I purchased the 2" Desjardini tang from NSA. He's doing great in my tank, but I notice he's diving after the mysis shrimp. Are young tangs carnivores? I'm just wondering when he's going to eat the algae!
i got his brother about two months ago. he eats anything that hits the tank but loves mysids and brine. they have alot of personality to be so small. mine has paired up with my 2 " scopas tang and they patrol together.
Mine eats all day on algae but when feeding time comes he pigs out on everything. He's about 3inches long just give yours a little more time.
They are herbivores and get most of their nutrution from algae. They'll eat meat too but it benefits them little. Be sure and provide some dried algae sheets (Nori) so he'll get plenty of green in his diet.
Don't worry about it, they well eat whatever hits the tank. You can feed him formula 2, he should go after that and that well provide his veggie needs. Meaty food well give him plenty of nutrition, especially ones like spiralina fed brine by Hykari. The only thing wrong with a meaty food diet only is they tend to develope to much fat in their systems and don't tend to live their normal life span. Tangs are very shy to begin with and in time he well probably eat everything. Like said above formula 2 well get him plenty of veggies and if that is all he ever eats he'll be fine. Be careful with flake food and nori as they are very high in phosphates, so don't over do it and don't leave the nori in the tank to long, use a nori feeding clip with a suction cup and hang some on the front glass for 10 minutes and he should start eating on it sometime in the future. cheers
I got him to help clear out the wild jungle of hair algae that's growing in my tank. It's hard to tell if he's making a dent in it. But I think a small refugium and small tank should help a lot with the salad machine I've got.
From my own observations with tangs I do not find that they help much with hair algae or at least the kind that I had when purchasing a tang for algae control. A varied diet heavy on the herbivorous side would be most advisable and like most of the posts to your question have said they will eat anything that hits the water in time. I try to put some romaine lettuce on a clip from time to time, definitley not as often as I should because he eats Formula II like it is going out of style and anything else that goes in the tank. It is hard to watch a fish eat and then try and consider that what he is eating may not be what he naturally feeds on.
You need to find what is causing the hair algae issue in the system?, not enough skimmer?, to much detritus in the bed? dirty cannister filter?, using RO/DI water?. Hair algae usally has a food source from one of the above. Don't skimp on the skimmer and if you are running a canister filter [which I hate] make sure you clean it once a week. Stir the bed with a stick once a week and use a felt sock to collect the detritus that you well stir up if you have a sump or hang a external filter on with filter floss in it. Use RO/DI water. Go easy on the flake food, use frozen and after thawing dump in a brine shrimp net and rinse with water to remove the frozen juice. Like Chris stated, alot of tangs won't eat hair algae.
fishermann, I actually do all of that stuff, but the hair algae is just so entrenched that it's hard to get rid of now. I think the pellet food got it going, but otherwise the tank maintenance is pretty good. Time for the lawnmower!
PLEASE donot get a lawnmower blenny, they should not be caught as they well starve to death after the hair algae is gone, and thats if he'll even eat it, as I have heard of some who won't. Maybe if you have a big refug and plenty of algae to feed him with after he clears you DT he might make it, but he would need to be target fed. They well eventually starve on flake. Everyone should realize that getting a animal to cure a problem like a copper band for aptasia or a spotted gobie [diamond back] to keep the substrate stirred up needs to be fed after the stuff you are wanting to rid your DT of, and unfortunatly most starve to death. I have a spotted gobie to keep my 1" of substrate stirred up and after cleaning out all the bugs and baby ones in the substrate I target feed him small cut up pieces of shrimp and clam 2 times a week because he doesn't get enough mysis when I feed the tank as he moves slower then the angels and tangs and his belly starts to shollow out if I don't and he would starve in time, SO PLEASE be committed to finding out if anyone has kept one for a year or better and how. cheers PS intime if you have truly found the food source for the hair algae it well starve itself out in a few months, if it is still gaining on you and not atleast leveling off you most likely haven't found it. What are you nitrate and phosphate levels now ???? If you stir your substrate, does a pile it cloud your tank up pretty bad with ditritus???
Thanks for all your advice, I'm not sure why you feel I would be such a bad caretaker of a lawnmower, but I'll keep it in mind.
You took my post wrong, it did not say you would be a bad care taker. You made the statement that guess you need to get a lawnmower bleeny to get rid of the hair algae I am just stating that you need to do some research first, that he well starve after the hair algae is gone, if he eats it at all. I had one 20 yrs ago and he lived for 7 months and starved finally, and he ate flake food like crazy. We didn't know then what we know now. They require live algae to survive, not flake. People need to research what is required to keep these animals alive after their food source is gone, I have not had one since, so all I am saying is I can't give you any advice on what the latest knowledge is and it needs to be researched. cheers PS what are your nitrate and phosphate levels????
