9" black tang on DD...

[SDguy]

Yeah, but am I understanding the site correctly, and nothing is actually available for sale based on their "status"? Videos are great, but the volume LADD does would make it impossible, IMO.

 

[jhentr]

Somehow, I never liked the black tang. I'll take a yellow/scopas over it any day. The conspic is awesome though. Of course I couldn't afford one (yet) so I got the poor man's conspic to hold me over til I find that money tree. My grey poma is almost as cool as the conspic...lol.

 

[rehab]

Those videos on aquatouch are awesome. They really make potential customers feel more at ease when dropping big bucks on those fishes.

 

[pacislandaqua]

blacks are isolated to Christmas Island in Kiribati, washington atoll (no collection) and fanning island (only diveable by boating to it from christmas.

They use to be more common. But the numbers have decreased the last couple years. However, hybrids between scopas and blacks are increasing...

Do you know how much it is to ship a 9" fish?... lol

 

[nonstopfishies]

I have a DD fish and i know about all that you mentioned.

Still doesnt change the fact that people would love to see a clear vid of a fish eating and swimming around rather than one stand still picture. Then they could get a good view of the fish at all angles.

I'm not saying they need to do this with all fish, just a select special few, ie the black tang, conspic, and wrought iron.

www.aquatouch.com does this and so does NYA on a few of his fish. his videos are terrible though.

They put the fish into a separate tank just for the pic. If they did video of it eating they would have to do it in the bare bottom tanks(with no background) with a dozen other fish in it. The tanks aren't very big, and while you could see it eating, you would also see 10 other fish all over in the way. I also agree with what someone else said that time wise it just isn't practical or worth it for them. They don't have a ton of people working there(Rhinelander, WI). I can say this cause I have been there a couple times.

 

[nonstopfishies]

It it has a poor survival rate, and for example only 1 out of 20 imported make it, then the company will have to sell it for more since they lost so many.

Where are you getting this info from?

 

[geaux xman]

They put the fish into a separate tank just for the pic. If they did video of it eating they would have to do it in the bare bottom tanks(with no background) with a dozen other fish in it. The tanks aren't very big, and while you could see it eating, you would also see 10 other fish all over in the way. I also agree with what someone else said that time wise it just isn't practical or worth it for them. They don't have a ton of people working there(Rhinelander, WI). I can say this cause I have been there a couple times.

Like i said, just for a select few. We're talking about a $900, $2500, and $2700 fish. Someone spending that much coin would like a little more than one single picture. Someone spending $200 item off ebay/amazon gets 5 pictures of the item.

Again, I think DD does a fine job. I'm just saying it would be a really nice feature. Even for the non buyers, it would be interesting. Kinda like being a the dealership and scoping out a $100K porshce/mercedes even though you know you're not going to buy or can afford it.

 

[Stumped]

Going to go out on a limb and say if you were interested in buying any of those $1k + fish you could email LA and they'd provide you with more info/pictures.

 

[username in use]

They put the fish into a separate tank just for the pic. If they did video of it eating they would have to do it in the bare bottom tanks(with no background) with a dozen other fish in it. The tanks aren't very big, and while you could see it eating, you would also see 10 other fish all over in the way. I also agree with what someone else said that time wise it just isn't practical or worth it for them. They don't have a ton of people working there(Rhinelander, WI). I can say this cause I have been there a couple times.

They don't keep dozens of fish in each tank. They keep all the fish seperate, and while some of the tanks are bare bottom without backrounds, the larger tanks (like one that a 9" tang would be in) have sand and rock in them.

 

[agreeive?fish]

since iam in the market for a black tang, i would pay DD price for one, if it was a juvi(what i want and the only thing i will buy) and if the wife was back to work from foot surgery and all those doctor bills were paid. i WILL HAVE a juvi black tang in the "near" future

all that said the black tang on DD is stunning

 

[nixer]

i paid less than half the price on my black tang than LA charges and i got it from pacific island aquatics. you guys should check their policy and you will see its pretty much the same as LA.

 

[geaux xman]

thats a dinner plate size black tang. IIRC, PIA's black tange was more around 4".

 

[Stumped]

i paid less than half the price on my black tang than LA charges and i got it from pacific island aquatics. you guys should check their policy and you will see its pretty much the same as LA.

I'm not trying to talk negatively about PIA at all, because everything I've read says great things about them, but your statement is incorrect.

LADD offers a 14 day guarantee, no questions asked (ie. no picture/tail cut/etc.), refund (for cash, not credit or replacement).

PIA offers 7 day guarantee with credit or replacement with photographed proof.

Regardless, PIA looks like they have absolutely incredible livestock as well and I'll probably make a purchase from them in the future at some point as well.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

I wouldn't buy this fish, I am into growing my persoanal fish from juvies to adults. There may be limitations to this of course with certain fish, but you really get to know your fish that way. I am oddly attracted to the wrought iron butterfly however, when I become a doctor who works full time and then part time as a really good lawyer I will get it lol!

 

[username in use]

Remember part of the cost of this fish is going to go to shipping it, as anything over $225 ships for free. That fish with the amount of water it would take to ship overnight would cost well over $100.

 

[copps]

Zebrasoma is my favorite tang genus! On top of being interesting and beautiful, they are well suited to captive life and are very hardy... I own many Zebrasoma, including Z. gemmatum, Z. rostratum, and the increasingly more common Z. rostratum/ Z. scopas hybrid mentioned in this thread...

What is it about the black tang that makes them so expensive?

To answer this question truly requires some explanation.

