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the regal tang or paracanthurus hepatus is very colorful reef safe fish belonging to the family of acanthuridae, it is the ONLY fish in the species of paracanthurus.
it has many common names in this hobby. palette surgeonfish, blue tang (which is misleading as the actual blue tang is Atlantic acanthurus coeruleus), royal blue tang, hippo tang, flagtail surgeonfish, blue surgeonfish, and more common as of late (since finding nemo came out) DORY
the fish is royal blue in color with a yellow tail and black artist palette design on its body (although there is a color variant native to the west-central Indian ocean which is commonly called a yellow belly blue regal tang)
this tang as with all others can cut humans with its caudal spine having a razor sharp scalpel blade for its defense.
juveniles require a minimum of a 40 gallon tank while adults have been kept in captivity but as they grow in size then need room to swim so a minimum tank size of 100 gallons is preferred for adults of this species while tank of 150+ plus are recommended for keeping multiple tangs.
care level: easy
temp: 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit
dKH (alkalinity): 8 to 12
PH: 8.2 to 8.4
salinity 1.020 to 1.025
temperament: peaceful (can be aggressive with other surgeon fishes and more so with other blue tangs)
minimum tank size: 100 gallons (regal tangs can reach up to 12" in the wild so a large tanks are required. regal tangs are schooling fish in the wild and you COULD keep multiples but a large tank would be a necessity, i would say somewhere in the range of 200 gallons plus for the benefit of the fish)
reef safe: YES
diet: algae grazers (supplement with krill, mysis, brine, brine shrimp, pellets, but mostly algae such as nori NEVER feed them lettuce as it does not really contain enough nutritional value for the fish and IMHO should NEVER be used in the saltwater aquarium hobby)
the regal tang or paracanthurus hepatus is very colorful reef safe fish belonging to the family of acanthuridae, it is the ONLY fish in the species of paracanthurus.
it has many common names in this hobby. palette surgeonfish, blue tang (which is misleading as the actual blue tang is Atlantic acanthurus coeruleus), royal blue tang, hippo tang, flagtail surgeonfish, blue surgeonfish, and more common as of late (since finding nemo came out) DORY
the fish is royal blue in color with a yellow tail and black artist palette design on its body (although there is a color variant native to the west-central Indian ocean which is commonly called a yellow belly blue regal tang)
this tang as with all others can cut humans with its caudal spine having a razor sharp scalpel blade for its defense.
juveniles require a minimum of a 40 gallon tank while adults have been kept in captivity but as they grow in size then need room to swim so a minimum tank size of 100 gallons is preferred for adults of this species while tank of 150+ plus are recommended for keeping multiple tangs.
care level: easy
temp: 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit
dKH (alkalinity): 8 to 12
PH: 8.2 to 8.4
salinity 1.020 to 1.025
temperament: peaceful (can be aggressive with other surgeon fishes and more so with other blue tangs)
minimum tank size: 100 gallons (regal tangs can reach up to 12" in the wild so a large tanks are required. regal tangs are schooling fish in the wild and you COULD keep multiples but a large tank would be a necessity, i would say somewhere in the range of 200 gallons plus for the benefit of the fish)
reef safe: YES
diet: algae grazers (supplement with krill, mysis, brine, brine shrimp, pellets, but mostly algae such as nori NEVER feed them lettuce as it does not really contain enough nutritional value for the fish and IMHO should NEVER be used in the saltwater aquarium hobby)
