My blondie nearly black with no color in his face. I wonder if he is a hybrid or something.
Juvenile naso blonde coloration
- Thread starter michealprater
- Start date
2 to 2 1/2" maybe. He has been this color for a month. I thought it was stress but he is settling in nicely. He is the 4th smallest out of 10 fish.
Here is a bad pic. my camera is horrible, plus my glass needs cleaned.
Here is a bad pic. my camera is horrible, plus my glass needs cleaned.
Cool. I searched pictures for days and never seen an all black naso. Even juvenile. But thanks!
TampaReefer79
Premium Member
Me either, and I've owned a few.
I am just glad they he will grow into normal coloration. Although it would be neat to have a rare fish, I bought him because I love the adult coloration. He is eating well, but pretty skinny. Trying to fatten him up. He looks great, those spots are on the glass, not him
TampaReefer79
Premium Member
I swear to god I'm not trying to argue with you tcmfish, but I've never ever seen blonde naso like that. I've seen MANY juvi naso and blonde naso tangs and they've never been all black for months at a time. I've seen them get dark when annoyed, but the color returns. Maybe the ones that you say are completely black and are 'normal' come from a certain place?
TampaReefer79
Premium Member
As a matter of fact, the juvie blonde nasos I've always seen look like the specimen below. That one is about 1"-2"...which I don't even like seeing in stores.
Mine has no lip coloration at all, all black. His forehead lightens sometimes, but never yellow, just gets grey. I dont know that he is stressed, but maybe he could be. Not sure. He has 4 white stress spots, that I have not seen since he was in QT the first couple days. His tail is just as black as his body. Hard telling...
His fins are yellow, with black on the top, and light blue the bottom.
TampaReefer79
Premium Member
To me it's just weird. Maybe it's something I've never heard of or seen though, that's not an impossibility. :hammer:
Most tangs when stressed get darker in color, but they don't STAY that way. They get darker AND usually raise up their fins. Yours seems to just be hanging out, and all black. ?? Odd. What else is in the tank with it? Not many fish irritate a naso though...I had a blonde naso and a regular naso in my 210 a long time ago, one was 8" and one was 10" and they got along...most of the time. Once in awhile they'd get dark and raise up fins but they'd swim in opposite directions and hide...then come out looking normal. Moral of the story is, even with other tangs in the tank I think that other unicorns are the ones that bother the naso...not so much the other tangs.
blueface angel
majestic angel
coral beauty
flameback angel
regal tang
purple tang
yellow tang
ocellaris clown
cleaner wrasse
I have seen the clown and the coral beauty snap at him, but nothing major. No chasing, just when he comes near them. The other fish ignore him. He has been this color since he has been in the display and I have not seen him change since the QT tank, like I said. And he was stressed from shipping them. He is grazing, eating flake, frozen and nori.
majestic angel
coral beauty
flameback angel
regal tang
purple tang
yellow tang
ocellaris clown
cleaner wrasse
I have seen the clown and the coral beauty snap at him, but nothing major. No chasing, just when he comes near them. The other fish ignore him. He has been this color since he has been in the display and I have not seen him change since the QT tank, like I said. And he was stressed from shipping them. He is grazing, eating flake, frozen and nori.
TampaReefer79
Premium Member
But he was 'normal coloration' in qt?
Not really. He was black. When under stress he would start to look like a normal Naso, but with large white stress spots. Once he would calm back down, he would go black. If I walked in the room it would scare him and he would lighten considerably. Then after I fed him and he got used to my presence, he would go back to being black. Now he is black all the time.
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
Are you sure it isnt another naso species?
TampaReefer79
Premium Member
That's what I was thinking. Maybe it's a unicorn of a different color! :spin1:
When he lightened up, he looked like a normal blonde as far as fins. But I would not rule out wrong species. I actually ordered a lituratus, and its fins look more like an elegans. But it could be another. What Naso is black/super dark grey, grey face with a light grey strip between eyes. Yellow dorsal and pectoral fins that have a small black line at top and small blue line at bottom. It would be cool if he was rare!
Its not another species for sure. But at one of the LFS I used to work at we would always have naso's on stock, never big ones just little guys like you have and they would never have good color. I thought it was just our fish, until I saw them at other places like this also. Some were darker than others, but they were never very good looking (the young ones). Just make sure you fatten him up, in the pic he looks a little skinny.
I am feeding him the best I can. Lots of competions for food, so I am kind of going heavy and just skimming really wet. He looked much fatter to me in QT, so I hope he isnt thinning out, but I have seen him eat everything I put in, and he grazes well.
Did the young ones you see mature into good colors?
Did the young ones you see mature into good colors?
