Anyone Have Experience On Maculiceps Tang?

nereefpat · Sep 27, 2019

I've only seen adult maculiceps in public aquaria.

Personally, I wouldn't put them in my "impossibly big tang" category which includes dussumieri, mata, vlamingii and the unicorn Nasos. But they do get huge. Some tangs have streamers, too, which can mess with my mind a bit when it comes to Total Length.

Experience with these large tangs, or at least watching them in person, should be the best guide, imo. If you watch them, they don't swim like the tangs we commonly keep. Zebrasoma and Ctenochaetus spend time picking at the rocks and glass, while the "huge" tangs spend most of their time cruising in the open water.

Sorry, I'm rambling a bit, too. I like discussing tangs....Good luck with your decision. It sounds like you are shying away from A. maculiceps, but there are lots of uncommon tangs that would be fine in a 240. Tennentii might be a good one....or blonde Naso, or chevron, or Atlantic blue.

MnFish1 · Sep 27, 2019

pcon said:
While this has drifted a bit off topic, my apologies. I think this is an important issue at a contemporary turning point for the community. 5 years ago I may have simply dropped the point and I certainly would not have used as strong language.

@MnFish1 we certainly agree that very few tangs will live in the wild to full adult sizes. I also agree that very few tangs in captivity make it to full adulthood. I took issue with the blasé statement that the max size should not be considered, because we as hobbyists fail so often. While I appreciate there are nuances which can mitigate how large a factor into ones personal decision making the max size of a fish is. I myself have bent and broken the rules. I was concerned that your post would send the wrong message to the beginners, who frequent these forums, and may not understand the implied nuance.

Were this hobby not under scrutiny to clean up our act around wild fish and corals I probably wouldn't feel the need to say that it was reprehensible. We as a community have to do a good job policing our public record. While I am all for debating the nuances of ethical housing of monster fish, to start we need to get away from the 90s under-gravel mentality of "oh its small now and I don't need to worry about that until later"

Have no disagreement - and I never said that size 'shouldn't be considered' - I just think its funny that people get all hyped up on tangs - when in reality - the range they travel (the common one's in the hobby) is not that different than triggers and angels (larger varieties). If your argument is 'we shouldn't keep fish that get larger than 6 inches in a 200 gallon tank' - ok - thats fine.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 27, 2019

That is Industry size and largest captive size ive seen is 6"

nereefpat · Sep 27, 2019

vetteguy53081 said:
That is Industry size and largest captive size ive seen is 6"

Beautiful fish.

eea60123 · Sep 27, 2019

I wish people could be more cordial, respectful, and not bash people on here. I believe the overwhelming majority of us want to do the right thing for the pets we care for in our aquariums, and if we see a problem we will do what is necessary to rectify that problem. I don’t agree with keeping certain fish in overly small tanks no matter the species. I haven’t experienced quick growth rate from any of my tangs. I’ve had a hippo tang for nearly 10 years that is only 5” and a sailfin tang for 8 years that’s about 4” when puffed up. Sailfins are reported to get 15” but I’ve yet to see one close to that in a home aquarium. These are far from the only tangs Ive had over the years. I believe the fish you want is beautiful and have considered getting one myself. No matter what you decide I wish you the best.

MnFish1 · Nov 28, 2023

pcon said:
Citation needed on any species of wild tang which has a life expectancy of 40 years, let alone only reaching full size after that time. That’s Big dubious claim, Needs a pretty sold piece of support.

Not worrying about the max adult size is frankly reprehensible and unethical. It may take time to reach that size, but no ethical fish keeper plans on killing or stunting their pets before they reach adulthood. Rehousing has its own ethical issues which I won’t get into but you need to at least have a plan of how big before it needs re-homed and how am I going to re-home it. Before anyone buys a fish they need to at least have a plan to address its needs through it’s expected life. That plan can change but to not at least think about it is unethical.

Specifically with this fish, It’s not a commonly highly desirable fish at large size, so not a lot of places/people want one. Far easier to re-home almost any other surgeon. Naso, blue, sohal, ect because they are both smaller and in higher demand(ie. not brown)
This is the type of fish you absolutely have to think of what am I going to do with this monster sized tang, or Be liable to end up like the other that has been on the front page, stumped finding and adequate home in the future.

I’m not saying don’t bend the rules on a small one, but follow it up with an adequate lifetime care plan. Am I willing to build a big enough tank or saltwater pond? Or do I have a place actually arranged, not hypothetical places, which will take them when they exceed your ability to house them? These are the questions we have to ask ourselves before we take on the responsibility of an ocean animal under our care, for our enjoyment.

OK - here you go - From NOAA (Hopefully, they are not making a bid dubious claim): https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/ocea...ants/NA10NOS4100062/6_FISHLIFE_YellowTang.pdf

pcon · Nov 29, 2023

I don't like to participate on this place anymore but didn't want to leave this unrebuked.

MnFish1 said:
OK - here you go - From NOAA (Hopefully, they are not making a bid dubious claim): https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/ocea...ants/NA10NOS4100062/6_FISHLIFE_YellowTang.pdf

This article does not say this:

MnFish1 said:
It can take tangs 40 years to get to 'adult size'

The life expectancy is not 40 years on average. They grow quickly to near their max size and taper off growth afterwards. The data agrees, we hashed this out years ago. I am not sure why you felt the need to bring up a puff piece on a distantly related species to try to justify to your unethical care advice.

MnFish1 said:
- I would not worry about the 16 inch size.

