opinion on fish

[PufferGuy]

One of my buddies called me yesterday and asked me if i would want "some free saltwater stuff" because his friend was tearing down his huge tank (like 300+ gallons). I went with him and the guy had most of his corals donated to the local zoo, the LR was mostly all still there but i dont need anymore, and out of his live stock he had a couple larger tangs still, a small scopas/yellow hybrid and 1 cleaner shrimp. He was gonna go give all of it to one of our LFS for free because they mostly only give store credit and since he's getting out of it he didnt need it.

Since the stuff was free.. i took the cleaner shrimp and the small scopas hybrid.

The only fish i had in my tank prior were 1 small clown, 1 small cardinal and 1 diamond goby. Now i know that eventually the tang will outgrow my tank, but at the moment its body is about the size of a ping pong ball. How long could i keep it in my tank? And am I overstocked??

Thanks

 

[Pack]

With that list, I would not say you are overstocked. But getting there ;) It would all also depend on how much maintenance you want to be doing, how good your skimmer is, how much rock you have, etc. But assuming that is all in order, you should be OK.
As far as how long you could keep the tang, I really couldn't answer. I have never kept a juvi zebramosa tang of any species. But, I also had a 40, and have kept a few juvi hippo tangs on occasion. Generally, they would be good for anywhere from a year to two before I would trade them out. Not sure if it would be similar but would hopefully give you an idea. A lot of people disagree with keeping juvi's in smaller tanks, but as long as you realize you will eventually have to either get rid of it or trade it for another juvi (many LFS's will gladly do this straight across), I personally see no problem with it.

 

[mng777777]

zebramosa's tend to be among the most aggressive species of tang. I know you know that it does not belong in a 40 gal. My advice would be to monitor it closely to see if it goes after any of the other fish and get rid of it asap if it does. I would also plan on getting a bigger tank, or trading it in sooner than later.

 

[yote]

Just go ahead and start planning your up-grade now:D
That way when the tang starts getting to big,you got a tank he can go in.

 

[PufferGuy]

I wish i could upgrade, but right now that doesnt seem like a valid choice. I havent seen him go after any other fish but I have noticed that the goby does hide or swim away quickly when the tang comes around.

 

[mng777777]

Watch it closely for ich. It is likely to become stressed in that tank.