To Tang or not to Tang

I am currently working on establishing a 44 gal bowfront and was curious as to exactly what I needed as far as an environment goes to keep a blue tang happy. Also any suggestions on how to help keep them out of the quarantine tank and in the actually tank free of parasites? If all else fails what is another fish that fills the void in the blue color (besides a little feisty damsel that will reek havoc in the tank)

Around a 180 gallon tank. I have a 135 and wouldn't put a blue tang in there, not sure which one you are referring to, a regal or a powder but either need a lot of room. There's dwarf angels that are blue that would fit but you run the risk of them eating coral.

44 gal tank is to small for tangs

yes it is and its sad I know of a sturgeon in a 55 gal tank thats at least a foot long and all he does is sit under a rock arch but he has lots of algae to munch on at least. how do yellow's fair in smaller tanks since they are a little smaller?

Biggest problem with tangs in small tanks is they grow pretty fast and tend to be quite aggressive, if you've ever seen a full grown yellow tang you wouldn't even consider it. They are too likely to bring in disease, be stressed and pick on everything else in there. Plus ripping apart your entire tank a year down the road to get a tang back out is not a lot of fun, I had to do it twice when I had a 12 gallon tank (not for a tang lol) and it sucked. Smallest tangs are koles or tominis and you'd still want at least a 75 gallon for them IMO. And neither of those is very brightly colored or flashy. How about a wrasse instead? Lots of bright colors there. Just research as some are reef safe and some are not.

Yes 75 gal min for the small tangs and 125 min for the larger species. There is a blue reef chormis.

i agree with the above only to add if your new to salt i would not recommend any tank for at least 6 months maybe a year. for the simple face that tangs can be and are ich magnets. as far as size of tank i wouldn't do any tang in less than a 125 gallon. you can get away with it in some instances...i had a couple small tangs being held in a 75 while i was tearing down tanks...they just need the long swimming area

Yeah I suppose I will just have to get over my Dory phase or take a bit into the wallet for an actual tank but that will have to be later since student loans are already taking that chunk. Have actually looked at a wrasse and the chormis to finish the rainbow of colors I would like to see swimming around thinking about finishing the inhabitants with a flasher wrasse for their character as well as the beauty thought about a six-line but am concerned about having shrimp with it thats why I had to tell myself to not consider a long nosed hawk in the tank as well ... will post my full tank thoughts in the other topic i have in the new to hobby forum would appriciate the critique and helpful steps to get a good start into the hobby

one nice blue small fish is the pygmy angel, they are a nice blueish purple with a yellow head, i have heard they sometimes will pick at polyps. the one i had for a couple years did not thou

Blue Assessors are nice too...little on the spendy side but they are usually pretty peaceful and should be good in a 44

Sometimes you'll see Pygmy angelfish called Cherub Angelfish too (Centropyge Argi is the scientific name.) Bicolor Angelfish (Centropyge bicolor) is a dwarf angel is Blue and Yellow. African Flameback Angelfish (Centropyge acanthops) is more blue than yellow but has a yellow face and down it's back. Coral Beautys (Centropyge bispanosa) is usually a blue with redish/yellow/orangeish stripes.

In General it is best to be cautious of all the angels as they can be coral nippers, and some can be quite aggressive.

Some other options you may want to look into:

Blue Stripe gobies. (Gobiosoma oceanops)
Sunrise Dottyback (Pseudochromis flavivertex)