Identification:  Its coloration is sky blue overall with a bright yellow dorsal fin and bright yellow at the base of the tail. It is black on the nose and around and under the eye and has a light bluish white bottom fin and a white with black rimmed tail fin. 

Maximum Length: Attains a length of approximately 10 inches

Origin: Indian Ocean

Minimum tank size:  100 Gallons

Behavior:  This species is of average hardiness, at times being a little difficult when first introduced into the aquarium environment. Once settled, this species should do well for the aquarist over a long period of time. The Powder Blue Tang is a very shy fish, it needs many hiding places in your aquarium. It can also not be kept in aquariums with aggressive fish and with aggressive eaters, not even other tangs exhibiting this behavior. The powder blue will always be out competed for food and will, eventually, give up trying to eat completely at all going into a "starvation mode," leading to quick and serious deterioration.

Feeding and diet:  This fish should be fed plenty of green algaes and vegetable matter and will generally spend most of its time grazing on the algae that builds up on the tank. The greatest challenge the hobbyists encounters is to get the fish to start eating. This is easier in reef tanks than it is in just plain fish tanks. The fish is herbivorous but will eat live brine shrimp and other live foods such as real small shrimp with the addition of vegetable material. 

To start this fish eating, spinach and romaine lettuce (especially the inner leaves) are the ones to begin the feeding cycle with. Attach them to a "clip" and affix them to the glass panels in the tank. Place two or three of them in different locations using such lettuce clips. If the fish refuses to eat lettuce, add live foods and try to start the feeding cycle in that manner.

Reef Compatibility:  This species makes an excellent marine reef aquarium fish, although if the aquarist has any green macro algae, the Powder Blue Tang will devour it.

Cautions:  The Powder Blue Tang can be somewhat aggressive towards other tang species so it is not recommended that you mix this species with other tang species unless it is in a large aquarium environment. Keep only one per tank.