Powder Grey Tang????

[Kingfishhead]

Wife just brought one home and the LFS told here it is reef safe. But I wonder. Put a peice of freeze dried lettucce in with him but he has seem to taking a liking to my green polyps and simliar reef structure. Is this just because he is new or because he does not belong?


Thanks


KGH

 

[Anonymous]

I must say I have never heard of a powder grey tang. Only powder blues and powder browns. Do you know the latin name of this fish??

Most tangs are pretty much reef safe, although there are individuals that will take a likeing to corals.

I would say however, that once a fish starts eating corals, they rarely, if ever, stop.

 

[LFS42]

I know I couldn't have said it better myself.

I've never heard of a powder grey, but then again I havn't heard about alot of things.

 

[Kingfishhead]

Well powder grey is what they called it. She said that they had a powder blue but it was 2x the price so she went with the GREY? thanks for the advice. If he does not cut it out in the next few days I am going to take him back.

KFH

 

[naesco]

Never heard of a powder grey. If they sold it to you as such take it back. Do not get the powder blue as it is a very difficult fish. What is the size of your tank?

 

[Anonymous]

fishhead, you would save yourself MANY headaches if you set up a q/t sys. that way that tang would be in there acclimating and showing his colors instead of munching out on your polyps.

if you can, post a pic or maybe find one and post, eh? that's the problem with common names.

 

[ride928]

Its probably a powder brown. Some have a greyish color and I'm sure the LFS mislabeled it. And if it is a "powder grey", you got yourself a rare fish rather cheap :>

 

[ScottC]

Powder Grey is also known as a White Cheek Tang, very closely related to the Powder Brown.

 

[Anonymous]

I've seen powder blues in such bad shape that they look grey. Or at least I thought they were powder blues?

Louey

 

[Kingfishhead]

Actually, it is a Powder Brown (this is the wife!). I was wrong on the "gray" name. He seems to still enjoy the polyps and such, even though I have put the sheet algae in with the suction cup holder. Is this going to be a problem? We were told he was reef safe and I have done some research confirming that. Any suggestions or things to watch out for with him? Tank is a 110 gallon and only two other smaller fish (clown & flame hawk). Thanks for the advice!

 

[Anonymous]

Is it actually eating the polyps, or just picking algae out from around it? Tangs will pick all over the surface, but are considered reef safe. Does it have white running from the eye down to the mouth in a large patch, or just a small white patch directly under the eye? There are 2 species, the one I described first is considered easier to keep.

 

[witchdoctor]

The powder gray tang is more commonly known as the gold rim tang, or acanthurus nigricans (which used to be a. glaucopareius). It is also called the powder brown. A healthy specimen really can look gray in appearance. I've seen them scuba diving in Hawaii quite a few times. Can't say that I've seen them for sale all that often, now that I live on the East Coast. I took a quick look around some mail order places, and the price seems to run close to, or slightly more than powder blue tangs.

Another species that is also called the powder brown is the acanthurus japonicus, which is also known as the white cheek, or white face tang. They are very similar in appearance, so they get mixed up all the time, I've seen the a. japonicus advertised as the gold rim tang as well.

 

[Anonymous]

japonicus - white faced, or gold rimmed
nigricans - white cheeked

Both called powder brown, gold rimmed should be reserved for japonicus because only it has the orange rim all around.

ps. Scott Michaels book has them backwards.

 

[Kingfishhead]

Well, the more I research it, the more I wonder what we bought! It is actually the whole face/cheek area that is white (not just the spot under the eye). This means it is not a true powder brown, right? Only about $35 so not too bad on price for a new tank, anyway! We are pretty sure he is picking at the polyps as the one he is going after the most doesn't seem to have any visible algae on it. I call it our "tree" since I am not sure exactly what to call it. It looks like a bare branch tree when the polyps are in and they are all over it (kind of reddish brown in color) when the come out. This is the main one he seems to like. Does like the sheet of algae to, though.
Thanks again!

 

[Anonymous]

You have A. japonicus- I have the same fish. I would let it get settled in and see how it goes, they are very nice!

I don't know that there really is a "true" powder brown, or if it matters...

 

[witchdoctor]

Common names depend somewhat on the source, but Charles Delbeek, Randall's books, and a couple of other sources reserve gold rim for the a. nigricans, which is found in hawai'i. The a. japonicus is not found in hawai'i, just in the western pacific. Both of them have a gold rim to almost the same extent, so the gold rim distinction is almost as pointless as the "powder brown" name, though the nigricans does look more gray (which is why its name has the root nigr- = black).

Dan is right that Scott Michael's book has them backwards, kind of funny to see the pictures in his pocket guide with the one he calls white cheek with not much white in the face at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Japonicus:

nigricans

The diff doesn't show that well in these 2 pics, but japonicus has the orange rim in addition to the yellow; nigricans has only the yellow. So japonicus seems more "gold-rimmed" to me....

 

[Mogo]

Nice job Dan.

 

[naesco]

The photos say it all.
If it is A.japonicus or powder brown tang you have a beautiful fish. Take good care of her.
If it is A.nigricans (the one without the orange on it) you have a fish which is impossible to keep in our tanks. They are Ok for a while and decline for no apparent reason.
As was pointed out the editors got it wrong in Scott Michaels book

 

[Anonymous]

My copy of Scott Michaels book has it right. Page 374 shows the Powder Brown (japonicus) and page 377 shows the White Cheek (nigricans). The pictures in my book match Dans exactly.

FWIW-my book is copy righted in 1999.

Louey