Can you ID this tang for me?

[DanEnglish]

I recently purchased this juvenile tang from my local shop, under the name unicorn tang. now of course that is ambiguous so I wanted to know which species this actually is. He is about 2 inches now, and seems healthy, and eats from my hand.
<table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url(http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/transparent_album_background.gif) no-repeat left"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/englishdaniel/NewTang?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XXHxgvzp2b0/TSi_7_-9q5E/AAAAAAAAAaQ/t5lk0ebuXf4/s160-c/NewTang.jpg" width="160" height="160" style="margin:1px 0 0 4px;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/englishdaniel/NewTang?feat=embedwebsite" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">new tang</a></td></tr></table>

 

[ENTMogul]

Vlamingi

 

[Jdbrine]

Vlamingi

+1......... definitely a Vlamingi.

 

[joejoe1055]

agree

 

[DanEnglish]

how can you distinguish it from brevirostris?

 

[Hormigaquatica]

how can you distinguish it from brevirostris?

Juvenile brevirostris don't have a spotted pattern like that; they are a pretty uniform blue-grey. Even as they mature and develop spots, they are much finer and are distributed differently than a vlamingi's pattern.

 

[oscarb]

very hard fish to keep mine got ich and die

 

[extreme5450]

easy fish to keep if you now what your doing

 

[oscarb]

he extreme i have a flaming angel and they are suppose to be the hard ones to keep i just think tangs in general have ick problems period the only tang i have is a sailfin tang and it is healthy as a fox

 

[TampaReefer79]

Vlamingii Tangs are easy to keep but get BIG. By big I mean 18-24" and grows FAST. I've seen these sold as a) Vlamingii Tang and b) Lopezi Tang. And to be honest, I STILL can't figure out the difference between the two...if there is one.

 

[TampaReefer79]

"I've seen these sold as a) Vlamingii Tang and b) Lopezi Tang. And to be honest, I STILL can't figure out the difference between the two...if there is one."

 

[GrendelPrime76]

what size tank is this lil guy in?

 

[ltljoker]

They do get big and get big very fast. They are also very aggressive eaters. They will eat everything in site. I had one in my 210 and it went from 3" to 6" in less then 8 months and was very very fat. Hope you have her in a big tank

 

[Eric the half-bee]

I agree on the ease of keeping, need for a BIG volume tank and rate of growth. Mine is 3 years old and is 8-9"" long and easily an inch+ in thickness. He is a hoss and is very docile, except at dinner time. My short experience with many types of tangs and ich- generally the smaller the tang the lower the survival rate with ich. My larger tangs cycled with it last year and they all survived but in the past, new additions that were under 3" had poorer outcomes. Just my experience.

 

[DanEnglish]

I have had him for a month now, eats like crazy (although spirulina mysis more than anything else, oh and flake if i give it to him). No signs of ich even though a relatively new lyretail anthias seemed to have it (gone now). he has grown noticeable in a month. I know then get big. He is in a 110 (48x18x30) now, which I know is too small, don't need to tell me. I am in the process of looking for a new tank which will be at least a 180, hopefully larger, definitely a 6ft+ tank.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

These get to about 18" within 2 years in a sufficiently sized tank--as in several thousand gallons--and they are open water swimmers. They don't belong in hobbyist tanks IMO.