Lavender Tang

Named for the soft purple-grey cast settled adults develop, the lavender tang (Acanthurus nigrofuscus) is a grazing surgeonfish from Indo-Pacific reef crests and rubble zones. Orange freckling around the eye and a dark spot at the rear of the dorsal fin separate it from the plainer brown tangs.

Aquarium care

• Needs a large, mature marine system with a long open swimming run, not a short, densely aquascaped tank.
• Give it brisk, turbulent flow and plenty of live rock to graze between feedings.
• Feed mainly vegetable matter: dried marine algae on a clip several times a week, plus a herbivore pellet.
• Like all surgeonfish it carries a scalpel-sharp spine at the tail base, so move it in a container rather than a net.
• Tangs are prone to marine ich and lateral line erosion in poor conditions; stable parameters and steady grazing food matter most.
• Expect territorial squabbling with other Acanthurus species in anything but a very large tank.

This one is for a keeper with the volume to give it. It settles well with clownfish, wrasses, anthias and other robust reef fish, and leaves corals alone. Add it once quieter fish are settled, and before another tang claims the rockwork.

Stock rotates with each marine order. Local pickup at our Lethbridge store; browse current saltwater fish.