Fish Focus - Purple Sailfin Tang

[Cougra]

This weeks fish focus is on the Purple Sailfin Tang - Zebrasoma xanthurum. These are probably one of the most popular tangs on sale. They are members of the family Acanthuridae. Their vibrant colouration makes them highly desirable, however they are also extremely prone to ick outbreaks so it's best to quarentine them.



Origin/Habitat
Pacific Plate, generally around tropical coral reefs

Size
8"

Recommended Minimum Tank Size
48" x 18" x 18" with lots of open swimming room and some rock cover for hiding.



Diet
Herbivore/Omnivore: Feeds mainly on macro algae in the wild, therefore they require a lot of vegetable mater in their diet. Vegetable matter can include seaweed (nori), blanched romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli or zucchini. Even through they will adapt to feeding on meaty foods such as brine shrimp, if fed a constant diet of them without any vegetable matter they will quickly loose condition and will slowly starve to death. Vitamin supplements should be added to the food whenever possible to keep their immune system strong.

Notes
Young specimens adapt well to captivity. They are prone to ick outbreaks, especially when being moved to new tanks or new additions are added to the tank. They require highly oxygenated water and will show signs of stress should the water become depleted of oxygen. When in sleep mode, their sides will take on a dark brownish colouration with a white stripe through it.



Have you had any experience with the Purple Sailfin Tang?
Do you have any photo's of your Purple Sailfin Tang that you would like to share?
Would you like to have one or do you find them boring?

Please share your experiences with them!

[Woodstock]

A very beautiful fish but extremely aggressive. I used to have one but took it back to the lfs because it would spend all day tail slapping its reflection on the back glass

[Charlie97L]

i'd remove the spinach from recommended foods... can e.coli survive in a marine setting?

i know many people in DC that have them... they are beauts.

so if this is a sailfin, is a yellow technically a sailfin too? i've never heard of a purple referred to as a sailfin before now.

[SueT]

I had a purple tang and it had been with me for years. Just lost it last year. Funny it was sad to see it go even as mean as it was. It did get along fine with my sailfin.

[BoomerD]

One of my all time favorite fish. Never heard it referred to as a sailfin, but I can see why that would happen. Vibrant coior, very active, great algae cleaner. A bit on the aggressive side, but MOST tangs are anyway. One of the few that is basically NEVER collected with cyanide, since they are endemic to the Red Sea, and are almost always healthy. Like most tangs, it can be an ich magnet, but generally, good quarantine procedures take care of that problem anyway.
Like many tangs, they can develop HLLE pretty quickly in poor water conditions or from poor nutrition. It never completely heals, but is reversible. (usually some scarring remains)

Here are a couple of "stolen" pix. One from our own "Alice Curiouser"...her purple tang, Moshe...as posted over at Reef-Vision:



And one from our resident Mermaid, the lovely Miss Mary:

[aquaman3680]

great fish beautiful, but VERY AGGRESSIVE! If you have smaller fish i would NOT reccomend you get one. I will actually be removing mine form my system upon moving the tank. Great fish for the larger aquarium. JMO

Matt

[kyrie_eleison]

Mine died this morning. I'm still mourning it. It was a beautiful little fish; I had to move it to a smaller tank since it was all I had left. It had ich for a little while then I hypo-treated it for about a month; then it got better but it was in the same tank with a sohal who for the life of me...IS THE MEANEST fish I ever owned. The sohal just bullied it constantly. To make matters worse, it developed some kind of fungus that looked like it got better in some areas of its body but as it is; the poor little purple tang finally gave up.

It's going to take me some time to get over this tragedy.

[Dentoid]

I'm, sorry Kyrie!

[kyrie_eleison]

dent,

*sigh*...yeah, I feel the same way. I'm starting to think it was a mistake in the beginning buying that sohal. But, the sohal is still alive and rules the tank like it's his domain. I still have my yellow and scopas but it's just not the same.

[SueT]

I've always heard that sohals are a very aggressive fish. Sorry to hear your purple tang died...

[kathywithbirds]

Sorry about your purple, kyrie. They are certainly something to look at!

Is there any fish in their size range that should be avoided? With them, I mean.

[kyrie_eleison]

Kathy,

There were too variables involved with that purple tang. It could have been the stress of moving him to another tank; could have been the ich; could have been the hypotreatment itself; could have been the sohal bullying him. It's not entirely about size to avoid. It's more about compatibility. I always want smaller (juv. size fish); they're just more entertaining to watch.

If my tank were say...200 gallons, everything I own would be show-size. Purple Tangs are so beautiful; it may be the reason why some people stay in the hobby. Don't get me wrong, my sohal is who it is; it's just natural for them to be the way they are. It's more of my mistake.

I still have a yellow and a scopas; both are beautiful as well but to see all three zebrasomas (yellow, scopas and the purple) sharing one tank and getting along was my ultimate plan. Now, I'll never know if something like that would work. Oh well.

[lcstorc]

Sohals are know to be absolute terrors. I would watch him will your other fish as well.
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't the sailfin in the same class as well? Just want to know for the future of my tank. I kind of went the opposite of you and have one of each body style. Chevron, Sailfin, Yellow Belley Regal. I always wanted a purple but thought I had to avoid it because of the sailfin.

[kyrie_eleison]

Ics,

I tried something similar to that. I had a sohal, purple and yellow eye kole in the same tank. That idea didn't pan out. But, there are reasons for that. There's no question to that either. However, I know now. Sorry for being so vague.

Anyways, yes..sailfins are in the same genus as yellow, purple and scopas. But, for some reason I never cared for those. If I could truly afford it and money was no object, I would have been the proud owner of a rostratum or even a gemmatum. But purples are just as hardy, beautiful AND belligerent as the yellow and scopas but more affordable than their rarer cousins.

[Techno-Vicki]

I have had mine for 2 years and he only killed on little yellow tang. I do love him, but when I move up to the 180, I will probably sell him or move him to a different tank. I want several other fish I know he would have a problem with. He doesn't mind fish that are smaller and not shaped like him. I had a very large maroon clown he decided was his girlfriend. She even let him around her eggs. I am looking to get a Desjardini sail fin for the 180 and a few banner fish. It will be a couple of months until then, so for now he stars