How to convince a yellow tang to eat its greens

[Mihai]

I got this yellow tang (pretty big fellow - 2.5") from the LFS on
Sunday (3 days ago), put it in my quarantine tank (10gal + Fluval 3+ +
one seaclone 100 - more for the air than the skimming + heater + a few
pieces of live rock from main tank + some base rock + PVC pipes). It
also shares the quarters with a gorgeous royal gramma.

Both of them started eating bloodworms and mysis the very next day
(2-3 times a day). The tang then cleaned the LR of any hair algae that
was there (not much, but there was some) and that's the only greens he
ate in the last three days.

He doesn't have HLE - the back looks great and plumpy, the tummy a
bit pinched, but less so than three days ago - he seems to recover
fine.

My worry is that he doesn't seem to eat his greens: I placed in the
quarantine tank nice fresh Ulva lettuce from my refugium (green
sheets), some grape kelp (red), some cheatomorpha (green) and some
Dictyota (brown algae, bushy). To my surprise he doesn't seem to like
any of them (I heard they go bananas after the lettuce). I tried
putting some nori between two rocks or clipping it from the side of
the tank - he never took a bite of it.

Although he eats meat I know he needs his greens - what should I do
to give him more greens? I know that once he's in the main tank he'll
be happy - luckily (?!) I have lots of algae in there that he can
eat, but in the mean time? How much can he go without algae? Can it
be something wrong with my nori? It's not the usual green type, but
rather reddish green - I assume it has a fair quantity of red algae
in it...

Any ideas are appreciated...
Thanks,
Mihai

 

[SnowManSnow]

I think he will be fine.. if you are concerned you CAN buy sheets of "greens" I forget the name. That may be an option you want to persue if you are worried.

 

[Mihai]

I think he will be fine.. if you are concerned you CAN buy sheets of "greens" I forget the name. That may be an option you want to persue if you are worried.

You mean nori? That's what I offered him but he passed on my offer.
M.

 

[Anonymous]

I think he will be fine.. if you are concerned you CAN buy sheets of "greens" I forget the name. That may be an option you want to persue if you are worried.

You mean nori? That's what I offered him but he passed on my offer.
M.

Give it time. As long as he's eating... just relax... mine did the same thing. nori is fine too... just may never have seen seaweed in sheets before.

~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

Have you tried Romaine lettuce? Also, it could be the stress of the of the qt tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Your use of live macros is the best for the tang. I would not recommend using any other plant life for the tang. expecially dead forms.

Sounds like he is just happy and full from the blood worms. He'll eat the ulva and other when he wants too. Just don't worry.

 

[liquid]

Also, it could be the stress of the of the qt tank.

I have a feeling that this is the culprit. This could easily do it.

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

Have you tried Romaine lettuce?

I agree, if you haven't tried already.make sure you either freeze it or boil it first to make it more digestible.
if that doesn't work try Julian Sprungs Sea Veggies, i have yet to see a herbivorous fish pass it up.

HTH

 

[danmhippo]

If it were I, I could care less if he doesn't eat lettus. Terrestrial lettus isn't such a fine food for them anyway. Try giving him half a sheet of nori see if he likes it. If Yes, You can easily soak nori in vitamin juices to enrich his diet in the future.

Yellow tang is omnivore, and does not survive on algae alone.

 

[Mihai]

Good news guys: he took on a new nori type (green - called yaki nori) tied up on a LR. To be honest I pigged out on it too - ate at least 5 sheets myself.

If it floats or is at the surface it doesn't care for it (even gets scared of it). As soon as I tied it up it ate like it was no tomrorow.
I'll put some more tomorrow, I'm a bit affraid I'll mess up the water with it. But I'm happy he ate quite a bit of it!

All the best,
Mihai

 

[danmhippo]

In Japanese, Yaki means roasted. Since you have also tasted the nori, is it seasoned as well?

The better nori for them is unroasted unseasoned nori, which you can purchase in pet store or even better, in Asian market grocery section. They sell several varieties, some are in big thick rolls which is less common unless you go to the supermarket where a lot of Chinese congregate. The other kind is unseasoned nori for sushi wrapping. Ounce for ounce, either of the two types of unseasoned nori mentioned above is much much cheaper than the packaged nori labeled for aquarium use.

 

[Anonymous]

If it were I, I could care less if he doesn't eat lettus. Terrestrial lettus isn't such a fine food for them anyway.

Thats actually not entirely accurate. Romaine lettuce is a great source of Lienoic Acid which is an Omega 3 Fatty acid that is needed for proper health of fish and animals. Lienoic Acid is devoid in marine algae (nori), meaning it has none. However, nori is a great source of eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA, which is also necessary for proper health of fish and animals. EPA is not present in land plants. Even though Romaine lettuce is not available to fish in the wild that doesn't mean its "unhealthy" for them. Granted Selcon can supplement both of those Omega 3's, but why not add a little "boost" with some Romaine. I know my tangs love to rip it apart off the clip.

 

[Anonymous]

Good news guys: he took on a new nori type (green - called yaki nori) tied up on a LR. To be honest I pigged out on it too - ate at least 5 sheets myself.

If it floats or is at the surface it doesn't care for it (even gets scared of it). As soon as I tied it up it ate like it was no tomrorow.
I'll put some more tomorrow, I'm a bit affraid I'll mess up the water with it. But I'm happy he ate quite a bit of it!