Black tangs actually have a pretty large geographical range, but within that range there is only one place that collects for the aquarium industry, and that is the small island of Kiritimati (the native's way of pronouncing "Christmas", its English name)... this island is large for a coral atoll (in fact the largest in the world), but still very small... smaller than the small Hawaiian island of Lanai! As with all other parts of the black tang's range, there is naturally a low population density... so, combine a small island with a special fish exported from nowhere else that is naturally rare at that location, and you get a fish with a very high export price out of Christmas...

The story of the black tang's price does not end there... ALL Christmas Island exports go to wholesalers in Hawaii... wholesalers can never get enough black tangs... Christmas exports many other fish in much higher numbers, with the most common being flame angels... Christmas flame angels are a bright red and in high demand, but they are exported by the hundreds to the thousands! Many Hawaiian wholesalers will order 200 and receive 500, or other numbers along those lines... and with those 500 flames they MAY get one black tang (maybe a bit more... and maybe NONE). So think... you're a Hawaiian fish wholesaler with hundreds to thousands of flame angels and other Christmas fish and a precious few black tangs... you could pretty much charge what you want for the black tangs... or more typically what happens is that you charge a reasonable amount and send them to the customers that are ordering those hundreds of flames you need to get rid of! So however you look at it... you are hearing "ka' ching" in the background...

So, the next stage in the game comes... that black tang goes from Hawaii to either a US mainland wholesaler (or elsewhere in the world), or a US LFS. So, now, instead of thinking like the Hawaiian wholesaler think like a mainland retail or wholesaler... you have that black tang you either paid through the nose for or bought hundreds of other things per one black tang... you have customers demanding black tangs as if they are being captive bred like guppies in some 3rd world island nation for a fraction of a penny... the result... you guessed it... "ka' ching"... supply demand my friend... that LFS that finally got a black tang made one customer happy, while the other seven or eight that were interested complained about the price...

Some other notes... the initial low population density of black tangs at Kiritimati has gotten lower... that is why the rarest black tang is the elusive medium black tang... nowadays we're seeing the full grown dinner plates or the first year drop little guys for the most part... this has also resulted in more of the rostratum population breeding into the scopas population, causing more hybridization than before me thinks... to explain this I will reference a to go nameless very well known ichthyologist friend of mine who broke down this hypothetical hybridization scenario for me over a beer... it's prehistoric Europe and you (a male H. sapiens) get caught up with a tribe of Neanderthals... at first they are strange to you and you go it alone... but after a while those Neanderthalic women start to grow on you to the point of... well... this being a family board... let's call it "hybridization"... change those circumstances to you being a black tang rather than a human, with the Neanderthals being the scopas tangs set in modern day Kiritimati and voila... hybridization!:uhoh2:

Samething that makes all the other fish in the hobby so expensive.

It it has a poor survival rate, and for example only 1 out of 20 imported make it, then the company will have to sell it for more since they lost so many.

Did you know the Gem tang is not rare AT ALL in some parts of africa?

Yes, were talking GEM TANG! In some areas you could put on a snorkel and literally be surrounded by them.

What makes them so expensive is that they are extremely hard to obtain a license/permit to collect them and import them.

Hmmm... I'm not sure where your information is coming from, but much of this is flat out wrong. Your 1 of 20 may be correct, but only if you mean 1 of 20 rostratum die, not live...

And this area you talk of where gemmatum surround you is unknown to both the aquarium industry and science... and while you are right about the permitting for gemmatum, it goes well beyond that...

Gemmatum is similar in many respects to rostratum, substituting Christmas Island for Mauritius... Mauritius is much larger and has a greater population density of gemmatum, but it is nothing like yellow tangs on the Kona Coast of Hawaii... that WILL swarm you in parts... but this is balanced out by the fact that the collectors in Mauritius are much less established than on Christmas, and it is more isolated relative to the United States... so keep in mind we are lucky as Americans when it comes to rostratum... a buddy of mine in Europe wholesales black tangs for more than gem tangs... but of course they get the luck when it comes to gemmatum pricing...

Copps

 

[TheFishTeen]

Hmmm... I'm not sure where your information is coming from, but much of this is flat out wrong. Your 1 of 20 may be correct, but only if you mean 1 of 20 rostratum die, not live...

And this area you talk of where gemmatum surround you is unknown to both the aquarium industry and science... and while you are right about the permitting for gemmatum, it goes well beyond that...

Gemmatum is similar in many respects to rostratum, substituting Christmas Island for Mauritius... Mauritius is much larger and has a greater population density of gemmatum, but it is nothing like yellow tangs on the Kona Coast of Hawaii... that WILL swarm you in parts... but this is balanced out by the fact that the collectors in Mauritius are much less established than on Christmas, and it is more isolated relative to the United States... so keep in mind we are lucky as Americans when it comes to rostratum... a buddy of mine in Europe wholesales black tangs for more than gem tangs... but of course they get the luck when it comes to gemmatum pricing...

Copps

The 1 out of 20 number was an example, not specifically pertaining to the Black tang.

About the Gem tangs, you may be correct but I have heard from EXTREMELY reliable sources that these places exist. Maybe they don't come in 'swarms' but in large numbers.

Lucky friend you have there :fish2:

 

[Aqua-Mauritius]

About the Gem tangs, you may be correct but I have heard from EXTREMELY reliable sources that these places exist. Maybe they don't come in 'swarms' but in large numbers.
)

Some 20 years back it used to be the case in Mauritius, during summer, there used to be schools of 10-12 individuals(juvenile)...... at 5m depth

But nor more the case:headwallblue: