Naso tang or Unicorn Tang 180g??

[mcpeachy]

I really love the look of unicorn tang noses...but I noticed on DD yesterday an absolutely beautiful Naso but I don't think I was planning to get a Naso. I purchased him, but still have a day to decide on him. I've noticed a lot of people prefer blondes. I'm not sure if they have different behaviors, but I would honestly prefer to have a unicorn tang more. I also plan to have SPS so i'm not sure if having huge fish is a good idea or not given the nitrates. Tell me what you guys think..? Tang so beautiful, you can't pass it up? Or can I get a smaller unicorn tang?? ALSO-- what is usually the size Nasos grow out to? He is already 7" to his tail (not streamers

 

[mcpeachy]

thanks

 

[4FordFamily]

Honestly a Naso requires 8 feet of swimming room long-term. I wouldn't personally keep one in a 180. Definitely not a Unicorn tang. Naso and Blonde naso are both beautiful fish that get very large.

 

[ca1ore]

Unicorn tangs ARE naso tangs …. Naso is the genus. Agree that a 180 is a push for any naso, particularly when it is already 7'. I keep both a N. Elegans and N. Brevirostris …. but my tank is a 450.

 

[mcpeachy]

I think BRS just put one in their BRS 160. Saw a blonde naso on an instagram post. They must be planning to move him or rehome him when he gets too large. He will definetly get too large, right? I cant think that he wont become 12"... He will....right?

 

[miyags]

Unicrons and Vlamingii tangs are fish I wish they'd stop selling in fish shops.They get way to large for the average home aquarium. Everyone says they will re home,but no one wants to buy a 20inch fish.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

With Nasos they get to 6" pretty quickly and then spend the rest of their life slowly growing. I have a 2" blonde in a 6'x2'x2'. My aquascape is designed for swimming. I don't keep rock leaning on glass, but more so in the middle bottom 1/3 of the tank. This allows swimming in front and behind, as well as above. This is important because a 300 gallon with wall to wall rock would have less swimming room for a large fish.
I have never seen a Naso that has grown in captivity over 10-12", but 12" is still huge. Your 7" fish can swim a little less than 10x body length before having to turn around. What I did in your situation is get a much smaller naso. If I were you I would probably cancel the order and look for a smaller one.

 

[4FordFamily]

Unicorn tangs ARE naso tangs …. Naso is the genus. Agree that a 180 is a push for any naso, particularly when it is already 7'. I keep both a N. Elegans and N. Brevirostris …. but my tank is a 450.

This is true, but most "unicorn" naso tangs get much larger than "naso". Although, all are considerably large fish.

 

[4FordFamily]

Unicrons and Vlamingii tangs are fish I wish they'd stop selling in fish shops.They get way to large for the average home aquarium. Everyone says they will re home,but no one wants to buy a 20inch fish.

I agree for the most part. The appeal is that they're relatively inexpensive per inch, but people are unaware of how dirty large tangs are inch for inch. It's a high bio load fish to add, and many naso genus tangs I find to be underwhelming in appearance. My blonde naso in my 10 foot wall tank is beautiful, and a welcome addition but I personally find vlamingii and most unicorns to be quite underwhelming in appearance. However, this is very subjective.

I said I'd never own a green bird wrasse but I have a pretty handsome one, and find his nose to be "cool". My kids call him "witch fish" because he looks like a green Disney witch. Ultimately though, this is another one I'd have said I traditionally would avoid.

 

[nereefpat]

I've noticed a lot of people prefer blondes.

I'm a brunette guy, myself

I agree that any Naso sp will outgrow a 180. The two commonly called "naso tangs" don't get quite a big as vlamingii or the unicorns, but still much too large for a 6' tank. It's kind of too bad, because they are gentle giants compared to most tangs. I've seen vlamingii and unicorns in public aquaria well over a foot, probably closer to two. They should reach that size in our tanks, if treated right.

 

[ca1ore]

Interestingly I will keep, and do, a brevirostris in my 450 ..... but I will not keep a vlamingii. The former gets length but is not particularly broad. The V has enormous girth making it a problem for anything less than a 10’ tank. Even that might be a push. Once I retire in about 7 years, I plan to build a really HUGE tank with the goal of keeping all four of the generally available Naso species.

I’ve kept elegant/literatus on a few occasions. No reason to think they weren’t perfectly healthy, but none ever made it to 12” (even one I had for almost a decade). They grew fast to about 7-8” and then growth slowed appreciably.

 

[mcpeachy]

it' so hard to be responsible!
It's also ironic because a lot of time the advice is someone asking to put a small naso in a 50 g and people implore that person to PLEASE PLEASE put that fish in a 6 ft at least! But ironically, ideally, its not 6 ft. But I do thank you guys, because I wouldn't want to be stressed trying to grow out SPS and acros with a huge fish that isn't the right size for the tank and worrying about him being too large. Is there another fish that has his personality but smaller size? I also am QT a new kole tang would has small holes in his fins right now. Just two for now, came with one. I'm trying to figure out why and whats going on with him. Probably not a good time for the naso anyway. Any idea what causes holes? tiny pin hole ones.