Sailfin Tang Experiences

[Lukeh]

Somebody I know is breaking down their tank and gave me their huge sailfin tang. He's a beast, now the biggest fish in my tank. I never paid much attention to these guys before...I'm just curious what they're like as far as temperament and personality. The only other tang I have is a purple. He's kinda being a jerk to the sailfin but I'm not too worried about it, he's much smaller.

 

[cracker]

I think they are typical rowdy fish just like other tangs . Just how big is this fish & tank You have?

 

[ca1ore]

Highly variable. My current desjardini is mellow with the other fish but apparently dislikes my arm. Prior one hated every other tang. They can get dinner plate sized, so adequate space makes a big difference to temperament.

 

[ENVY]

Mine is mellow. Peaceful to every tank mate. He is paired up with my foxface. They follow each other everywhere. However won't take any crap when my newer yellow eye kole tang tries to test his 'authority' as the king of the tank.

Before getting mine i read/watched other people's experiences. I noticed they seem to be less likely to be super aggressive (in general of course) than other Zebrasoma tangs. However I have no hard data to back it up.

 

[BigJim]

Is it a zebrasoma or desjardini sailfin tang? My desjardini tang was a terror. He nearly bullied my copperband butterfly to death. It also took hours of chasing him around with a net to wear him out enough and catch him. He was too smart for every trap I tried.

 

[Lukeh]

Here's a picture of him...pretty cool so far. About seven inches I think. Maybe a bit smaller. Can you tell if this is the desjardin variety? He's big but skinny, I'm gonna fatten him up. He's eating pretty good.

 

[BigJim]

That is a zebrasoma. Hopefully he is nicer than my desjardini.

 

[nereefpat]

Both sailfin tangs, the Indonesian and the desjardin, are in the Zebrasoma genus.

The one pictured is the Indo sailfin, Zebrasoma veliferum.

 

[vanpire]

I have had both types of sailfin tangs, and I have good luck with them. They are relatively mellow. They tend to grow faster than my other tangs though.

 

[ca1ore]

I’ve not found consistent temperament differences between the two. I prefer the look of the red sea variant, but both can be mellow .... or aggressive.

 

[Campy10]

I have a desjadin tang and he gets along with my Naso, yellow and blue tangs. No aggression what so ever.