Blue Tang Care

The Blue Tang (Paracanthurus Hepatus) enjoys the distinction of being one of the five most recognizable maine fishes along with the percula clownfish (Percula, Ocellaris), flame angelfish (Centropyge Loriculus), yellow tang (Zebrasoma Flavescens) and the royal gramma (Gramma Loreto). It remains the sole species under the genus Paracanthurus. Beautifully colored with an iridescent blue throughout its body with thick black markings that begin from the eyes and stretch all the way to its yellow tail.

The blue tang also enjoyed the limelight as a major character in the movie, Finding Nemo. It is also known as the Palette Surgeonfish, Royal Blue Tang and teh Regal Tang. Along with the yellow tang, this fish is the most popular surgeonfish in the hobby. Collected heavily from throughout the Indo-Pacific, it is a very affordable fish.  Juveniles retail for around $25 while adults can fetch up to $80 per specimen. As with all surgeonfish, the blue tang is susceptible to ich and lateral line erosion so pick so keep a look out for any sign of the two.

Towards other species of fish the blue tang is quite peaceful. Which is why (besides its beauty) it enjoys such popularity in the marine aquarium hobby. They can be hostile towards other surgeonfish, especially blue tangs so the general rule should be one blue tank per aquarium.

There a schooling fish in the wild. If more than one is present in a large tank, such behaviour can be witnessed. When housing more than one blue tang, they should always be introduced at the same time. Putting another blue tang into a tank with an established one will certainly bring about hostilities between the two.

Their maximum attainable length is 12 inches. Fish that size need tanks upwards of a 100 gallons. Because this fish is heavily collected, there will be many small specimens no bigger than an inch. They grow very fast at that size and will easily outgrow a 30 gallon in a matter of months.

Blue tangs need large amounts of room to swim so the aquarium scape should be setup up accordingly. They require a few niches/caves to bed down in  every night.

Like most of its surgeonfish cousins, blue tangs are herbivores in the wild. They form large schools and actively graze on algae throughout the day. As herbivores, they require large amounts of algae based foods in captivity. Unlike marine angelfish, they are completely reef safe and do not bother corals, making them hugely popular fish for large marine reef aquariums.

Nori/seaweed sheets are a favorite offering among hobbyists. You can either buy seaweed produced and packaged specifically for marine fishes (Julian sprungs sea veggies) or you can go to your local supermarket and buy some nori sheets there. Buy unflavoured, plain nori. Avoid those that are come spiced. Clip the sheet with a commercial nori clip or a device of your own doing and attach it to the side of the tank.

While they are mainly vegetarians in the wild, they will normally consume anything that is offered in a saltwater aquarium. A small percentage of their diet should come from meaty foods.

High quality food mixes like formula one and formula two should be offered as well as mysis shrimp and a good pellet food. A highly reputable food for all marine fishes are those that are produced by New Life Spectrum.

You may see lettuce being fed to surgeonfish at pet stores. You want to avoid lettuce as it doesn’t offer much nutritionally (romaine or iceberg, doesn’t matter).