All the best,
Mihai

sounds to me like he is well on his way. Initially he may have been getting his food clues from the royal gramma. Now he has found he likes the nori. In other words he figured out he is a tang


Again live macros such as Gracilaria would be much better as they increase the water quality instead of decreasing the water quality. Before I added my in tank refug, I cultured the macros in an old 20g and transferred some each week to the display. My yellow tang thrived when eating the live macros constantly.

 

[Mihai]

In Japanese, Yaki means roasted. Since you have also tasted the nori, is it seasoned as well?

Nope, just roasted in the shape of a sheet. I found lots of unroasted nori at the local Asian maket, some that even looked like hair algae that he seemed to enjoy so much off the rock. However, they'll be very difficult to secure to something and for now he doesn't seem to pick any algae off the water column: only meaty stuff.

Actually at our Asian market I even found fresh (not frozen as it was suggested in another post here) seaweek (two types - one long strings and one that are knotted leavs). I secured all three (the two fresh and the roasted nori) to a rock and he picked the nori... it might have read somewhere that tangs in tanks sooner or later eat nori

Again live macros such as Gracilaria would be much better as they increase the water quality instead of decreasing the water quality. Before I added my in tank refug, I cultured the macros in an old 20g and transferred some each week to the display. My yellow tang thrived when eating the live macros constantly.

Unfortunately, although I collected Gracilaria this summer it all died off. My understanding is that it has to "roll" in a tank to be happy? Mine just sat in the refugium and slowly but surely vanished. The interesting thing is that although I heard that Ulva lettuce is great for tangs he doesn't seem interested. I'll try to tie some up on a rock see if he prefers it like that.

Regards,
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

In Japanese, Yaki means roasted. Since you have also tasted the nori, is it seasoned as well?

....

Again live macros such as Gracilaria would be much better as they increase the water quality instead of decreasing the water quality. Before I added my in tank refug, I cultured the macros in an old 20g and transferred some each week to the display. My yellow tang thrived when eating the live macros constantly.

Unfortunately, although I collected Gracilaria this summer it all died off. My understanding is that it has to "roll" in a tank to be happy? Mine just sat in the refugium and slowly but surely vanished. The interesting thing is that although I heard that Ulva lettuce is great for tangs he doesn't seem interested. I'll try to tie some up on a rock see if he prefers it like that.

Regards,
Mihai

I collected some also and it did not live in my tank also. Possibly the easy to collect stuff was already dead. ULVA does no last long with my tang. I also have chaeto in my in tank refug. The tang is constantly poking his nose through the in tank refug and slurping down some chaeto.

I think as he adjusts you will notice all this normal tang stuff.

 

[Anonymous]

If it were I, I could care less if he doesn't eat lettus. Terrestrial lettus isn't such a fine food for them anyway.

Thats actually not entirely accurate. Romaine lettuce is a great source of Lienoic Acid which is an Omega 3 Fatty acid that is needed for proper health of fish and animals. Lienoic Acid is devoid in marine algae .

So, this essential fatty acid that the fish NEEDS is completely devoid in their natural food source :?: 8O
Please clarify, as that just doesn't make any sense to me on multiple levels.

 

[Mihai]

So, this essential fatty acid that the fish NEEDS is completely devoid in their natural food source :?: 8O
Please clarify, as that just doesn't make any sense to me on multiple levels.

Good point ! .

I don't think that the Gracilaria that I collected was dead: it lived 2-3 more weeks and declined steadily.

It would be great if the tang would take on Cheato - I have a steady supply - I throw away 2-3 gallons weekly. However, if I'd be a tang I'd avoid it - it feels like cheap artificial plastic to me.

M.

 

[wade1]

Yellow tang is omnivore, and does not survive on algae alone.

Actually, in studies that I saw the details from this summer at a Fish Health Management Course, that is not true. In all tangs tested, all had >98% vegetative matter in their stomachs. Most of the rest was critters that typically survives in the algae (carious pods, etc).

Its only in our tanks that they pass up the less energetic algaes for meats...

In that vein, another idea is to reduce feeding any meaty foods for a few days (once you know its stable) and just keep a little bit of nori in the tank at all times. You'd be amazed what a little hunger can do.

Wade

 

[Anonymous]

If it were I, I could care less if he doesn't eat lettus. Terrestrial lettus isn't such a fine food for them anyway.

Thats actually not entirely accurate. Romaine lettuce is a great source of Lienoic Acid which is an Omega 3 Fatty acid that is needed for proper health of fish and animals. Lienoic Acid is devoid in marine algae (nori), meaning it has none. However, nori is a great source of eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA, which is also necessary for proper health of fish and animals. EPA is not present in land plants. Even though Romaine lettuce is not available to fish in the wild that doesn't mean its "unhealthy" for them. Granted Selcon can supplement both of those Omega 3's, but why not add a little "boost" with some Romaine. I know my tangs love to rip it apart off the clip.

But Dan never said it was "unhealthy" for them...no fair making up quotes.

 

[wade1]

I'll add another note here....

FRESHWATER fish/critters have lots of omega3 fatty acids. SALTWATER fish/critters have alot of omega 6 fatty acids. Which might mean that if you push the balance too far in one direction or another you could cause issues in your fish.