BAD news at a LFS

[canyoubelieveit]

So... I walked into a lfs today (not too local, 1 hour away) and checked out their saltwater section today. I was very excited, as I saw many healthy fish.

Then came the 55 gallon display tank!

Here is the fish list:

1x Adult Naso Tang
1x Yellow Tang
1x Purple Tang
1x Mandarin goby
1x Moray Eel
1x Yellow Box fish ?

and a few others...

Uh oh... right?

The sign on the tank said "These fish are not for sale"... So I decided to talk to the owner

He claims that the tank has been running for 2 years with no problems at all. The tank has been disease free and death free for 2 years!!!!! The water looked beautiful and I was simply amazed that he had been able to keep this tank successfully.

How is this possible? This is the tang police's worst nightmare...

I asked about the lively hood of the fish and he told me that the fish seem very happy and swim around happily every day.

I'm confused, this confuses EVERYTHING that I have read.

I do not plan on attempting ANYTHING like this and I do not advise it...

Can anybody justify the success of this tank?

Thanks

 

[Navarre]

Placing a tang in a tank of this size is possible. I wouldnt say it was advisable.

Yes its possible to put tangs or any other fish that needs "special" requirements into less than ideal conditions. The problem we face there of course is whether the fish is thriving or simply surviving.

This shop seems to have good stock but the display tank advocates to all customers that these fish can easily be cared for in tanks of half the recomended size. Unfortunately this means that if you were to go i nto this shop and enquired into a 50 gallon setup and asked how many tangs can i put in thre what would they answer? They cannot say its not recomended when they have them on display so they will probably say its fine to do this and this means they are not well read or that knowledgable on the living conditions of these fish.
What i feel is happening here is that they want these bright bold tangs to "sell" their smaller tanks. Large tanks dont sell so well as people wont may the extra expense unless they are heavilyinto the hobby. So 50 gallons is usually the limit. This means the owners need to make the show tank of this size as attractive as possible to entice people to buy. IMO its wrong, I work in a shop now too (only a few days per week) but i simply wil not sell a tang to people with smaller tanks. I alway sask the size of their tanks and if its not up to standard they are moved away from the tangs and guided to dwarf angels etc.

So back to the tank and shop in question... Yes they are living but not in ideal conditions (no matter how good the quality of the water, a cramped space is a cramped space) and bad ethics means this is a shop that needs to be re-educated im afraid. Of course they will argue that they have no problems and all this hype on tangs is a load of crap! but this is 1 man in 1 shop against all the marine forums across the entire globe... all the marine fish books that also recomend large tanks... Someone has it wrong.. i would wager its the shop

 

[sammydee]

The water quality was probably good because the tank was plumbed into a whole loop for all of the tanks.

 

[canyoubelieveit]

Someone has it wrong.. i would wager its the shop

Me too

The water quality was probably good because the tank was plumbed into a whole loop for all of the tanks.

They have most of their tanks hooked up to a system like this, but the display tank is on its own.
(I rememembered another tang that was in there... the Blue tang.)

Navarre, this tank is very appealing to the customers. Many of the more popular tangs are in there and by having this tank set up of course they will recommend that people can keep (at least) 1 tang inside of a 55 gallon.

If I were to adress these people, how would I go about doing it? I would like to let them know what they are doing to the fish, but not upset them. If they continue selling fish that are not suitable for their customers setups, then they are doing an injustice to the hobby.