Blonde naso Tang – Naso elegans, Naso lituratus
The blonde naso tang comes from the Red Sea and Indian Ocean areas. The blonde naso tang does well in an aquarium that has plenty of active and healthy live rock with micro-algae and macro-algae to eat. This tang grows to 18 inches, which means it needs a large tank. It generally makes a good reef tank fish.
Maximum Size: The blonde naso tang can grow to a maximum size of 18.0 inches
Minimum Tank Size: The minimum tank size should be 135 gallons
Care Level: The blonde naso tang is a pretty hardy fish to maintain. On a scale of 1 –10, (10 being easy) it would rate a “7”. The tank should already be cycled before introducing this fish. The blonde naso needs a diet rich in vegetable matter otherwise it may develop head and lateral line erosion.
Tank Conditions: Temperature 75-79°F; Specific gravity: 1.021 – 1.024; pH: 8.1 – 8.3; Nitrates should be no more than 20 ppm.
Color: The blonde naso tang is distinguished by its orange dorsal fin, rather than black in its Pacific counterpart.
Temperament: This is a good fish. For the most part, this fish can stand its ground against fish of similar or slightly larger size. It can ultimately become aggressive to other tangs of its kind. You can maintain more than one but you will need to increase the tank size so each has room
 Reef Compatible: Will eat micro-algae and macro-algae and browse on live rock. If you find it nipping at coral (both hard and soft) increase feeding amount. It is generally a safe reef fish.
Diet: The blonde naso tang is basically an omnivore but will eat more vegetable matter. Feed dried and frozen marine algae along with sushi seaweed AquaDyne spirulina flakes. You can even supplement its commercial diet with blanched land vegetables such as zucchini and lettuce.
Habitat: Provide with plenty of hiding places. Good water circulation is important as well as high quality water maintenance. Filtration should include a protein skimmer and activated carbon filtration. A healthy blonde naso tang is very active; thus, it is important to provide it with plenty of swimming space. This fish may jump out of an open aquarium so make sure you have a lid on you tank.
Lighting: A high quality full spectrum lighting system should be used to help micro-algae and macro-algae grow.
Compatibility: Tang in general can be kept with, catfish, filefish, firefish, gobies, grammas, rabbitfish to name a few and they should not be housed with groupers, sharks, lionfish or rays and can be a problem if housed with damselfish, butterflyfish, cardinalfish and triggerfish.
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