Is it at all possible to get fish small enough that they will not out grow an aquarium??

Question

Is it possible to have a Tang (Regal or yellow) in a 55 maybe 70(5), and maybe a Clown Triggerfish thats really pushing it. I know that fish grow to the size of their aquarium to an extent but how much of an extent?

Answer 1

Fish will grow to the size they're meant to be or die trying. The size of the tank only limits the dilution of their wastes, so trying to keep a fish in a tank that's too small will only lead to premature death from water quality issues.

In the case of the tang family, you also have activity level as well as adult size to consider. A yellow tang will only get to 7-8 inches, but they're like greyhounds that need to move - and they prefer fast or faster. You could keep a yellow tang in a 55 (minimum size I'd keep one in), but the 75 would be better. The regal should have at least a 90 as an adult. And you may not have good results if you try to keep these together (territorial aggression).

Clown triggers are very aggressive, and I wouldn't keep them in anything under a 100 gallon (an 18 inch fish).

If you want to keep any of these three, I'd plan on a 70-75 gallon tank, and only get the yellow tang.

Answer 2

If you were raised in a home where the ceilings had a height of 3' do you think you would have grown significantly less? You would be shorter due to deformities of the spine and probably some other health issues due to these forced deformities though you would still end up to be relatively a similar size just a misshapen unhealthy mess. Now if this was a small room so you created more waste than the cleaning crew could handle there would be other issues as well. Don't do this to your fish. Research your fish to find the maximum size, required nutrician, temperment and other basic information before taking this fish which came from the wild and agreeing to be responsible to care for it for the rest of it's life.

You will be much happier having healthy fish in a proper environment than stuffing extra fish in an aquarium that's too small and having to deal with disease and issues all the time.