Naso elegans, the Blonde Naso

OrionN · Feb 20, 2025

Back in 5/20/2024 I got a small Blonde Naso that is about 2.5-3 inches. He (I hope) was tiny, the smallest of my tangs when I released him to my DT. He was a beautiful fish then, but his color improved over time. Today about 8 months later his color is coming along well. Not as beautiful as some Blonde Naso I seen in my friend's tank (@Claybird1985) but beautiful, nonetheless.
Here are his pictures, from the beginning in May and now. I will try to update this thread to document his color changes.
For those who has experiences with N. elegans, is there a way to tell male from female other than streamer when the grow large enough?
May 2024 at 2.5 inches

June 2024

Feb, 2025 at 5+ inches

Tahoe61 · Feb 21, 2025

He is gorgeous!!!

OrionN · Feb 23, 2025

Snapped this picture Friday PM 2/21/2025

nickm · Feb 24, 2025

OrionN said:
Snapped this picture Friday PM 2/21/2025

Beautiful specimen!! I ordered a Naso when I really wanted a Blonde Naso.

OrionN · Feb 24, 2025

At 5.5 inches his double spikes started to come in. Today, they are about .75 mm or so. Unlike the other tangs these spikes do not fold in.
He can also turn his eye lids bright blue according to his mood. Over the weekend I will try to see if I can capture this with my camera. Both the spikes and the blue eyelids can be seen in the last picture, however the eye lids can be bluer than seen there.

danreef55 · Feb 24, 2025

This is one of my favorite fish and will definitely be adding one. Many state that they become aggressive my experience is they are peacekeepers. Nice specimen congrats

TrottingReef · Feb 24, 2025

The scalpels on Nasos is no freaking joke! They look like they could rip anything up.

I did not know about the streamers for males until you mentioned it on the other forum. I do know that with all tangs the area around the scalpel is supposed to be rougher in appearance than females. Thats the only way I know about sexing tangs.

Elira_6301 · Apr 24, 2025

OrionN said:
Back in 5/20/2024 I got a small Blonde Naso that is about 2.5-3 inches. He (I hope) was tiny, the smallest of my tangs when I released him to my DT. He was a beautiful fish then, but his color improved over time. Today about 8 months later his color is coming along well. Not as beautiful as some Blonde Naso I seen in my friend's tank (@Claybird1985) but beautiful, nonetheless.
Here are his pictures, from the beginning in May and now. I will try to update this thread to document his color changes.
For those who has experiences with N. elegans, is there a way to tell male from female other than streamer when the grow large enough?
May 2024 at 2.5 inches

June 2024

Feb, 2025 at 5+ inches

He's gorgeous!

OrionN · Jun 4, 2025

Picture oh him just now:

danreef55 · Jun 4, 2025

OrionN said:
Picture oh him just now:

Beautiful fish congrats

OrionN · Oct 12, 2025

I don’t know if he is growing a streamer or not. I thinks so. Here he is this AM.
I find that my Blonde Naso does not eat as well as my other tangs. He does not have a pinched stomach but not a bulging stomach either, like my other tangs. He tend to feed out of the water column instead of grazing on the rock or the nori clip. Every morning when I change the nori in the clip I would release the bit if nori in the clips from the day before into the tank, he would eat that. but he only occasionally pick on the clips or the rocks. I feed my tank pellets 8 times a day, and he would get his share, being the undisputed biggest fish in the tank.
My Naso is a very mellow fish. The PBT flare at him and swims around and around him, it seem he just ignore the PBT, rarely raise his fins back in response. However, he does not swim away, just keep on doing what he is doing. I only see him tail swabs the PBT and circling the PBT in agitation only once since I have him in the tank.
When he was smaller, he darts aways from the three spots damsel, and other tangs when they go after him, but no more.
My PBT and Purple Tang aways going at each other. This AM I saw a punture wound on the PBT near the spike. This most likley happened in skimish witht he Purple Tang. He is the bully of the tank, but no longer the undisputed King of the tank.