Contractor blues

[tomaquar]

Ever had a contractor come into your home, promise to be careful around your pride and joy, and then when you return home after a week find that the power has been cut and what had once been a beautiful, tiny little reef is now a toxic soup? It is annoying.

So two questions, first Im getting ready to restock fish and Im wondering if its cruel to put a blue tang into a 55 gallon tank. If they start small (1 inch) do they adjust or do they become crampt and miserable?

Second is anyone thinking about trimming back some of the fast growing softies? (ie xenia, mushroom, star polyps) If so , and you need to find a home for the excess please let me know.

Thanks

 

[mojo]

Yes - a blue tang will be cramped and soon outgrow a 55 gallon tank. Even if you think you'll be able to get it out after it gets to a certain size, it just won't happen. It's also a myth that fish adjust to the size of their environment - much in the same way that a child wouldn't stop growing if you put them in a smaller house...

Sorry- don't have any softies...

 

[kullas]

i should have some xenia and maybe some gsp but give it a day or 2 on the xenia to make sure its going to do ok ( i just cut it and attached it to a rock)

 

[tsciarini]

in addition tangs are VERY large waste producers and will cause poor water quality in a small tank very quickly. It will take a year or less for a tang to outgrow a 55... please consider another species.

 

[pillz]

and the chances of getting a small regal and it living is slim... usually if there not sold within the first week at a petstore they die. Even as they get older there prone to Ick.

 

[tomaquar]

Thanks, thats what I needed to know. Yellow it is.

 

[tsciarini]

um.... youre probably going to run into the same issues with a yellow tang (or any tang for that matter)