The Yellow Tang

The surgeonfish are a fashionable set of saltwater aquarium fish in the marine aquarium hobby. On the whole, tangs are pretty big as far as ornamental saltwater fishes are concerned. Nevertheless our tang of interest, the Yellow Tang, is one of the smaller kinds of surgeonfish. Their scientific name is Zebrasoma Flavescens. The genus Zebrasoma is most likely the most admired genus within the family.


The yellow tang remains arguably the most recognizable member of the family Acanthuridae along with the similarly striking Blue Tang. Their whole body is painted with a bright yellow that covers them from head to tail. The only spot not covered in yellow is their tail blade, that is small protruding blade like structure in close proximity to their caudal fin.

All surgeonfish possess this blade near their tails. In actual fact, their family (Acanthuridae) is named after that trait. It is largely used during the breeding period in addition to as a means of defense. You'll need to keep your fingers away from it as it is very razor- sharp.

The yellow tang is located in big groups off the seas of the Hawaiian islands. They are additionally known to inhabit the Marshall Islands where they are also collected from. In the wild they can attain a length of approximately eight inches but a more common length in the aquarium would be between 6 and seven inches.

A bigger marine aquarium fish to be certain. A good tank would be a hundred gallon aquarium or bigger. If you can spring for it, go big, as all surgeonfish are free swimming in the wild and have need of loads of room to swim about in. They are not considered an aggressive surgeonfish and commonly do great with other kinds of fish.

They commonly do not tolerate other varieties of surgeonfish although they are not as harsh towards them like angels more often than not are. Those that keep many yellow tangs or multiple surgeonfish kinds together with a yellow tang generally have very large tanks surpassing 200 to 250 gallons.

It is additionally critical to remember to put in several Yellow Tangs to the aquarium at the same time. The very last thing you need is to introduce a specimen when another resident has already been established in the aquarium.