Description

A yellow tang is the fish that makes a reef tank look like a reef. Uniform lemon yellow, constantly grazing, and it will pick nuisance algae off rockwork all day.

Tangs are also the fish most commonly killed by impatience. Ours are held in quarantine for a full 21 days, treated for flukes, and confirmed eating dried nori before we will sell them. That is why they cost more than the same fish from an importer selling straight off the plane.

Keeping notes

• Swimming length matters more than volume. A 5 ft tank is the practical minimum; 500 litres and up.
• Clip dried nori daily. A tang without vegetable matter develops a pinched belly and is prone to disease.
• Tangs are prone to marine ich. Never skip quarantine when adding other fish later.
• One tang per tank unless the system is very large – they are territorial towards their own kind.