Acanthurus vs Zebrasoma vs Ctenochaetus?

[ThePurple12]

What are the differences in diet/feeding method in the three tang genera? Are some more herbivorous than others?

 

[Flippers4pups]

What are the differences in diet/feeding method in the three tang genera? Are some more herbivorous than others?

All are algae eaters and will have the same requirements. They will take meaty foods equally.

 

[nereefpat]

Zebrasoma and Acanthurus species are more of your traditional algae eaters.

Ctenochaetus species are film, slime, and detritus eaters in nature. They don't always take nori in our tanks. Some will. My current tomini does.

All tangs need a lot of food, and a varied diet. Nori is great. Meaty foods like mysis are good. Mixing in flakes and pellets is also a good idea. Lots of food several times a day is ideal. Their digestive tracts aren't very efficient, and they grow fast and burn a lot of energy.

 

[ThePurple12]

Is there any difference between Acanthurus and Zebrasoma?

 

[nereefpat]

Is there any difference between Acanthurus and Zebrasoma?

I would say that, when it comes to diet in our tanks, they are the same.

Acanthurus is a bit of a catch-all genus, a quick search gives me 40-ish species. Some make good additions to our tanks. Some are too huge, like A. dussumieri or A. mata. Some are infamously aggressive , like sohal or clown.

The Zebrasoma genus is more straight forward, for care in our tanks. But, the two "sailfins" get really large, and sometimes yellow, purple, and scopas can become pretty aggressive in smaller tanks. I have seen a scopas eat red bubble algae...not sure if the smaller Acanthurus would do that.