Regional fish differences

[Aquadiva]

I was poking around the live aquaria site, looking at fish. Was looking at replacing my hippo which "disappeared" one night.

Anyway...liveaquaria lists blue tangs from the solomons, indian ocean and figi regions. The prices are similar, but I figure it just reflects a shipping difference. Is there any difference among the fish?

Here's a link... http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=330



TIA

 

[Aquadiva]

...

 

[RichConley]

I've seen pictures of blue tangs with slightly yellowish bellies, I'm not sure which collection location thats from though.

 

[jovreef]

Yellow bellies are from area's around HI if I remember correctly...so wouldnt that be figi?

 

[Liquid]

Some fish definitely have differences based upon region. Flame Angels are well known to have color variations depending upon where they are from. With Hippos, I haven't heard of dramatic differences based upon region.

 

[~Flighty~]

This was all I could find:

Source location: most palette tangs are collected in the vast waters of the Philippine and Indonesian Islands; these have not proven to be the better specimens. For what it's worth (and it does cost more, and is well justified), Paracanthurus hailing from New Caledonia, Christmas, Fiji and Marshall Islands et al. are superior. How to tell where yours is coming from? There's always taking a gander at your dealer's invoice; and a skilled eye can discern the more robust, better colored specimens from these "other" locales. My advice; pay the extra to get better livestock; encouraging better capture, holding and shipping practices elsewhere.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/paracant.htm

 

[Aquadiva]

That's for the responses...

Cindy, good read. I don't know why I never think to look on wetwebmedia. They are certainly a wealth of information. I guess I find it hard to search over there. *shrug*.

Interesting that they mention looking at the dealer invoice to identify the locale of origin....has anyone been able to actually look at the invoice at a LFS? Sorry, but I just don't seem to have that much clout around here. I kinda take it for granted that they would tell me if I asked, though. Not sure why they would try to hide this info. Just never really thought to ask.

Anyone know of a resource that goes throught the different variations?? or a good tutorial on "advanced searchs" so I can navigate on WWM??

TIA

 

[Andy O]

Yellow bellies are from area's around HI if I remember correctly...so wouldnt that be figi?

I thought that the yellow bellies were from South Africa. I purchased one from AG and I thought that is where B said that it was from. Maybe it is possible that they come various different locales.

Linda, call AG as they know where their various tangs come from that they have in stock. I believe that the ones that have more red in them are from Vanuatu.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I don't know anything about differences with this particular species, but in some cases there may be significant differences in fish behaviour depending upon where it comes from. The fish in a different location my have adapted to a different type of food source, and therefore might it be easier, or harder to convince them to eat the prepared foods that hobbyists can offer. They also might be more or less likely to eat corals, etc. They also might be better just due to the types of collecting practices in various areas. eg. in the past no one wanted copperbanded butterflys from Philippines, but the Australian ones were supposed to do better (no idea if this is still the case, but you get the point).

 

[steevareno]

I bought one from LiveAquaria 2 weeks ago and spent the extra $$$ for the Fiji hippo. So far he is very active, healthy and eats everything.