In my experience, eating valonia was more of a territorial/totem-pole-ranking behaviour of tangs. I have 3 tangs, and left to their own devices, they will not eat valonia. I'm guessing it doesn't taste very good.
However, throw a rabbitfish or foxface in the mix (aka "swimming garbage can for algae") who seems to love the taste of valonia, then the tangs will eat valonia. It's like a "I hate the taste of this, but to heck if I'm going to let you get all of it" sort of behaviour.
My personal favourite rabbitfish is Siganus doliatus. Pretty, stays small comparatively (most other rabbitfish/foxface species get enormous, so keep that in mind), and a fairly reliable eater of a few different nuisance algaes. There is also the very similar Siganus virgatus, IME even better at eating valonia, but also IME has been a fast growing fish.
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-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
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