mimic tangs

[Dave Zale]

i think the word mimic is causing me great confusion. is a yellow mimic chocolate tang...a real tang? i have a brown powder tang a blue hippo, and sailfin...would it be safe, or just hang a picture of it over the tank? thnxs in advance for help....Happy Fathers Day to all

 

[fishski13]

i think the word mimic is causing me great confusion. is a yellow mimic chocolate tang...a real tang? i have a brown powder tang a blue hippo, and sailfin...would it be safe, or just hang a picture of it over the tank? thnxs in advance for help....Happy Fathers Day to all

So the yellow mimic tang is a tang. Basically it is called that since it is trying to mimic other fish I believe an angel. Its the same thing with the Moorish Idol and Heniochus Butterfly on how one is trying to mimic the other.

To answer your question if it is safe to add, how big is your tank?

 

[Zionas]

There’s more than one type of mimic Tang. The most common kind is A. Pyrofeus of which the most well-known variant is the Lemonpeel Mimic but the species mimics other species of dwarf angels in their respective regions.

The less well-known and less commonly seen type is called A. Trigosteus (or however it’s spelled) and it’s often known as the Eibli Mimic. It’s found in the Indian Ocean as that’s where the Eibli is found.

To my knowledge they are a bit smaller than many other Acanthurus Tangs but Acanthurus, as a more active genus among Tangs, really does best in at least a 6’ tank IMO and that includes the smaller species. A 6’ 180 or above would be ideal.

If your tank isn’t 6’ I’d consider a Ctenochaetus tang (except the Chevron) or a smaller Zebrasoma.

 

[i cant think]

i think the word mimic is causing me great confusion. is a yellow mimic chocolate tang...a real tang? i have a brown powder tang a blue hippo, and sailfin...would it be safe, or just hang a picture of it over the tank? thnxs in advance for help....Happy Fathers Day to all

They are as said true tangs, as juveniles the three mimicking species (A. chronixis, A. tristis and A. pyroferus) will mimic a species of Dwarf Angel, the Chronixis only mimics the Half Black Angel. The Pyroferus will mimic I believe 3; Half Black Angels, Lemonpeel Angels and Heralds Angels. The Tristis will mimic the Eibli Angel and that’s the only one they mimic. All three are similar but have small differences between them as they mature.

 

[Zionas]

I didn’t know the Pyrofeus mimicked three and not just the Lemonpeel. Very interesting.

 

[lion king]

Yes as others have said, they are tangs that mimic an angel in the region they are from. The Acanthurus pyroferus(mimic yellow and mimic lemonpeel) are way to close to the powder brown, and would likely be a risk. The chocolate tang which is the adult for of these fish are very similar to the powder brown, and the powder is a bit notorious for aggression. The half black mimic(Acanthurus chronixis) may be a safer risk but they are not as beautiful as as adults as the mimic yellow or mimic lemonpeel.

 

[Dave Zale]

So the yellow mimic tang is a tang. Basically it is called that since it is trying to mimic other fish I believe an angel. Its the same thing with the Moorish Idol and Heniochus Butterfly on how one is trying to mimic the other.

To answer your question if it is safe to add, how big is your tank?

60 and 120

 

[Dave Zale]

60 and 120

and it is the pyroferus

 

[Chrisv.]

One way to cut through the confusion is to look at the Latin name. If it's in the same genus at other tangs, it's a tang.

 

[lion king]

60 and 120

The 60 is way too small for any tang the some may argue the 120g is ok for the powder brown, but the powder brown will get aggressive, and may need to be the only tang. A bristletooth tang may fit into a 120g; but the blue, sailfin, and most tangs will quickly outgrow that tank.

 

[i cant think]

The 60 is way too small for any tang the some may argue the 120g is ok for the powder brown, but the powder brown will get aggressive, and may need to be the only tang. A bristletooth tang may fit into a 120g; but the blue, sailfin, and most tangs will quickly outgrow that tank.

I wouldn’t put any Acanthurus in a 4’ tank personally. Maybe 5’ tank but even then I’d probably think on it first. A bristletooth with definitely fit into a 4 or 5 foot tank though.

 

[Dave Zale]

One way to cut through the confusion is to look at the Latin name. If it's in the same genus at other tangs, it's a tang.

what am i looking for on that...both have same first name... second name different

 

[i cant think]

what am i looking for on that...both have same first name... second name different

Yeah, so if it’s a Tang it’ll be under either;
Acanthurus (Mimic Tangs)
Prionurus
Ctenochaetus
Zebrasoma
Paracanthurus
There may be one I’m missing

 

[Chrisv.]

what am i looking for on that...both have same first name... second name different

The first name is the genus name-- the more general one, the second is the species name. Think of it like first and last names for people, but backwards.

So everything with the same first name is related (from the same genus). Where this gets tricky is that there are multiple genera (pleural form of genus) that tangs belong to.

The genera that @i cant think listed are the tangs

 

[Chrisv.]

As you can probably guess, the more closely related tangs look more similar.

For example, the genus Zebrasoma contains the yellow tang, scopas tang, black tang, purple tang, gem tang, and I'm sure there are others.

The genus Acanthurus has the powder blue, the Achilles, the powder brown, orange shoulder, and many others.

The genus Ctenochaetus contains the bristle tooth tangs, like the kole tang, chevron tang, and similar.

Other fun facts: the two name latin naming system is called binomial nomenclature. The first letter of the genus name is supposed to be capitalized and the second name lower case, and the whole latin name is supposed to be in italics.

 

[tbrown]

i think the word mimic is causing me great confusion. is a yellow mimic chocolate tang...a real tang? i have a brown powder tang a blue hippo, and sailfin...would it be safe, or just hang a picture of it over the tank? thnxs in advance for help....Happy Fathers Day to all

+1 to everyone else above. The mimic refers to the juvenile tang mimicking a more "dangerous" fish for protection. It's basically camouflage. Kind of like burrowing owls mimicking rattlesnakes and moths mimicking "poisonous" critters.