Sunny -- My Favorite Fish

Wrassman · 03-20-2003, 06:38 AM

Well, I've shown you most of my fish in another thread. This fish deserves a thread all to himself.[smiley=goldfish.gif]

I know you have a favorite fish. When you sit down in front of your tank, and your eyes immediately find their way to this ONE particular fish; when someone asks you about your fish and your mind immediately goes to this one particular fish; when you think about taking pictures of the tank and invariably this ONE particular fish winds up in at least 30% of them -- THAT is your favorite fish.

My favorite fish is a Mimic Tang (Acanthurus pyroferus), sometimes known as a "Chocolate Tang," for reasons I'll demonstrate later on. For now, allow me to show you my favorite picture of my favorite fish:

That picture of "Sunny" is six months old. I had gotten "Sunny" about a year or more before that picture was tanken. So, you can well imagine, when I got him, he was just over an inch long. He has grown very well since then.

This next picture is a close-up of "Sunny" that is a couple of months older than the first one. You can see how much he has grown in just two months.

You see how his body seems longer and wider toward the end? He's taking on more of a Tang look, for sure. You can'r really see it in this picture, but he is growing into his fins, as well. When he was very young, he seemed to be all fins. As he gets older, His body seems to be catching up to his fins. At any rate, his skin is still beautiful, no marks, no scratches, nothing. He never had ich, or any of the usual tang diseases.

This last picture I am just tossing in because it makes me laugh everytime I see it. I call it, "Sunny's Joke." I call it that because it looks like he is getting ready to tell a joke.

Can't you just hear him saying, &quot

id you hear the one about the Two Triggers and the Wrasse?"

More pics to come!!! Thanks for looking!! [smiley=thumbs_up1.gif]

CheckMateKingll · 03-20-2003, 09:52 AM

Great Pics, Great captions Wrass,,,
Keep em comming....

Wrassman · 03-20-2003, 10:23 AM

I told you there were more pictures!!!

[glow=brown, 3, 300]I want to show you some recent pictures of "Sunny" because he is starting to change. *Without going into another aspect of this fish, which is the different variations it can take as juveniles, the ADULT PHASE is always what has interested me. *So, before I show you some more recent pictures of "Sunny", allow me to introduce you to an Adult Acanthurus pyroferus, a "Chocolate Tang."[/glow]

As always, unless I say otherwise, my pictures are courtesy of Fishbase.org.

[glow=brown,3, 300]Here's another, to show you that the change doesn't always turn them completely brown. *Sometimes it stops, somewhere in between.[/glow]

[glow=brown, 3, 300]It was actually one of the "stopped in between" that I FELL IN LOVE WITH, 25yrs ago, in a 300g tank that my SW store helped service. *We called it "Candy" (Short for "Chocolate Lemon Candy&quot

and it was the most personable fish in the entire tank. *It would eat right out of my hand ("Sunny" will do that sometimes).

But, this tank was owned by a guy with more money than sense -- he never took proper care of it. *He would buy eel after eel because they would get out and die. *Then one night, for some bizarre reason, he poisoned the tank (by pouring a bottle of gin in it), and tried to collect on insurance. *My testimony helped send his ass to jail.

[/glow]

[glow=brown, 3, 300]But I never forgot that fish, and I swore that I would one day get it back. *Well, here he is, not quite grown, but getting there:[/glow]

[glow=brown, 3, 300]You see how his fins are getting darker? *And the area around his gills is darkening up? *And his mouth is getting darker along with his forehead. *When he get upset, or angry, these become very pronounced.

And finally, this picture I took of a bunch of fish, they were in a pow-wow or something, and "Sunny's" Pic turned out best.[/glow] [smiley=wink3.gif]

*

[glow=brown, 3, 300]But in this one, you can clearly see the darker areas.[/glow]

[glow=brown,3, 300]I figure it will proabably take another year or so, before he really starts looking like a "Chocolate Tang." *But, I'm a patient guy when it comes to my fish. *And I've been wating for this fish for a long, long time now.[/glow]

Edit: Fixed some spelling and grammar errors.

