Regal Tang Question
 

hello everyone. I have a regal tang in my 120 gallon reef. the last few weeks he has started picking at some of my zoas... is this normal for regals? I have actually watched him pick off a single zoa and swallow it... why would he start this? will it stop?
anything will help. thanks!

you are not the only one.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=70685

once hes gone through ALL you zoas he will quit

Unlike all the other tangs the regal is a meat eater. If you have been feeding her pretty much only algae it is normal that she will go for something else.
Because she has just started to take a liking to your zoas overfeed her ((often) mysis and some meaty quality pellets to see if she weans off the zoas

What are you feeding? My regal started to eat the GSP that I have in my tank, so I started to feed more algae based food and suplement it with brine and mysis frozen food. As well I feed nori everyday for all the tangs in my tank. Since I started he has left the corals alone now.

Yup, that is my thread... But I can tell you that yesterday and today, my Hippo hasn't eaten any. He/She hovers over them and looks at them, but won't eat any more. What the fish was eating is 100% gone now, but maybe the other zoa species don't appeal to it.

I am thinking the ones he/she isn't eating may have toxic properties, and the ones she ate/demolished didn't.

Let me know what happens with you. Hopefully yours stops also. I am hoping that is it for mine also.

I should note, that I have fed Nori everyday since my hippo started eating the zoas, whereas I was only giving Nori twice a week.

I have been feeding her nori daily, mysis and blood worms every other day.. Her belly is fat but yet she still picks on ANYTHING that I move, like the other day I put a tri color acro up a little higher and cought her nipping it right after I moved it. I'm hoping it will stop but if it doesn't she's gonna have to go :(

how old is it? it might be at an age that it is discovering its environement and experimenting?

Mine does not pic at anything yet. I have zoanthids and pretty much all type of coral as well as sps and none get toutched. Sometimes mine like to scratch on the sps but that does not do much dammage.

My former regal(now living with another reefer) was a $500 fish......he ate 5 or 6 aussie acan frags:twised:.....

I have had her over 3 years now... She has never done any coral picking until this last couple weeks..