Juvenile White Tail Bristletooth Tang

[JJKK]

Hi. Anyone started with a juvenile white tail bristletooth tang? I got one and was surprised it was pale yellowish from body to tail fin. I have no reason to think I got a different fish than what I ordered. But can anyone verify?

Also, how long did your juv white tail bristletooth turn to the red with white tail look? Thanks.

 

[puffy127]

No experience with juveniles. I never knew they started out as yellow. I came across this on the web and it kind of looks like yours. It is labeled as a juvenile ctenochaetus flavicauda, but do not know if it is accurate:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zsispeo/33228826983/in/photostream/


Pale-tailed Bristletooth, small juvenile - Ctenochaetus flavicauda by zsispeo, on Flickr

 

[nereefpat]

Juvenile white tail tangs are all yellow.

So are at least a couple others in that genus, like truncated and cyanocheilus.

There's a few we could rule out, but I couldn't confidently say it is a whiletail. Keep us posted

 

[JJKK]

Thanks Aaron for finding me the picture of a juvenile Flavicauda. Mine may be younger than the one pictured as it isn't showing the freckles on the face nor the blue streaks across the dorsal.

Juvenile white tail tangs are all yellow.

So are at least a couple others in that genus, like truncated and cyanocheilus.

There's a few we could rule out, but I couldn't confidently say it is a whiletail. Keep us posted

Will do. I am hoping I didn't pay a premium to only end up with a bluelip, squaretail or a tomini tang. Thanks for the reply.

 

[nereefpat]

We'll, it's definitely not tomini. Even the juveniles are easily to recognize.

Let us know in a couple months

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hmmm.... looks like juvenile carribean Blue tang. Tangs go through so many color phases making it difficult to identify

 

[nereefpat]

You think it looks like Acanthurus genus?

 

[JJKK]

I did look up a picture of a juvenile Atlantic Blue tang and it did look similar. Gulp!

But the lip structure on mine and the way it mooshes them against the rocks and glass is a tell tell sign that it is Ctenochaetus. Which one? TBD.

 

[nereefpat]

@4FordFamily , any idea what we have here?

 

[Xanthurum]

I think it's just too early to tell from those pics. Definitely ctenochaetus but I wouldn't be able to say for sure but I am leaning towards flavicauda.

 

[puffy127]

Where did you order it from? Have you contacted them regarding your concern? What will they do if it turns out not to be a flavicauda?

 

[JJKK]

Where did you order it from? Have you contacted them regarding your concern? What will they do if it turns out not to be a flavicauda?

I got it from one of the forum sponsor here. Like I said before, I am not concern that this was anything intentional or if a mistake is even made. I do want to document some of this here in case I have an issue down the line. I did reach out to the seller and he stated that this specimen was collected in Christmas Island. I knew that Flavicauda were from Tahiti, but not sure about Christmas Island. I didn't ask more about it with him. The seller may have misspook about the location.

Not sure what their policy is if this turns out not to be a Flavicauda.

 

[WMR]

Mouth structure looks like Ctenochaetus, not Acanthurus. Let’s see in a few months what it is. The vendors that post on here are usually on spot. If not, I’m sure they’ll fix the issue

 

[JJKK]

Here's a video for comparison later:

 

[JJKK]

Here are some pics after another week and you can see more of the scribble on the body and the freckle dots on the face:

 

[lolmatt]

Any update on this tang? I'm looking for something very similar...juvenile white tail, mind sending a pm which sponsor you got this one from? Thanks! Beautiful fish!

 

[JJKK]

Here's the guy about 7 weeks from when I got it. It is more reddish-orange than the yellowish body from when I first received the fish. When it gets "mad" you can see the scarlet red streaks on its body. Still waiting for signs of tail getting more whitish but not seeing it yet.

 

[JJKK]

Here is the juvenile "whitetail" bristle tooth tang another month later:

Coloration is a deep reddish purple. Still waiting to see any white in the tail.

 

[nereefpat]

Thanks. I'm still following along, and curious as to how it turns out.

How long is the fish now?

 

[4FordFamily]

Definitely not an acanthurus, as juveniles they're so difficult to ID. I am following along!