Black tang or scopas id please !!!!!!!!!!

[ccampbell57]

It's the same fish in my hand

 

[reefsafe]

Jet black and amazing.

 

[ghstrider]

No wonder it looks amazing!!!! Lol

 

[expyman]

out of the three we recieved only one looks to be a real black tang with no lines on him

 

[expyman]

so whats a hybrid worth??? more then a scopas i hope

 

[Yurivd]

so whats a hybrid worth??? more then a scopas i hope

About 2/3 the price of a black

 

[meatball87]

About 2/3 the price of a black

Is that for all or does it vary if they look more like a black than scopus

 

[aday2remmbr]

how much did you pay for it? most black tangs are around 400-500 dollars a piece. scopas on the other hand are like thirty.

 

[Ceebuano]

thats a scopas tang, more black tint than normal but definately scopas. a very nice one as well. great algae eaters. anything more than $20 would be robbery. distributers price them $6 , $10 depending on size

+1 hope you didnt get jacked for this

 

[auem]

About 2/3 the price of a black

so your's was hybrid??

 

[copps]

Some shots of my rostratum/ scopas hybrids are below... back in the day when the blacks were more common and much cheaper the hybrids seemed more rare... my theory is that with Christmas getting fished out of black tangs the rostratum population is breeding into the scopas population on a more frequent basis... this is the reason that the rarest black tang is the "medium"... they are more commonly either full grown dinner plates or first year drops... but of course naturally the rostratum has a large range yet they are not common anywhere in their range (not like flavescens in Hawaii for instance)...

Copps

 

[copps]

And my full rostratum for comparison...

As is common with many closely related fish... the differences become much more apparent as the fish grow out...

Copps

 

[extreme5450]

scopus

 

[Yurivd]

so your's was hybrid??

Not the one I got is a true black tang I payed $480 usd wholesale
There was also a hybrid it was $360 usd
(I imported from hong kong )

 

[skibum9884]

Thanks for the pictures John. Beautiful fish! Funny how the shape of juvi Zebrasomas are almost oval while the adults turn out being almost completely round.

 

[expyman]

price paid was for full black tangs. my friend imports fish for stores and was charged wholesale almost $250 each for the fish with shipping. RT stated they are full blacks but the mazes on both are identical to the hybrids pictured above..... RT argued they are blacks and have been doing this for over thirty years.... Oh well i had this argument with a roofer before... If you have been doing something wrong for thirty years its still wrong isn't it??? Or because you have been doing it for thirty years all of a sudden make it right somehow???

 

[expyman]

This day and age when it comes to money I don't think you can trust anyone but yourself and even then it gets tricky sometimes..

 

[reefsafe]

updated picture of my black tang in qt

updated picture of my black tang in qt

 

[sanchoy]

scopa all day..

 

[skibum9884]

While I agree that the OP's picture looks like a hybrid, seeing John Copps' pictures makes me like the hybrid as much or more than the pure black. The maze of pattern on them is stunning.