Blonde / Black Naso

[pinnatus]

Does anyone know if a blonde and a black naso have ever mated? I am assuming they are the same species just with a color variation? I am asking because I am interested in having a pair of Nasos. I currently have a blonde and was considering adding a black.

My thoughts are that they come from different parts of the world so probably do not have the chance to mix in the wild.

When I was in Hawaii, I saw pairs of Nasos swimming together and thought it was beautiful. I want to re-create that in my tank.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Seems like they are 2 different species, with only a small overlap in range.

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Naso-lituratus.html

http://fishbase.sinica.edu.tw/summary/60074

 

[pinnatus]

Well that is interesting.

I wonder if they are different enough that they won't pair.

 

[ca1ore]

I was always under the impression that they were simply regional variants of the same fish - regardless of the different names. I suspect under the right conditions, they'd be compatible.

 

[Dmorty217]

Peter has some Red Sea butterfly that has made a pairing with it's non Red Sea counterpart so I would suspect that I can be done

 

[Moort82]

Depends on your definition of pair. I would hazard a guess that cohabitation is certainly possible as naso's in general seem to like each others company perhaps more than other tangs.

 

[ben jammin]

I believe it has recently been determined that blonde nasos are a different species than black. I'm sure it's still possible for them to hybridize but who knows how likely that would be. I don't know if they even mate in captivity - I have never seen captive bred nasos anywhere.

I looked into adding a blonde to my existing black naso a little while back and the feedback I got was that in a large enough tank (250+ gallons) it should be fine. Don't know if they would pair up though, or just tolerate each other. Let us know how it goes if you try, cause I am still interested. Sadly, my naso, a small black one that I had for about a year, mysteriously died while I was away on vacation over the holidays.

 

[o2manyfish]

When I had a 300g FO tank I kept the Blond and Non-Blond Nasos together for years without any issue.

Dave B