Lavender Tang

[Rosseau]

My favourite fish... I believe that this is a Lavender Tang however I am unsure of the sex.

 

[jtrasap]

Very nice pics of a really cool fish..

 

[crvz]

That image really makes it look more like a ctenochaetus fish as opposed to an acanthurus (which is what they're more commonly classified as), but it does resemble a lavender tang. Great shots!

 

[Rosseau]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13950917#post13950917 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crvz
That image really makes it look more like a ctenochaetus fish as opposed to an acanthurus (which is what they're more commonly classified as), but it does resemble a lavender tang. Great shots!

Thanks, that is absolutely possible. I have seen another tang that was labelled as a lavender, and I have noticed some slight differences (particularly in body shape) between the fish.

Any idea of the species?


Also, I added this fish with a kole tang..... Unfortunately the Kole did not make it past the first day.... I was bewildered and then wondered if it was simply my mistake by adding two "similar" (and thus competitive) fish together. Any thoughts on that?

 

[zenya]

Look up Ctenochaetus striatus. I think your's look exactly like mine and will grow up to be a bully...

PS. Here's a picture of mine, for reference. I have this fish since 04.

 

[Rosseau]

Ah ha! That sure is him, thanks Gene.

He might be a bit of bully you say? That's not good....

I actually used to have what I truly believe to be a Lavender Tang, he grazed on all types of algae. I've noticed that there is a lot that this fish will not graze on... Unless he simply has enough other food already.

Thanks again!

 

[Rosseau]

Gene - how much trouble has he been?

 

[vetdog]

nice fish and pics

 

[zenya]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13957007#post13957007 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rosseau
Gene - how much trouble has he been?

Oh, I wouldn't say he was real trouble, it;s just the fact that adding any other fish after him was difficult.
Once he grew and established himself.. that was it, entire tank is his.
However, I did see him graze on a couple of patches of hair algae when my tank had some difficulties in 04. This fish is one of these "constant grazing" types and three sides of my tank are rarely scraped totally clean, so he gets his fair share of work load.
I suggest leaving back glass untouched, and give him access to it so he can graze there constantly on the film algae.

HTH

 

[Rosseau]

Thanks again Gene.

I am now fairly sure this fish is responsible for the loss of my Kole Tang.

Anyways, there is quite a bit of information on this fish in the scientific literature. It seems it's fairly abundant in the oceans despite being under represented in the aquarium trade.

Interesting facts include the presence of toxins, "scapel" appendages (as it is a "surgeonfish"), this fish has a "very muscular stomach" and ingests sediments which it is able to grind down and reduce grain size.... Potentially this is important for sediment grain size on natural reefs... I wonder what a few of these could do in an aquarium.

Blah blah blah, okay - back to work.

 

[zenya]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13962184#post13962184 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rosseau
Thanks again Gene.

I am now fairly sure this fish is responsible for the loss of my Kole Tang.

For what it's worth.., I wouldn't jump to conclusion that this fish is definitely responcible for your Kole tang's demise. It doesn't look large enough to kill the rival in short order, it may have harrassed it enough, prevent from eating and such which in turn may lead to other fish death. However this will take some time and unless you are talking about longer time period that these two fish coexisted I'll say inocent until proven otherwise...

Interesting facts include the presence of toxins, "scapel" appendages (as it is a "surgeonfish"), this fish has a "very muscular stomach" and ingests sediments which it is able to grind down and reduce grain size.... Potentially this is important for sediment grain size on natural reefs... I wonder what a few of these could do in an aquarium.

That is correct, most surgeonfishes posess some type of toxins in their peduncular spines (just in case the unjury itself is not good enough, the toxin will finish you off in a little bit... )

I'm not sure of their imprtance in the sediment size reduction, but I do see mine regularly graze on the substrate.
Oh, and unless you got HUGE tank I wouldn't even worry about few of them trying to co-exist...

I must add, though, all in all this fish is very good addition to an aquarium but needs some space, and needs to be introduced as last addition.
These are just my observation for the 4 years that I have mine.


Good luck with yours!