Acanthurus triostegus

Manini
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Acanthuridae
Genus:	Acanthurus
Species:	A. triostegus
Binomial name
Acanthurus triostegus (Linnaeus, 1758)

The manini (Acanthurus triostegus) is a small surgeonfish in family Acanthuridae of order Perciformes. Its about 5 inches (13 cm) long. It is whitish-yellow with zebra-like black stripes on its side. Its resemblance to a prisoner’s uniform gave it the nicknames of convict surgeonfish and convict tang. Manini is a favorite food fish found in the Indo-Pacific ocean. Like the alogo (Acanthurus lineatus), manini are surgeonfishes, because of the sharp blades by their tail fin. They do not use this weapon much.

Manini often swim in schools of thousands. There are two reasons why they have large schools. First, It helps them escape predators. When a large fish attacks a school, they scatter like an explosion. This move confuses the predator and the prey escape. Each manini has another chance at life if they stay with the group. Second, most use their schooling to trap food. They like to feed on thin algae which is fiercely guarded by alogo and damselfishes. Just the sight of manini get the alogo fired up. A single manini would not have a chance against these predators while a group can succeed. When the alogo chases one manini, the rest of them eat the alogo’s garden of algae.

In aquaria

The peaceful manini requires a tank of at least 70 US gallons (260 l; 58 imp gal) to thrive at full size. It rarely conflicts with other herbivores, though many fish pick on it. In aquaria, it requires a lot of live rock for its algae. It may pick on small soft corals but is generally reef safe. Acanthurus triostegus is not commercially bred, so all of these fish in aquaria are taken directly from their native reef habitats.

References

• "Acanthurus triostegus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=172270. Retrieved 30 January 2006. 
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2005). "Acanthurus triostegus" in FishBase. 10 2005 version.