The Blue Tang of Many Names

Paracanthurus hepatus is a fish of many (common) names. It is frequently called Blue Tang, a name that causes some confusion as it shares this moniker with a Caribbean surgeonfish from another genus. It's also called Palette Tang because its pattern looks something like the palette an artist would use to hold their oil paints. Other names include Regal Tang, IndoPacific Blue Tang, Flag Tail Surgeon, Wedge Tail Surgeon, and a number of variations of “Blue” added to Surgeonfish, Tang, or just Surgeon. It's less frequently called Hepatus Tang for its genus, and seemingly only in North America, it's often called the Hippo Tang, and we have no good reason for this, though many assume it is a shortened version of its species name. There are a couple different color forms of this fish, and at maturity, this one has a prominent yellow belly and reddish spines along its dorsal fin, and thus we call it the Yellow Belly Hippo Tang.

Hippo Tangs are a popular aquarium fish around the world. They are found near tropical coral reefs in water usually less than 100 feet deep. However, the yellow belly variant occurs only in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. As juveniles, they will not show the yellow belly, so ensuring yours came from the correct area is very important in making sure you get the fish you are looking for. Paracanthurus hepatus with yellow bellies are seen much less frequently than their all-blue bellied brothers because of their native range. It remains a challenge to reliably source these fish from areas that often suffer from political instability and offer long transport times. The best thing you can do is always purchase your fish from vendors who carry Quality Marine fish as we track individual fish and collectors in detail that no other wholesaler is capable of. As a result of doing this for decades, we've been able to make partnerships with the collectors who do the best job of catching, keeping and transporting these fish to us in the shortest amount of time in transit, and furthermore, to work with these vendors to improve the quality of fish we offer. The importance of this cannot be overstated.

Yellow Belly Hippo Tangs are different only in color from their blue bellied brethren and both are excellent fish for the home aquarium when sourced well and given good conditions to live in. Paracanthurus hepatus have slightly different nutritional needs than many other tangs as they are primarily planktivores in the wild. While they will graze on algae, and this is important in their diet, the bulk of what they eat is high protein. Start feeding yours a good mix of meaty foods from Gamma Foods. Items like Mysis, Spirulina Loaded Brine, and Chopped Prawn are all excellent foods for them. Being planktivores, they are usually pretty easy to segue onto pellet foods, and in house we have very good results getting them to eat Nutramar's Marine Complete Pellets in addition to the meaty mix we offer them twice a day. This is a very active fish and should get multiple feedings per day. They will also appreciate some grazing on rehydrated algae products like Nutramar Nori and Ogo Gracilaria.

When cared for well, Yellow Belly Hippos will grow quickly, to a large adult size. The record length for one is just over a foot; adult fish are much more commonly in the eight-to-ten-inch size. This means you'll need a display with a large footprint to keep them healthy long term. Our suggested minimum is 180 gallons and six feet long or more. These fish love swim space and current and as such, flow in the display should be high, aiming for turning over the entire volume of the tank 20 times an hour or more, wave makers and other water movement devices will also be appreciated. Decor should be open with as many swim-throughs as possible. On the other hand, these fish love to hide in rocks, and so there should be some caves for them to rest in as well. They don't need substrate and are good candidates for bare bottom tanks.

Paracanthurus hepatus is a big eater and as such, a big pooper. They also do best in aquariums with very clean water, and this all works well with the size of filtration you'll need to get them the flow they want. Shoot for nitrates under five ppm. They'll do best in tanks that hover around 75 degrees Fahrenheit and a high, stable pH. The normal aquarium salinity range is fine, but they should be acclimated to changes in salinity (like when you add them to your display) so we suggest drip acclimation.

This love of flow makes them a good fit for the types of aquariums that house SPS corals and luckily, are Yellow Belly Hippo Tangs are extremely low risk with corals. In their wild environment, they are almost always found around dense Acropora growths that they use for cover. They won't bother inverts of any type unless they are small enough to eat, like copepods. They are relatively peaceful fish but may be territorial with similarly shaped fish like other Tangs and some Angels. In the wild they are frequently found in groups, but unless you have a truly massive aquarium, this is unlikely to work well in the long term; groups of Paracanthurus hepatus will do very well together when small. We've seen plenty of successful displays with Yellow Belly Hippos and other tangs, but in every instance, the tangs were added to the aquarium at the same time.

If given regular meals of high-quality food and adequate space, the Yellow Belly Hippo Tang is a very hardy fish that can live seven plus years in your display (one aquarist here had one for 11 years!) Before the advent of really quality pellets, these tangs were once thought prone to getting HLLE (head and lateral line erosion), but we've found this to be strongly correlated to them receiving an inferior diet. Now, with the help of Gamma and Nutramar's lines of quality foods, this icon of the aquarium hobby can be easily kept in top condition for years! Head to your LFS and ask them about sustainably harvested Paracanthurus hepatus from Quality Marine today!