New tankmate

[Justin74]

Just wanted to share my new addition with you all,mostly because Im just excited and awe struck by my new fish My tanks cleanup is a 10-15 various hermits(reds,blue,hawaiin,and unknowns) and about 20-25 various snails (nassarius,bumblebees, mexican turbos,astreas,strombus, and some unknowns as well). After building up a variety times passed some fish I havehad have passed away while other got older, just an overall change of social dynamics and morphs are starting to come into play. So with a current fish list of
3 blue green chromis,
1 yellow wrasse,
1 maroon clown I headed to my new favorite LFS store which is sooo coveniently located 5 min away and saw John, Pam and gang over at yourreef.com. I walked in with the mindset of taking on a significant challenge. I was torn between a copperband butterfly and a three different tangs. Thanks for the enthusiastic suggestions from Pam (really appreciate your approach and experience) and beleive me Pam, if I didnt have to account my budget down to the dollars,woulda walked out with that achilles hehe
But finally chose a beautifull and healthy powder brown tang;Acanthurus japonicus.

Hes awesome!Couldnt be more stoked, thank you all.He acclimated superbly and immediately started grazing vivaciously

-Justin

 

[Elite]

Nice fish
Look like he is a little skinny. Maybe just because the picture ..

 

[Justin74]

You may be right, he is a little on the thin side. I dont know if it may be because hes still very young, he's only 4" max right now. Im sure before too long Ill be posting threads though,like "Hey Matt,How fat is too fat?"

-Justin

 

[wombat2]

He looks pretty skinny to me, and a bit pale. Could be the camera shot though. These guys are super touchy from what I understand. A. nigricans is apparently much hardier, and virtually identical in appearance. Keep up on feeding nori and the like every day and he should be fat and sassy soon. Good luck Justin.

 

[shilo_1]

Very cool, Justin !
What size tank do you have that guy in ? I'm upgrading soon after we move, and was looking around at different tangs as I'd like to add one (hopefully I'll be getting between 90-125g.) Most of them just get so darn big....I won't be able to upgrade to anything bigger for at least a year or two, so whatever I get will have to be comfy in that tank for a while.

 

[Justin74]

Thankfully I did some homework prior, and am happy to say you have it actually backwards Matt

"Acanthurus (glaucopareius) nigricans (Linnaeus 1958), the Powder Brown or Gold-Rimmed Surgeon (and Whitecheek Surgeon to science). The corrected scientific name of this species is A. nigricans (per Randall, 1988); a revision no doubt as unpopular to some as my labeling the species as "bad". The very similar A. japonicus is a far better aquarium fish; A. nigricans rarely lives for more than a few months in captivity.

Acanthurus japonicus (Fowler 1946), the Japanese or White-Faced Surgeonfish; is also sold as a/the Gold-Rimmed or Powder-Brown Surgeon, confusing it with A. glaucopareius (nigricans) (see below). To further confuse matters, this fish is also sold as the Whitecheek Surgeon/Tang in the aquarium trade...A. japonicus has a much larger white eye patch. Ranges from the Philippines to Japan and is relatively hardy.

Become a more intelligent consumer, and cast your votes/dollars for livestock that lives. In this case the white-faced tang, A. japonicus. If you want a challenge, know that you're getting one with Acanthurus nigricans." ~quote & pics Bob Fenner, wetwebmedia.com

-Justin

 

[GorillaReefer]

I had that exact fish, caught ich and died, 4 weeks after I introduced him. He ended up taking out 6 of my other fish with him. I hope you have better luck than I dd.

 

[Justin74]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7365799#post7365799 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shilo_1
Very cool, Justin !
What size tank do you have that guy in ? I'm upgrading soon after we move, and was looking around at different tangs as I'd like to add one (hopefully I'll be getting between 90-125g.) Most of them just get so darn big....I won't be able to upgrade to anything bigger for at least a year or two, so whatever I get will have to be comfy in that tank for a while.

Thanks!Its recommended to have at least a 50g display for this fish. Although I would be happier to see it in a larger system, right now its in my 55g. That is till I gather enough funds to go big, and use the 110g sitting in my garage.

