Is it time to re-home Thelma? (Tang Question)

[JonoH]

Meet Thelma

Thelma is a vlamingi unicorn tang (Named by my Foster Daughter who was reading 'Thelma the magical unicorn' at the time we inherited her).

Now originally Thelma was housed in a 4 foot tank, she was around 5 inches long (about 1.5 years ago), knowing she was going to outgrow this tank, and wanting to upgrade also I upgraded to a 6 foot 220 Gal tank.

But now I am wondering if it is time to either re-home Thelma, or...upgrade the tank again (LOL).

Currently measuring between 9-10 inches long (if i dont count her streamers) - for comparison, the Blue Tangs are about 6 inches long, and the Yellow is full sized.

We love her, and she is the most friendly fish you would ever have, will eat food from our hands, and even come up for a scratch.
However I have noticed lately she has had some knocks on her nose which make me wonder if she is bumping into the tank and rock while swimming around?

I have a local reefer that i know would take her off my hands, and he has a huge tank (12 foot +).


What are your thoughts?
The tank she is currently in is 220 Gal - 6 foot long, 2 foot high, 2.5 foot deep.

 

[JonoH]

For some context - this was Thelma in her old tank about 1.5-2 yrs ago.
She has grown exponentially in the larger tank.

 

[Stang67]

I also had a vlimingi and I rehomed him to a 300+ when I knew he was too big for the 180g. I get updates on him and he is living his best life now.

 

[JonoH]

How large was yours when you re-homed him?

I also had a vlimingi and I rehomed him to a 300+ when I knew he was too big for the 180g. I get updates on him and he is living his best life now.

 

[Uncle99]

Not overly surprised at some scrapes, it’s a big fish.
But it doesn’t look like too much in the pic, you love her, just continue to watch her carefully to see if her size, continues to result in more rips or tears.

Sometimes my 9 inch blue, who’s somewhat clumsy, hits an Acros flying across the tank, (6 foot) gets a mark hear and there, but they heal, and I get a frag or two.

In the new home is only available now, then maybe.

You have years with this fish….unless you believe it is suffering, then sure, rehome.

 

[BryanM]

Google says min tank size 360.

If the local reefer is a good dude/dudette, I'd take the hard step to re-home. Thelma can apparenty get up to 2 feet long.

 

[JonoH]

Not overly surprised at some scrapes, it’s a big fish.
But it doesn’t look like too much in the pic, you love her, just continue to watch her carefully to see if her size, continues to result in more rips or tears.

Sometimes my 9 inch blue, who’s somewhat clumsy, hits an Acros flying across the tank, (6 foot) gets a mark hear and there, but they heal, and I get a frag or two.

In the new home is only available now, then maybe.

You have years with this fish….unless you believe it is suffering, then sure, rehome.

Def not suffering, but similar to your experiance, free fragging and occasional knocks. She is fat and healthy apart from that.

The offer of the local re-homing will always be there so there is no need to rush into anything.

I guess at this stage it's observe and see what changes, if growth keeps up as it has been going i imagine its probably 6-12 months away though.

 

[JonoH]

Google says min tank size 360.

If the local reefer is a good dude/dudette, I'd take the hard step to re-home. Thelma can apparenty get up to 2 feet long.

Google does say that for volume but 6 foot for length - so it is confusing.

The issue most get is they cannot swim enough without having to turn around etc - thankfully i havent had that problem yet, but i can see it coming.

100% agree though for a fully grown adult it would need a 10-12 foot tank at least! Or a 6x6...
- def time to plan the next upgrade