Convict Tangs...

[rae820]

I had a convict tang for about 2 weeks and then it died. The owner of my LFS said that he hasn't had much luck with them at his store and that they are hard to keep. I looked on dr. foster's & smith and they said it was an easy fish to keep.

I want to know if anyone has had luck with them and if I should give it another go?
Thanks

 

[Asuran]

i tried a small one before... it refused to eat... would only eat seaweed that was broken up by hand and in the water column... it wasnt picked on that much either but also due to its size it wasnt able to out compete the other fish for a meal.

 

[massman]

Convicts are definately not easy.
IME one in ten will eat, and I catch them myself.
Not sure if the Hawaiian sub species is any different, but I do not recommend them.

 

[urbor]

i bought one and it never ate and it died

then i bought three more and they eat fine and get along fine beg for food in my 240 gallon

 

[Clamaholic]

I just added one to my tank and have had no problems at all. Constantly grazes and eats flake and frozen.....guess I got lucky

 

[C-Water]

I have one still living over year and counting!

Eats like a pig and eats anything I put in. He's grown approximately 2 inches since he was purchased.

 

[RGBMatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8241886#post8241886 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by massman
Convicts are definately not easy.
IME one in ten will eat, and I catch them myself.
Not sure if the Hawaiian sub species is any different, but I do not recommend them.

Actually, it's illegal to collect them at aquarium size in Hawaii - they're a popular food fish and have minimum size restrictions. The vast majority of convict tangs sold in the US come from elsewhere.

I've tried keeping a couple of them in my personal tank, and they've always adjusted & started eating pretty quick. I don't have the patience to feed tangs long-term, though, so I've never kept one for more than a month.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Convicts are very active fussy eaters. They definitely prefer grazing microalgae, so put them in a brightly lit aquarium. I had to supplement (target) feed mine nori until I weaned it over to pellet food using Cyclopeeze as the transient prepared food.

 

[massman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8258571#post8258571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RGBMatt
Actually, it's illegal to collect them at aquarium size in Hawaii - they're a popular food fish and have minimum size restrictions.

I'll have to try one on the grill then!!

 

[JamesJR]

I heard the restrictions were to keep the populations high for the native hawaiians. That is just what I heard.

 

[RGBMatt]

Many Hawaiians enjoy eating manini (the local name for this fish), but so do lots of other people. Many other species of fish are regulated because of their food value, and consequently don't show up in the aquarium trade.

IMO manini isn't the world's best tasting fish, but it's quite tasty compared with most herbivores. Most tangs taste awful (to me at least).

 

[JamesJR]

yeah I had heard about people eating a lot of these fish. I remember looking in a national geographic magazine about american samoa and it had a picture of this guy who had speared about a dozen clown tangs on his line for his dinner that night. It shocked me when I first saw it but now I think it is just a fish and everybody has to eat.

 

[JamesJR]

I think the convict tang is not especially difficult to keep. It is not as hardy as any of the zebrasomas, like the purple or yellow, but the convict is definately one of the easier of the Acanthurus tangs. Easier by leaps and bounds than the Sohal or powder blues, IMO.

 

[rae820]

at first I had the convict, then it died. I got a copperbanded butterfly, it died. Then I had a kole tang, it died...wasn't having much luck. But now I have a purple tang and it is doing awesome. I just loved the colors of the convict tang - i think I might try it again, and if it works great - if not, oh well! Maybe I'll have better luck! Thanks all!