powder brown tang experience?

[harrypotter41]

I'm looking at a powder brown tang to buy this week from Petco (any thoughts on buying fish from these types of stores?) Anyways, he/she is small-medium sized which is why I'd like to have him. I have a 55 gallon with 2 clown (oscelaris-sp?), and a coral banded shrimp.
Note: I had paid for a coral beauty when a different LFS received it last Tuesday. I had them keep it for a few days until I felt he was going to be okay for me to take home. I went to check him out today and he had not been eating and they were up front with me about that. They gave me a store credit or refund, so I feel like they are good to buy from in the future. I had intended to make the coral beauty the highlight of my tank, as you can typically only have 1 angel fish which is my understanding. Is this consistent with you guys/gals? I also fancied an angel they called a "half-black angel" which I have been unable to find more information for online. I value your expertise and experience.

thanks,
Casey

[gcvt]

Powder Brown's are among the more difficult tangs to keep. It's often difficult to get them to eat and they can be hard to acclimate because they don't handle shipping/moving stresses well at all. Plus, a 55g is really too small for one of these :(

[Orion]

There are two fishes that are commonly call Powder Brown.
Acanthurus nigricans, the less colorful of the two is a very dificult fish to care for and keep alive. Large tank, stable and very clean fast moving water is needed. I would not recommend this fish. Here is a picture from fishbase.org.

http://fishbase.org/images/Acnig_u0.jpg

The second fish is Acanthurus japonicus is only dificult to keep. It is more colorful, and is a very pretty fish when healthy. It is not very aggressive, but need a large tank with stable clean water and variety in food. Certainly A. japonicus is a harder fish to keep then Yellow, Purple or Sailfin tangs. I agree that 55 g is way too small for this beautiful fish. Here is a picture from my tank. Notice the differences in the white patch on the face and the orange color on the dorsal fin.

http://www.reefland.com/gallery/data/513/1316GoldRimWhiteFace.JPG


Minh