Picked up a Dussimer/Palani Tang

[jmccown]

It was sold to me as a Palani tang, but after researching it is also a dussimer tang. It is a juvenile, about 4". I found one adult pic of these and they are spectacular. They get really big. Just wondering if any of you guys have kept these fish. Post a pic if you have one.

[bstone]

I have one, awesome fish! It grew very big real fast. Very friendly and none aggressive.

A palani has a more pointed nose.

[RGBMatt]

Palani is the Hawaiian name for Acanthurus dussumieri.

[jmccown]

So are they the same fish? My fish has a gray look right now and some very faint yellow markings under its eyes and on the top and bottom dorsals. I think it is very pretty fish. Has a hint of blue as well.

Bstone - any pics of your dussimer?

[bstone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10739644#post10739644 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RGBMatt
Palani is the Hawaiian name for Acanthurus dussumieri.

I am going to disagree with you on this one: There are (3) common mistakes when identifying this fish!!

Category: Tang Fish
Sub-Category: Palani Tang
Scientific Name: Acanthurus nigrofuscus
Family: Acanthuridae
PICTURE of Palani (http://www.reefimages.com/cgi-reefimages/page.cgi?list=Surgeons&slide=18.jpg)

Category: Tang Fish
Sub-Category: Dussumier Tang
Scientific Name: Acanthurus dussumieri
Family: Acanthuridae
Picture of Dussumieri (http://www.reefimages.com/cgi-reefimages/page.cgi?list=Surgeons&slide=6.jpg)

Category: Tang Fish
Sub-Category: Mata Tang
Scientific Name: Acanthurus mata
Family: Acanthuridae
Picture of Mata (http://www.reefimages.com/cgi-reefimages/page.cgi?list=Surgeons&slide=15.jpg)

UPDATE: Or are you refering to the local Hawaiian natives calling it a Palani?

[zemuron114]

actually, matt is right. There are 3 fish that are sold as dussumieri tangs and or Palani's (collecters refer to it as palani)

A. dusseumieri, A. xanthopterus, and A. blochii. ALL are considered to be palani i believe. They are all also sold as dussumieri tangs in the trade. Only the true duss tangs will get those vibrant markings on the eye. However, some blochii or xanthopterus are very beautiful but they need to be big in order to see the colors.

Do you have a pic of the one you have? Im betting it isn't a real dussumieri since small duss tangs are very difficult to obtain.

[zemuron114]

Oh,

A. nigrofuscus is never refered to as a palani here in HI. Only lavender tang.

A. Mata i dont believe is found in Hawaii either :)

[jmccown]

Do these all look the same as juveniles? Do all of these get BIG?

[bstone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10741291#post10741291 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zemuron114
Oh,

A. nigrofuscus is never refered to as a palani here in HI. Only lavender tang.

A. Mata i dont believe is found in Hawaii either :)

The Mata and the Duss. get confused a lot in the trade. I have seen many fish sold as Duss. that are actually Mata, and vise versa.. Anyway, you can make that claim about all the fish species sold in this trade! LOL :D

[triggerfish1976]

I have never seen the Mata get confused with the Dussumer but I have seen Juvenile Blochii and Dussumers listed as Dussumer. The later seems to be the common named used on the retail end to describe about 3-4 fish that all look very similar to each other. I honestly can say that I have never even heard of a Mata Tang on the retail end.

[jnc914]

Very interesting thread, as I purchased a juvenile Dussumieri several months ago. It is blackish grey in color and has started its gradual color stage. I have noticed that it is getting a light strip pattern on the body. With the previous information, I am not too sure it is an authenitic dussumieri, it may be the Mata tang, which isn't bad to look at either.

[jmccown]

how big is yours jnc? Mine is 4" and just showing some different color markings. I'll try to post a pic of my juvi tonight.

