Blue Tang in 44G

[carsimex]

Hello,
My wife went to the local LFS and brought Blue Tang back. It is small one not even an inch. We have 44g with plenty of LR, couple of shrimps, Coral Beauty, very small tank breed Clown and 2 Chromis who we plan to get red of soon. I have read that Tang requires plenty of space. Is our tank to small for it? If this is the case I am taking it back to the store and probably will not comeback for anything, even though it is very close and convenient to my house. I think the owner of the store just does not care.

Thanks.

 

[ChrisRD]

I don't know which animal you have when you say a Blue Tang, but a few come to mind such as Acanthurus coeruleus (Atlantic Blue Tang), Acanthurus leucosternon (Powder Blue Tang) or Paracanthurus hepatus (Hippo Tang). IMO, any of these species would require a larger tank as they grow-out to full size.

HTH

 

[carsimex]

Thanks for the reply.
Mine is 'Paracanthurus hepatus'

 

[ChrisRD]

They are a beautiful fish, and if you get a healthy one they can be really hardy, but they grow large and generally it's recommended that they have a 100+ gallon tank to grow-out to adult size in.