Doctorfish

[leftyblite]

My wife and I saw one a fish in a restaurant the other day that we thought was interesting. I looked it up on this site when I got home and found out it is called a doctorfish. No info was given about this fish though. Does anyone know anything about it or have personal experience with one?

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by leftyblite
My wife and I saw one a fish in a restaurant the other day that we thought was interesting. I looked it up on this site when I got home and found out it is called a doctorfish. No info was given about this fish though. Does anyone know anything about it or have personal experience with one?

It's a type of surgeon fish in the Acanthurus family. They do appear to have a lot of the same specs/requirements of the atlantic blue tang. I don't know anyone that has one, though, not sure how common they are in the hobby... my LFS doesn't sell them, and they get in a lot of fish that most others don't.

 

[nereef]

the term "doctorfish" means the same to me as the terms "surgeonfish" and "tang."

 

[aquaknight]

Yea, typically Doctorfish is applied the Acanthurus chirurgus tang. It's an Atlantic fish, so the Atlantic Blue Tang reference is pretty good. It is an Acanthurus tang, so it does grow larger then most tangs, adults reach 15 inches. Something like a 150gal would be a minimum. Other general tangs rules would apply.

 

[pastor b.]

Dear hobbyist ,A Farmers market just opened in my city,and as I stopped to see what they sold , I went to the fish section ,and to my surprise , I saw Naso Tangs ,a species of angel fish that was light grey in color ,large gray trigger fish and I even saw Parrot fish on ice being sold . I didn't want to believe it , but some people eat the very fish that we consider as pets .

 

[aquaknight]

FWIW, you have to be careful eating tangs, their livers can contain a toxin that can lead to ciguaterra poisoning.

 

[leftyblite]

Thanks for the info, I've already got one tang in a 150G so I probably wont be getting one of these anytime soon.