tank and I didn't know enough to say no at the time. Fast forward 7 years later, they are all pretty close, if not full sized. We are all VERY attached to all of them and I would never DREAM of taking any of them to an LFS where they might go to someone who puts them in a worse situation. They are all VERY healthy looking, but regardless, I can tell they are scrunched. There is definite aggression between the two blues, although none between the blue and yellow. So much between the blues though that one jumped into an overflow (of course it was the smaller of the two). I felt lucky that it didn't find it's way to the floor instead, but I still have a lot of guilt over it. It was VERY hard pulling it out of the overflow...I had to drain it and pull it out with my hands (only covered by ziplock plastic). I was very lucky neither the fish nor I was hurt, but we were both very traumatized by the incident. Aggression has died down again, but I feel like it's only a matter of time. These are fantastic fish-beautiful, interesting, personable and many other things, but this is too crowded. I don't know what the size restraints should be, but if you are an animal loving aquarist like I am, please learn from my mistake-this is DEFINITELY not enough room for 3 tangs of any type. I have to say that this is one of the decisions I most regret in my time keeping fish. My 125 gallon reef tank with 30 gallon sump has been in existence for about 7 years and was pretty much fully stocked after the first year. I certainly did not know then what I know now and since my parents partially financed the tank, they decided they wanted a pair of the cute little 50-cent piece sized blue regal tangs along with the still very small yellow tang we already had. Of course at that size it was absolutely fine, but we certainly never had any intentions to upgrade the tank and I didn’t know enough to say no at the time. Fast forward 7 years later, they are all pretty close, if not full sized. We are all VERY attached to all of them and I would never DREAM of taking any of them to an LFS where they might go to someone who puts them in a worse situation. They are all VERY healthy looking, but regardless, I can tell they are scrunched. There is definite aggression between the two blues, although none between the blue and yellow. So much between the blues though that one jumped into an overflow (of course it was the smaller of the two). I felt lucky that it didn’t find it’s way to the floor instead, but I still have a lot of guilt over it. It was VERY hard pulling it out of the overflow…I had to drain it and pull it out with my hands (only covered by ziplock plastic). I was very lucky neither the fish nor I was hurt, but we were both very traumatized by the incident. Aggression has died down again, but I feel like it’s only a matter of time. These are fantastic fish-beautiful, interesting, personable and many other things, but this is too crowded. I don’t know what the size restraints should be, but if you are an animal loving aquarist like I am, please learn from my mistake-this is DEFINITELY not enough room for 3 tangs of any type.

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