Yellow Tang With Clowns?

[killahbeez2000]

Would i be able to keep a small yellow tang with one or a pair of clarkii clowns about 1 and a half inches. tank is a thrity will be upgrading about 15-20 pounds of liverock.

[sjpresley]

Well....you could....for a while.....if it starts out small, fat, and healthy and the environment is not stressful to him.

 

But he'll need a bigger tank before too long.

[chvynva916]

I wouldn't keep a tang in a 30 in the first place.

[bgoode]

I'm sure the fish would get along okay, my dad has done it in his 90 gallon, but I wouldn't keep any tang in a thirty.

[KarinTMK]

Tangs should not be kept in tanks less than 75 gallons, 125 for some species......I'm not the Tang Police, but that's my opinion...

[sjpresley]

And reef tanks aren't possible in anything less than a 30G......I only say it is possible because it has been reported (even by Bob Fenner in Consciencious Marine Aquarist) that juv. tangs, yellows, hippos, etc....may be kept in groups in tanks as small as a 10G until they outgrow them....which may be quickly....but they may be kept in them temporarily.

 

Not saying I recommend it, per se, but someone that knows a lot more than most of us, didn't have much problem with it as long as there is a plan for when the animal outgrows the tank.

[freakaccident]

They get along fine for me. My yellow tang was in my 10g with my Clarky clown for a couple of months. They became best friends. When I moved the tang to my bigger tank the two fish seemed different. I had to put the Clarky in the big tank with the Tang. All is well now.

[zizmans]

For me, when I recommend to someone not to put a tang or other eventually large adult fish in a small tank. It is because I feel either they have no idea about the final size, or they are "getting" a bigger tank. I think it is totally irresponsible to make plans for another living thing based on a habitat that only exsists in theory. Here's why, a person could lose thier job, get divorced, car accident, etc, etc... There are other alternatives if this happens, credit at a LFS sell on a message board, whatever. It seems when people give this advice, they have to apologize for sounding to nazi-ish. I think someone getting inundated with "don't do it" responses is a good thing. I think anyone experienced enough to ask a question about fish such as tangs, would say they already had a bigger tank for it to go into when it gets bigger in the original post. I think if a person gets one reply saying "that fish gets ALOT bigger" may be overlooked, 20 won't be. Case in point, the LFS I used to go to. Another customer and I were talking about nano's with an employee, he knew the size of the tank then proceeded to sell him a twin spotted wrasse, those bad boys can grow to 2 feet plus in captivity. At the counter I told the guy he couldn't buy that fish for his 10 gal. The LFS started arguing with me that the guy was getting a bigger tank soon, blah,blah, the fish won't grow big if it's in a small environment, blah,blah. Anyways, they told him what he wanted to hear and he bought it, after all it was only 1" 1/2 long right now. Bumped into him 2 weeks ago. He's in a drawn out lawsuit with the contractor who failed to finish his basement where his larger tank was going to go, the wrasse got to big, the LFS he bought it from wouldn't give him credit, (they are now out of business), another LFS said they don't carry them because of the adult size, the LFS we were at helped him out because they have a regular customer with a 300 and they put them together. Oh and by the way, his nano did crash. Better safe than sorry I say, until that "bigger tank" is sitting in your home, you don't have one.

 

Sorry for the long reply.