Matt Rogers · 03-20-2003, 10:44 AM

This is great Wrassman! What a fish! Love the pics.

Where do these Chocolate Tangs come from? Are they hard to find? How would you rate their aggresiveness compared to other Tangs?

Wrassman · 03-20-2003, 01:46 PM

Hey Matt!

[glow=red, 3, 300]I'm glad you like the "Chocolate Tangs." They come from the Indo-Pacific, north to southern Japan, south through the Great Barrier Reef, and all over Micronesia. They aren't readily available, such as Kole Tangs, and Yellow (Zebrasoma sp.) Tangs. But, they aren't scarce or rare either.[/glow]

[glow=blue, 3, 300]They are semi-aggressive, meaning they are hardly aggressive at all to fish that aren't tangs, or to fish that are not a threat to their food supply. Other Tangs, or algae eating fish, however, are seen as a threat, and can get harrassed to a great or a small degree. It really depends on the Tang in question, because they seem to vary widely in their temperments. I do not believe "Sunny" would pick on another Tang for more than 1 day. He has simply NEVER shown that kind of aggression. I have heard of others with far more aggrressive speciemens, however.[/glow]

Matt Rogers · 03-20-2003, 03:08 PM

Thanks Wrassman.

I was curious because I found the usual Yellow Tangs to be some of the more aggressive ones. Certainly more than the Powder Browns or the Koles that I have had before.

[smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

karlas · 03-24-2003, 03:50 AM

thats a great looking fish ive never seen a chocolate tang either. that pic of where it was half and half is really neat that would be a cool fish to have plus very different

Wrassman · 03-24-2003, 05:37 AM

Thanks, Matt, karla, Steve!! I appreciate the compliments.

I really don't like the common Yellow Tangs (Zebrasoma flavascens) at all. They look as though they aren't quite finished yet. Like God stopped just before He got through with them, and had to go do something else. [smiley=grin3.gif]

No, they ARE too aggressive. And they all have an "attitude" that I just don't like. And they are disease prone, and quite often spread things to other fish. I've never owned one, and I never will. I have owned Sailfin Tangs (other Zebrasoma sp.), so it's not that I hate the whole group of them. Just that one type. [smiley=hammer.gif]

I do love my Chocolate Tang, though. I call him that instead of a Mimic because he is about to change pretty significantly. Throughout this year, he will get darker and darker, reaching his adult colors toward the end of the year. They do often get darker after that, but most of their color changes are done during their third year of life.

I saw a picture of one last night on the net (that I forgot to bookmark [smiley=freak3.gif] ) that was found in the Indian Ocean, that looked like an Eibli Angel. That was peculiar. They aren't even calling this one a Mimic Tang, but something else. I'll see if I can find that page again.

Thanks again for the compliments. I'll keep you all updated on "Sunny's" color changes in the coming year. It should be interesting. [smiley=wave.gif]

lzb3 · 03-24-2003, 02:59 PM

Let's talk tangs shall we? This is Sir ...the infamous tyrant of my tank. For lack of a better way of describing him, he is my "swimming puppy". He truly adores me...yes I know you are laughing, but he eats from my hand and lets me rub his back along his dorsal fin. Unfortunately he is VERY protective of his space and WILL NOT tolerate new comers. He has killed quite a few fish. Soon I will have the 500 up and going and I will be moving the group from the 100 to the 500. Unfortunately, Sir will be the last to go as I would love to have another tang or two, but need to give the new guys time to get established before putting Sir in with them.

Anyway, here is his picture.....

BTW...this picture of the tank looks terrible because I had just finished taking it down and moving it to another room. You can tell how angry Sir is at the condition of his tank!

Elizabeth

CheckMateKingll · 03-24-2003, 03:20 PM

Liz,
I love Powder Blues, it will be my next Tang, believe you me,,,
I made the mistake of once putting one in a tank only 6 months old, well, sorry to say, I lost it. I'll never make that mistake again.....
I live for the day I can get a Powder Blue again...