Achilles tang

Care at a glance

The achilles tang is velvet black with a bright orange teardrop before the tail and white accents on the fins. It lives in the surge zones of the Pacific, in the most turbulent, oxygen-rich parts of the reef.

That is exactly what makes it hard to keep: it demands strong flow, plenty of oxygen and a large, mature aquarium, and it is notoriously prone to white spot. Always quarantine it, feed vegetable food several times a day and keep exactly one per tank.

Good to know

• Territorial
• Needs a mature, stable tank
• Outgrows most home tanks

Best not combined with

• Powder blue tangAcanthurus leucosternon

Related species

• Convict tangAcanthurus triostegus
• Lemonpeel angelfishCentropyge flavissima
• Potter’s angelfishCentropyge potteri
• Scopas tangZebrasoma scopas
• Regal angelfishPygoplites diacanthus
• Tomini tangCtenochaetus tominiensis