-Justin

 

[shilo_1]

Oh wow, I thought they needed bigger tanks. Hmmm...they are really cool looking. So how big are they supposed to get ?
I need to really sit and figure which tang I want....the one you got has always been a favorite to see.

 

[Justin74]

Ya, the general rule is a 100g per tang, hence the challenge I accepted. Although wetweb media said the bare minimum is 50g, the one I got is still a pretty young guy so hes got some room to grow for awhile.

-Justin

 

[wombat2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7366697#post7366697 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justin74
Thankfully I did some homework prior, and am happy to say you have it actually backwards Matt

"Acanthurus (glaucopareius) nigricans (Linnaeus 1958), the Powder Brown or Gold-Rimmed Surgeon (and Whitecheek Surgeon to science). The corrected scientific name of this species is A. nigricans (per Randall, 1988); a revision no doubt as unpopular to some as my labeling the species as "bad". The very similar A. japonicus is a far better aquarium fish; A. nigricans rarely lives for more than a few months in captivity.

Acanthurus japonicus (Fowler 1946), the Japanese or White-Faced Surgeonfish; is also sold as a/the Gold-Rimmed or Powder-Brown Surgeon, confusing it with A. glaucopareius (nigricans) (see below). To further confuse matters, this fish is also sold as the Whitecheek Surgeon/Tang in the aquarium trade...A. japonicus has a much larger white eye patch. Ranges from the Philippines to Japan and is relatively hardy.

Become a more intelligent consumer, and cast your votes/dollars for livestock that lives. In this case the white-faced tang, A. japonicus. If you want a challenge, know that you're getting one with Acanthurus nigricans." ~quote & pics Bob Fenner, wetwebmedia.com

-Justin

Well, I guess it depends on which author you listen to. Scott Michael's book "Reef Aquarium Fishes" lists A. nigricans as the one that is easier to acclimate, so who knows??? I don't have any experience with either. Best of luck with it.

 

[Justin74]

Oh crap:lol:
Nice point Matt, very interesting! Hmm, sounds like Ill have to get a third authoratative opinion!

-Justin

 

[shilo_1]

How is this guy doing ? Any updated pics ?

 

[Justin74]

Well shilo, I really dont know what the hell happend, but Ill tell you what I noticed. His appetite started to die down, but did eventually start to eat some PE Mysis and always had to refill his nori strips but just not a pig like Im use to seeing tangs be. Then durring the last few days I noticed some scuff marks on his tail area and side by his gills. Then I looked closer and noticed he had a couple flat worms crawling around his face area and Im speculating thats why the scuff marks were there as I would see him trying to scrape these guys off himself. Unfortunately I was fairly powerless without being able to catch him so I could give him a fresh water dip.

2 days after noticing his predicament I came home to him laying on the sand lifeless. Makes me wonder if he either may have been caught by cyanide causing poor appetite and innability to fight parasites, and or just parasites in his gills or belly? I wasnt about to do a biopsy though But thats the update, I wouldve liked to try another one, but after seeing the dynamics between the other fish he seemed kinda like the odd one out, so Im considering another specimen. Namely a copperband butterfly. I think half the battle is just being assured that your not getting a cyanide caught fish, makes it hard to gauge seeing how they can live up to a month or two before dying.

-Justin

 

[shilo_1]

Ahh, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that.
Brian and I were toying with the idea of getting one in the future....hmmmmm....

 

[wombat2]

That sucks, I'm sorry Justin.

FWIW, the aquarium just got 7 juveniles that are in quarantine right now. I'll let you know how they do. They already have 3 in a really big tank, and I'm pretty sure 2 of them spawn.

 

[Justin74]

Thanks Matt, it does suck cuz I was starting to get really fond of her. Are you saying that the aquarium got juvinile powder browns in?Two of which are spawning?

-Justin

 

[shilo_1]

Which aquarium ?

 

[dots]

You know, I have had a few tangs myself, including a chevron....that didn't last very long at all......really starting to think that they are a little more finicky than most think. In fact really don't like them at all right now.......

 

[Greencup]

Nice Tangs!