To ignore max size is not acceptable advice when talking about the purchase of a wild animal. I dont care how long it takes. It is trashy behavior that reflects poorly on all aquarists if we do not call it out.

vetteguy53081 · Nov 29, 2023

Agree on arguments and disagreements but also this is a forum and debates will occur. It’s generally done with respect
As for this tang, I’ve owned one, know persons who own one and have seen them at wholesalers and they average 4-6” captive size
Even in Hawaii I saw larger ones at about 12-14” max

troypt · Nov 29, 2023

Back to the original topic. I tried for a few years to keep a maculiceps tang, but they all slowly got skinnier and skinnier and would die despite eating. I tried all different kinds of food. I finally got one a year ago and started feeding seaweed extreme pellets as part of my daily feeding and it is doing great. It’s a beautiful fish in my opinion. It gets along fine with my purple tang, hippo tang and orange shoulder tang.

vetteguy53081 · Nov 29, 2023

troypt said:
Back to the original topic. I tried for a few years to keep a maculiceps tang, but they all slowly got skinnier and skinnier and would die despite eating. I tried all different kinds of food. I finally got one a year ago and started feeding seaweed extreme pellets as part of my daily feeding and it is doing great. It’s a beautiful fish in my opinion. It gets along fine with my purple tang, hippo tang and orange shoulder tang.

Problem I had with mine was it tried to eat All the food

dannyd_ · Nov 30, 2023

As I was reading through this I was actually going to commend the people here for having relatively civil disagreeement and showing sources, haven't seen that in a while here. But someone said that they deemed it a little on the aggressive side, so maybe nevermind.

Dutch_Roots · Nov 30, 2023

Added my Maculiceps tang four weeks ago. Such a beautiful tang has tons of personality and he’s been doing great so far. Eats like a pig and hasn’t been aggressive.

rob1976 · Oct 12, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
That is Industry size and largest captive size ive seen is 6"

I have a chance to buy one. I have a 6 foot tank 125 gallon. Do you think it would be ok? Hoping it doesn’t grow over 10 inches

fish_collector · Apr 13, 2025

A very old thread no doubt, but I was actively searching for some of this info and stumbled across it this morning. I wanted to thank all of the members involved for their contributions, and pcon I hope you don't stay away for too long, all opinions are valued here.

I have been in the hobby for a very long time and I just don't see the tangs in captivity getting the proportions that they are reported to attain. Captive life may stunt them somewhat, and that doesn't mean they are undernourished or abused, it just means they have adapted to aquarium life and smaller than a wild specimen still on the reef. To follow the advice of some and only keep fish that stay reasonably small would eliminate 75% of all of the marine fish available to hobbyists. And with the exception of a few that practice such advice, nearly everyone will purchase and keep a fish that will theoretically outgrow their confines eventually. I've never, ever, ever seen a truly giant vlamingi except in a public aquarium, and with as many as are available at LFS, they are living in someone's tanks somewhere, and there's not too many hobbyists with truly giant tanks with most topping out at 250-300gallons (yes there are some that are bigger but it's not common to see them). With that said, I have a vlamingi in my 100g but he's far from outgrowing it, and there are plans to set up a much bigger tank in the very near future.

Yesterday We went to a few LFS not looking for anything in particular and one of the best here in Phoenix, Aquarium Arts, had a few Acanthurus maculiceps in the 2-3" range for $120. I had never seen one before. I ended up not getting one and instead I got an Acanthurus pyroferus (chocolate tang) and an Acanthurus tristis (Eibli mimic tang). There are so many beautiful tangs, I'm partial to the ones that aren't common. I have no desire to keep a purple, powder blue, sohal etc. I want something a little more uncommon.

Sorry for the novel I'm a little long winded at times. Please continue the thread I think this is a very valid discussion.

vetteguy53081 · Apr 13, 2025

klc said:
A very old thread no doubt, but I was actively searching for some of this info and stumbled across it this morning. I wanted to thank all of the members involved for their contributions, and pcon I hope you don't stay away for too long, all opinions are valued here.

I have been in the hobby for a very long time and I just don't see the tangs in captivity getting the proportions that they are reported to attain. Captive life may stunt them somewhat, and that doesn't mean they are undernourished or abused, it just means they have adapted to aquarium life and smaller than a wild specimen still on the reef. To follow the advice of some and only keep fish that stay reasonably small would eliminate 75% of all of the marine fish available to hobbyists. And with the exception of a few that practice such advice, nearly everyone will purchase and keep a fish that will theoretically outgrow their confines eventually. I've never, ever, ever seen a truly giant vlamingi except in a public aquarium, and with as many as are available at LFS, they are living in someone's tanks somewhere, and there's not too many hobbyists with truly giant tanks with most topping out at 250-300gallons (yes there are some that are bigger but it's not common to see them). With that said, I have a vlamingi in my 100g but he's far from outgrowing it, and there are plans to set up a much bigger tank in the very near future.

Yesterday We went to a few LFS not looking for anything in particular and one of the best here in Phoenix, Aquarium Arts, had a few Acanthurus maculiceps in the 2-3" range for $120. I had never seen one before. I ended up not getting one and instead I got an Acanthurus pyroferus (chocolate tang) and an Acanthurus tristis (Eibli mimic tang). There are so many beautiful tangs, I'm partial to the ones that aren't common. I have no desire to keep a purple, powder blue, sohal etc. I want something a little more uncommon.

Sorry for the novel I'm a little long winded at times. Please continue the thread I think this is a very valid discussion.

My Vlamingi was 15" and growing when someone bought it . My maculiceps got a little aggressive as well as mustard and those were sold . Powder blue and Sohal are perhaps the nastiest of tangs ive owned.