[jnc914]

Mine is about 3.5- 4" also. When I first bought him he was very dark with some white on the upper portion of underbelly. It has a fine line of blue coloration on its dorsal fin that fluoreces under my 20K. i started to see slight yellow coloration on its tail and then faint stripes appeared on its sides. Overall it is a light grey now, but gets lighter after feedings. He is pretty docile, but did put a gash on my lieutenant tangs side. He gets along real well with my chocolate tang, and doesn't go near my Purple. I will also try to get a pic up.

[tylorarm]

I bought what i believe is a Dussumieri. The dealer had one small Duss and one small Blochii, very difficult to distinguish. Dealer had a tang id book that helped, but i'm still not 100% sure. Only about 2" when i got him, he thought he was boss right away. A true pig. fought 4" PT on a regular basis, didn't mess with 4" chevron. He's now bigger than both six months later. Pale blue body, yellow/gold on dorsal, getting prettier all the time. My favorite now whether he's a true duss or not. Eats most anything and not shy at all.

[AquaKnight]

WOW! Like 4 people have them and no one's posted pics yet? Come on guys! ;)

[jmccown]

Patience man, patience! I'll put mine up when I get home tonight.

[TheSaltwaterGuy]

Always loved the Dussimieri Tangs. Just wish I had a big enough tank to keep one. Congrats.

[bstone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10744166#post10744166 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquaKnight407
WOW! Like 4 people have them and no one's posted pics yet? Come on guys! ;)

He is the one in the middle!

http://home.comcast.net/~sstone261/DSC_0061.JPG

[triggerfish1976]

Looks like a Dussumers to me and it does look like it is starting to go through the color change. Beautiful fish and congrats.
How does your Achilles do with all of the other tangs?

[xinumaster]

Mine is about 9 inches now.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r83/xinumaster/corals/xx-large-dussumieri-acantharus.jpg

[bstone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10744440#post10744440 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triggerfish1976
Looks like a Dussumers to me and it does look like it is starting to go through the color change. Beautiful fish and congrats.
How does your Achilles do with all of the other tangs?

The Achilles does great with all the fish. It does chase the Powder Blue around, but they just chase eachother; no aggresion. That is a old picture, I have more updated on my thread, just click onthe red house above...

[TheSaltwaterGuy]

bstone, how big is your Dussimieri? If he's in the 680g, he must be massive, along with all your others!

[triggerfish1976]

Check this one out.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?ddid=26808&siteid=20

[bstone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10745581#post10745581 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triggerfish1976
Check this one out.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?ddid=26808&siteid=20

SWEET!! :D

[zemuron114]

juvi blochii and dussumieri's are relatively easy to distinguish. Duss's will have yellow dorsal fin and a yellow stripe in the tail. Body color and patterns have nothing to do with them. Blochii's dont have any yellow on their tail or dorsal fin.

The one pictured is a nice Duss :)

[AquaKnight]

See! I just needed to get you guys kick-started lol.


Here's one my brother found in one of his car forums. It's in a 1200gal tank at a state park (don't ask me which). This one is why I fell in love with Duss's (I've posted it a couple times already). I can't wait for 10ft tank in a couple years to be able to house one.

http://xs217.xs.to/xs217/07285/IMG_1272.jpg

[zemuron114]

that is a beautiful one! notice the bright yellow dorsal fin and the yellow stripe on the tail? Blochii and xanthopterus wont have this yellow.

[TheSaltwaterGuy]

Wow, what a beauty.

[RGBMatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10739736#post10739736 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bstone
UPDATE: Or are you refering to the local Hawaiian natives calling it a Palani?

Yes. If somebody calls any fish a Palani other than A. dussumieri, they are making a mistake.

As zemuron mentioned, the three look-alike species from Hawaii that get called "dussumer" are A. dussumieri, A. Blochii, and A. xanthopterus. Out of these, only dussumieri is called Palani - the other two are lumped together under the name Pualu.

The Hawaiian work for the lavender tang, A. nigrofuscus, is Ma'iko'iko.

Acanthurus mata is not found in Hawaii.

