🐠 Fowleri Tang (Acanthurus fowleri)
A Bluish Face With a Brown-Olive Body • A Striking White Crescent Tail Accent • One of the Calmer Large Acanthurus Species
 
📋 The Fowleri Tang, also known as Fowler's Surgeonfish, the Horseshoe Tang, or Blackspine Surgeonfish, has a distinctive bluish face marked with arcing lines behind the eye, a brown-to-olive body, a bright orange-yellow dorsal fin, and a striking white crescent, or "lyre," accent on its tail.
It ranges across a wide stretch of the Indo-Pacific and northwestern Australia, inhabiting clear seaward reefs and drop-offs, a challenging habitat to collect from, which explains why this species is infrequently available in the aquarium trade compared with other tangs. Every Fowleri Tang we ship is feeding well.
Adults can reach up to 45-50cm, making this one of the larger-growing Acanthurus tangs, though it's one of the less aggressive members of its genus despite this size. It's reef safe with caution, a constant, valuable algae grazer that may occasionally nip at corals in a reef setting. It needs wide-open, turbulent, well-oxygenated water and a serious dedicated tank given both its size and activity level. Plan on at least 1,360L.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Bluish Face With a Crescent Tail Accent: A distinctive, elegant tang
💎 Uncommon in the Trade: Its deep drop-off habitat makes collection challenging
📏 One of the Larger Acanthurus Species: Adults reach up to 50cm
🌿 Reef Safe With Caution: A valuable grazer that may occasionally nip at corals
😌 Less Aggressive: Calmer than many similarly sized tangs