powder browns
 

Anyone own one of these beauties? Thinking of ordering either this or a kole. Any thoughts?

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They are both beautiful fishes. I just got my powder brown tang and already love him very much
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Both types of Powder Browns (A. nigricans and A. japonicus) are ick-magnets. My PB (A.japonicus) is a beautiful fish. Had it for 2 years now. Still gets ick once in a while, but with a 40w UV sterilizer on the tank, it never gets too bad. The fish is also known as a Gold Rim or White Cheek, since it has a bright yellow ring around its body & a much larger white mark on its face compared to the harder to keep A. nigricans.

If you get a healthy one that is eating and plump, and keep it stress free, the PB is a great fish to have. Otherwise, it is a challenging species compared to most tangs & much harder than the Kole.

Anthony

if i get one ill get some neon gobies to add to the cleaner shrimp i allready have.

Ya, If you are planning to put it in your 70 forget about it.

Tangs are natural swimmers. You can observe them quickly swimming from one end of the tank to the other.
They require large (6 foot) tanks to accommodate their swimming behaviour and their adult size.
You are considering a kole tang which IMO is an exception because they spend all of their time consuming film algae in the tank. If you get one keep one end of the tank dirty and pile some smooth stones in your tank like the blue one you see in LFS. They soon are covered in film algae and they also double as pod homes (pod piles).

Thanks for asking before you made a purchase.

I've heard this story over and over, and the term "ick-magent" seems a little misleading.

I've had ick breakout, and read more than enough articled written about it to understand it better. What it boils down to is that if your system does not have the Marine Ick present, these ick-magnet fishes will not get icks, ever, as long as the system is kept ick-free.

UV sterilizer allows you to control icks, but not eliminate them, so the fact that your tang getting ick time to time means ick is not eliminated, and attacks the fishes when they are weak.

I don't have a UV sterilizer, and I had an ick breakout when I added my first powder brown tang. I tried known possible in-tank treatment method such as garlic extract and PolypLab Medic, but few fishes including the powder brown died.

Now I have my second powder brown in a QT, observing its health conditions. Probably not enough to prevent reoccurrence of ick, but all I can try without out-of-display-tank treatment (copper,hyposalinity) for the time being.

It's a beautiful fish, and I prefer PBT over Kole tang for the looks.

By the way, A. Japonicus is known as "White face surgeon" while A. Nigricans is known as "White cheek surgeon" or "gold rim powder brown", and the A. Nigricans is considered hardier and easier to keep than A. Japonicus.

Quoted from the Marine Center website:

Latin Name: Acanthurus japonicus. Common Name: Powder Brown Tang. Also known as Powder Brown Tang, Goldrim Surgeonfish, Japanese Surgeonfish



Quoted from Wetwebmedia website:

From the same site under "A. Japonicus" -

The powder brown is similar to the Gold Rim Tang (Acanthurus nigricans).

under A. Nigricans

Gold Rim Tang, Powder Gray Surgeonfish, Whitecheek Surgeonfish

The Gold Rim Tang is less frequently available than the similar Powder Brown Tang.

So the information presented is a little inconsistent but my pocket guide by Scott W. Michael - Marine Fishes - ISBN 978-1-8900-8738-8 clearly states A. Japonicus as Power Brown and A. Nigricans as Whitecheek.

The easy of care rating at www.themarinecenter.com for A. Nigiricans is higher than A. Japonicus.

From the animal-world.com

When purchasing this tang, you will want to be sure you are getting the correct species. Both the White-faced Surgeonfish and the Gold-rimmed Tang (Whitecheek Surgeonfish) A. nigricans are regularly sold as the 'Powder Brown Tang'. Though they look very similar the White-faced Surgeonfish will show a pronounced "white-face" along with its red stripe on the dorsal fin, these markings will be lacking on the other. Also the White-faced Surgeonfish is a relatively hardy aquarium inhabitant once acclimated while its almost 'look-alike' cousin is more difficult to sustain in captivity.


http://animal-world.com/encyclo/mari.../japonicus.php

The wet-web media site description is a little different from the rest..

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/GoldRimSs.htm

But between two, A. Japonicus has a lot more brown in color, and if it fares better than A. Nigricans, I can't really complain about it, as I like A. Nigricans better and that's what I consider a Powder Brown tang :D

Yeah, there is a lot of confusion surrounding these two similar species.

I personally prefer the A. japonicus, so that works for me too:biggrin:

Cheers.

BTW, to the OP, for a 75g, a Kole tang or other bristlemouth tang would probably be a better choice anyways.

Anthony

Correction - I like A. Japonicus better.. they are both pretty though

No it is the A. Japonicus which is easy to keep. It is the A. Nigricans which is virtually impossible to keep although one reefer on canreef has kept one.

BTW one of Scott Michaels books also got it reversed.

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I think i have the A. Japonicus and the person at my LFS said it is a very easy to keep. I had him 2 days now and he is eating pellets and pick ing on algae. It is funny to see he competes with my fat hippo tang during feeding. I hope everything goes well because i really like him.
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DOGGY STYLE

Just to let you know I put one in my 72 and it ended badly. I would say do not do it.

Except in reverse :)

What kind of pellets
Does it have orange on it?

decided to go with the kole, and added a tailspot blenny to my order. so in all i will have: 2 black clowns, 1 six line, 1 banded goby, 3 blue chromis, 1 neon goby, 1 kole tang, and 1 tailspot blenny. all under 3" exept for the tang so my bioload shouldnt be 2 bad.

Great decision Starry

Remember he needs film algae. You will observe that he will be sucking film algae off the glass.
Because he is a tang and will be prone to ich also feed him garlic extreme (or garlic extract soaked) nori (dried seaweed which you can buy in the asian section of safeway or similar store.

Pictures!

will do when i recive the order sometime this week.

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It is the green pellets from Ocean nutrions
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If they are the hard kind soften them up with garlic extract and selcon. You can buy softened green food as well. I would save your money and buy nori from the asian section of a supermarket though.
The kole sucks up its food rather than munching on it.