How much nori is too much?

[naesco]

Originally Posted by GMGQ

Wow, some of you feed so much. I only clip in 1/4 of a sheet, every other day or so. I use it more of a treat than as their main source of food. Mostly my tang and bluethroat trigger eat it.

And that is fine for your tang because it is a Regal tang which is not an algae eater tang. Their primary food requirements are zooplankton so you should be feeding it meaty foods as well as a little nori.

You can tell if you are underfeeding your tangs because they will have a little piched in look to the stomach area.

CMGQ you should be aware that this tang will get the size of a dinner plate.
The 70 gallon tank is less than half the size it and all tangs with the exception of kole and similar species need. You have a beautifull reef tank filled with rock and coral but, your tank does not provide the necessary swimming room this and other tangs require. (6 foot length).

If a tang is not eating nori you should check to ensure that it is not a flavoured nori variety. Nori should be fortified with selcon and garlic from time to time to add additional nutrients to the food. The specialty algae foods you see from time to time (Sprung's etc) are expensive and a waste of money.

Thank you

[GMGQ]

Like I said, I feed nori every other day as more of a treat. I primarily feed mysis as well as a variety of other foods, and I soak with garlic sometimes and selcon sometimes. All my fish have fat bellies, so I'm sure they're happily fed.

Let's not get into the whole Tang Police thing. If you want tangs to grow to the size of a dinner plate, leave them in the ocean.

Originally Posted by naesco

And that is fine for your tang because it is a Regal tang which is not an algae eater tang. Their primary food requirements are zooplankton so you should be feeding it meaty foods as well as a little nori.

You can tell if you are underfeeding your tangs because they will have a little piched in look to the stomach area.

CMGQ you should be aware that this tang will get the size of a dinner plate.
The 70 gallon tank is less than half the size it and all tangs with the exception of kole and similar species need. You have a beautifull reef tank filled with rock and coral but, your tank does not provide the necessary swimming room this and other tangs require. (6 foot length).

[Psyire]

Originally Posted by GMGQ

If you want tangs to grow to the size of a dinner plate, leave them in the ocean.

This is a horrible statement... I should hope that people respect the creatures they care for more than this.

[demon666]

but it is a true statement.... no fish will grow in captivity to the same size they will in the ocean........unless we have tanks as big as the ocean in our living rooms....... which most of us do not

[naesco]

Originally Posted by demon666

but it is a true statement.... no fish will grow in captivity to the same size they will in the ocean........unless we have tanks as big as the ocean in our living rooms....... which most of us do not

Here is the discussion on this subject found at reefkeeping.com
It turns out that it is about the hippo or regal tang.

""Finally, no discussion of Surgeonfish would be complete without talking about tank size. This is an often-debated topic that usually becomes heated on both sides of the fence. Most everyone can agree, however, that the larger the aquarium the better off the fish will be. Many authors recommend certain "minimum" aquarium sizes; though it seems no one can agree on exactly what the "minimum" is. Realistically speaking, the "minimum" environment for these fish is any aquarium the owner feels morally and ethically comfortable putting the fish into. Each hobbyist must come to his or her own conclusions, but hopefully these decisions are made only after reviewing the data that is readily available.

Scroll back up to the paragraph discussing mating rituals and you'll see that Robertson has already given us a reference for territorial dimensions, at least during the mating season. If you take the minimum number of animals (15 - one male, two females, per group with five sub-groups) divided by the minimum defined territory (100m2) you'd discover the groups maintained a minimum of 20m2 each or a minimum of 6.66m2 per animal. For those of you not good with transcribing meters into feet, 6.66m2 works out to be roughly 21.8f2 per animal. That would be an aquarium roughly 7 feet long and 3 feet wide. Hmmm. For the sake of argument let's take the maximum number of individuals, packed into the largest territory known. Sixty-four fish (one male, seven females per group, and eight sub-groups) packed into 200m2. This works out to 25m2 per sub-group, or just over 3m2 per animal or about 10f2, or about the size of any of the commercially available 125-gallon aquariums. Hence, I would propose this is a good starting point as the absolute minimum aquarium size for any solitary individual.

Let's not forget, however, two important factors. First, this fish only spends two months of the year in such a confined space. The remaining ten months of the year are spent cruising 30 feet above the reef, usually cruising up to 30 meters in one direction before reaching the edge of their territory (Randall, pers. comm.). Second, even when in mating season and defending a territory of a given space, this does not mean this is the only distance they swim. For example, the fish may defend an area equivalent to seven feet by three feet, but this does not mean the fish swims in a circle that measures these dimensions, much like it would have to in your aquarium. Instead, this means it requires this much space as a minimum between its next conspecific. What is more likely the case is it defends the minimum territory as it roams about the reef ledge with the harem, or as it swims to the next closest harem.

What is known from keeping these fish in aquariums smaller than several hundred gallons is that the end result is a fish with stunted growth. The extent of the growth stunt is directly proportionate to the aquarium size. Following Choat and Axe (1996) and the understanding that Acanthurids obtain 80% of their growth in their first 15% of life, you can get an idea of how fast they should be growing in your aquarium. Combine this with an expected 35 years of age per Acanthurid (Chaot and Axe, 1996), we come up with 80% growth obtained in 5.25 years. Let's take this a step further and plug in the expected maximum size for Paracanthurus hepatus, roughly 12". After doing the math you should get the answer of Paracanthurus hepatus obtaining 9.6 inches at 5.25 years of age. Following the same reference, which states the first 80% growth is fairly consistent, you can take it yet one step farther to learn that your Paracanthurus hepatus should be 1.8 inches after the first year, and continue to grow nearly two inches every year from then until five years of age, where their growth will slow and nearly stop, at which time it should be nearly ten inches. You could also use this same formula when trying to obtain an age of a newly imported specimen.

At this point you should be adequately prepared to determine if your Paracanthurus hepatus has experienced stunted growth. The decision on how to handle this situation is up to you. ""



""

[Samw]

WTF?? Let's get back on topic. Gawd

[GMGQ]

What do you mean?? If you truly respect the creatures, you wouldnt keep them in an aquarium in the first place. Period.

Having said that, since we do keep them in aquariums in hour homes, we try our best to keep them as happy as we possibly can. At the end of the day this is a hobby for most of us. We can only afford to use so much of our paycheques towards the tank. But nobody can honestly say they can keep the creatures better than they would have been in mother nature.

Sure a lot of them get wiped out naturally, due to strange climate changes and temperature swings that wipe out coral reefs, etc. But that's a more noble death than having your livestock die because because your $19.99 Big Al's heater malfunctioned, or your DIY PVC joints started to leak while you went on vacation and the salinity in your tank got too low because your RO/DI unit kept topping it off with fresh water.

Originally Posted by Psyire

This is a horrible statement... I should hope that people respect the creatures they care for more than this.

[Reefer Rob]

Run! The tang police are here! I'm sure GMGQ wouldn't keep a tang the size of a dinner plate in a 70g. Good excuse to upgrade as it gets bigger.

Rob

[naesco]

Originally Posted by Reefer Rob

Run! The tang police are here! I'm sure GMGQ wouldn't keep a tang the size of a dinner plate in a 70g. Good excuse to upgrade as it gets bigger.

Rob

I hope he is making plans now.
Once we accept these critters into our tanks we have an obligation to provide optimum conditions and care for them.

Rob, Tang Police! Me?? Where did you get that idea.\?

Wayne

[G1GY]

Nori yes!!