Acanthurus OR Chaetodon????

[browniebuck]

I have a lavender tang in my 125 that I bought under the impression of it being from the chaetodon genus, as we wanted to get a powder blue tang, which is from the acanthurus genus. We wanted to avoid having two tangs from the same genus as we have heard that there are generally more aggression issues if you house 2 from the same genus.
In looking further, however, I have found that the lavender is, in fact, from the acanthurus genus....problem is, we already have the powder blue tang in our QT tank.
I used like 4 or 5 different on-line retail sites while researching the lavender and all of them listed it as chaetodon...but when I did a yahoo! search, I came across this link that says that it is an acanthurus
http://www.fishbase.org/Nomenclature...me=nigrofuscus
how big of a problem am I going to have when I decide to introduce the powder blue to the DT?????

 

[srfisher17]

IMO, this is a real "its the individual fish" dilemma. I've had tangs that won't tolerate any other tang, others that just hated their own genus or species, and a Sohal that rules everybody. I've also had tangs (that were considered aggressive) that would be fine with anything. IMO & IME, I think your chances are 50-50; better if there is considerable size difference. Expect some pecking order stuff, but be ready to get him out if you need to. I also think tangs get along better than they are supposed to, after some initial skirmishes. BTW, LA lists the LT as acanthurus and it sure looks like one.

 

[browniebuck]

it probably isn't good that the lavender in the DT is bigger than the powder blue in the QT, is it?

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by browniebuck
http:///forum/post/3232057
it probably isn't good that the lavender in the DT is bigger than the powder blue in the QT, is it?
Probably.

 

[aquaknight]

Chaetodon isn't even a Tang genus, it's Butterflies. Maybe you mean Ctenochaetus? The Lavendar Tang is correctly identified as Acanthurus nigrofuscus.
As SR points out, it's not a guarantee they will work, but on the flipside of the coin, it's not guarnteed failure by any stretch. Since you do have a QT running, I would add the PBT, then remove if problems arise.

 

[browniebuck]

Originally Posted by AquaKnight
http:///forum/post/3232079
Chaetodon isn't even a Tang genus, it's Butterflies. Maybe you mean Ctenochaetus? The Lavendar Tang is correctly identified as Acanthurus nigrofuscus.
yeah...my goof, that's what I meant. Could there be a reason that so many on-line retailers (including SWF.com) have them misidentified?

 

[browniebuck]

what if I were to remove the lavender to the QT, acclimate the powder blue to the DT, and then a few days later, return the lavender?
I love both fish and their colors and want this to work....I checked 3 or 4 different sites before buying either one to make sure that they were from different genus'.

why could I not have found the fish base website before Saturday?????????

 

[aquaknight]

Originally Posted by browniebuck
http:///forum/post/3232158
yeah...my goof, that's what I meant. Could there be a reason that so many on-line retailers (including SWF.com) have them misidentified?
Because Taxonomy is just sort of people's opinion. A couple of the respected Ichthyologists lumped these fish into their respective classification when they are discovered/found. Over the years, some fish are subject to change. Blueface, Six-Bar, and Majestic angels used to be in a seperate genus from another Pomacanthus angels. But today we have lumped them into Pomacanthus.
I bet at some point Lavender's used to be Ctenochaetus. They are very close, the mixing link to Ctenochaetus and Acanthurus tangs in evolution if you will. They even have the two spots above and below the tail fin, usually a strong identifier of Ctenochaetus tangs.
As for the retailers, most just pass along the imformation they get from their suppliers. It's not trade secret that SWF and the other online retailers order their fish from the same wholesaler. The wholesaler probably has the Lavender categorized wrong.
Originally Posted by browniebuck
http:///forum/post/3232159
what if I were to remove the lavender to the QT, acclimate the powder blue to the DT, and then a few days later, return the lavender?
I love both fish and their colors and want this to work....I checked 3 or 4 different sites before buying either one to make sure that they were from different genus'.

why could I not have found the fish base website before Saturday?????????
I wouldn't. Just try to add the Powder Blue and see what happens. The Powder is going to be the aggressive fish here. Removing the Lavender and having the Powder establish himself is only going to make the Powder more aggressive.
If you wanted, go buy some egg crate (light diffuser) and divide your display tank into two parts. Have the Lavender on one, and the PBT on the other. This will allow the tangs to "get used to each other (see/smell)" but not physically harm one another. After about a week, remove the egg crate. This is the trick I use to mix my angels and aggressive fish.