It's quite easy to tell these three species apart, even as juveniles. True dussumieri tangs have a white tail spine which is quite obvious - if the spine is black, it's not a dussumer. Real dussumers also have a yellow tail ring and larger eyes. For a fish with a black spine, it's a blochii if the pec fins are gray and a xanthopterus if the pec fins are yellow.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10739736#post10739736 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triggerfish1976
Check this one out.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversde...26808&siteid=20

The fish in that LiveAquaria link is a xanthopterus, not a dussumer. Still a nice fish, though!

It's a trip to see fish like this selling for hundreds of dollars. Adult Palani and Pualu are quite common in the Honolulu fish markets, where they're considered a rubbish fish and sell for $1.50 a pound. Many fishermen will catch them only as a last resort.

[jnc914]

RGBMatt- based upon your description of the juvi Dussumieri, I was able to determine that I did indeed have one in my tank. The caudal spine is white and is quite prominent. In fact he is not shy in using it if he feels threatened. Also I noticed last night the dorsal and caudal fins are starting to get the yellow and blue coloration as seen in the pics above, in addition to a slight line pattern on the body.

On a diffrent note, if you are a resident of Hawaii, do you need a license to collect fish? and if a resident collects the specimen, what are the restrictions regarding the collector selling and shipping them to perspective customers here on the "mainland"?

[jmccown]

Well if that's the case mine is a true dussimer, it has a white spine. That's cool. I only paid $49 for mine.

[jmccown]

Pics of my dussimer/palani can be found over here

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=10754087#post10754087

I stand corrected - earlier I posted mine had a white spine, well, it is black/navy blue color. What do you guys think it is?

[King-Kong]

Similiar to a Dussimer (I believe it to be a Acanthurus xanthopterus), we spotted this guy while Snorkeling in one of the smaller islands surrounding Okinawa:

http://www.d3f.org/misc/IMG_4744-09.jpg

to give you an appreciation for his size, look at the bottom right, and youll see another tang close to him!

This guy had to be around 30-36"! We snorkelled there on two seperate days, and on both days we found him/her. Only one there, and just patrolled. That was their reef!

[RGBMatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10751538#post10751538 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnc914
RGBMatt- based upon your description of the juvi Dussumieri, I was able to determine that I did indeed have one in my tank. The caudal spine is white and is quite prominent. In fact he is not shy in using it if he feels threatened. Also I noticed last night the dorsal and caudal fins are starting to get the yellow and blue coloration as seen in the pics above, in addition to a slight line pattern on the body.

Excellent :). You can't rely on fin & body colour to distinguish these fish, especially on juveniles - blochii & xanthopterus can look almost identical in that respect. The white spine & yellow tail ring are the real things to look for.

There are various regulations about catching aquarium fish in Hawaii, but in the interests of staying on-topic you might want to either PM me or start a new thread about that.

I stand corrected - earlier I posted mine had a white spine, well, it is black/navy blue color. What do you guys think it is?

It could be a blochii, but since the pics are so fuzzy it's difficult to tell.

[jnc914]

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o79/jnc914/DSC00445.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o79/jnc914/DSC00443.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o79/jnc914/DSC00450.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o79/jnc914/DSC00431.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o79/jnc914/DSC00454.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o79/jnc914/DSC00440.jpg

[nyvp]

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h310/nyvp/IMG_3220_edited.jpg



So which is this?







.

[jmccown]

looks like a hybrid

[Gary Majchrzak]

bump for any more info on dussumieri

[jnc914]

My "juvenile Duss" as labeled by an LFS and pictured in a previous post, turned out to be a very aggressive Pale Lipped/White Spine Tang. He had to be removed from my system due to severe aggression. Needless to say I was not happy.

[Znut Reefer]

I also have one. He was in my 550, he was peaceful to all the other tangs. I added a Blonde naso and the duss would attack the naso. I removed the duss until the naso could adjust and get use to the tank. I believe if I hadn't the Duss would have killed the naso.

They are probably one of the most aggressive tangs I've seen.
I'll wait a few months and try the dussimer again and see if it works out. They are very beautiful fish.

[redline]

Mine outgrew my tank at 14", but a lovely fish