HELP!!! Naso Tang just won't eat, getting worried

[reefermadness]

I hope things turn around for you.

One question though. How does calling the LFS and complaining about a fish you bought that is not eating help?? I mean it is nice to get a fish that is eating before it leaves the store (that is why we like to see them eat before purchase) but it's not the stores fault if a fish refuses to eat once placed in your tank.

Of course this is just my opinion and maybe others see it differently.

[naesco]

Originally Posted by reefermadness

I hope things turn around for you.

One question though. How does calling the LFS and complaining about a fish you bought that is not eating help?? I mean it is nice to get a fish that is eating before it leaves the store (that is why we like to see them eat before purchase) but it's not the stores fault if a fish refuses to eat once placed in your tank.

Of course this is just my opinion and maybe others see it differently.

Most reefers, for some unknown reason are too timid to ask the LFS clerk to feed the fish they are interested in. They think they will **** the clerk off.

Sometimes the clerk will tell the reefer that the fish had just been feed.

Experienced reefers would never buy ANY fish without actually seeing it eating in the LFS.

Experienced reefers would never buy large angels and naso tangs, ribbon eels, Copperbands, dragon, tamarind, pencil and leopard wrasse and other difficult to feed species because the success rate is so low that they are better left in the ocean.

[my2rotties]

Because my husband has given him a lot of business in the past. My husband called for advise and the guy said to bring the fish back for an exchange... I guess it depends whom you do business with. We didn't want to bring her back since that would probably stress her out even more and kill her. She is our pet and "yes" we paid good money for her, but still sometimes it is not about the money...

Hubby forgot to ask to see her eating, and now he knows better. It was a stressful lesson to learn, but it didn't end in failure this time.

The Naso is fine now and is eating nori with a vengence. Many fish are isolated with a few other fish in stores. Perhaps she was overwhelmed with my community tank and the boisterous eating. She kept to herself until I brought he new rabbitfish home. The two seem to hang out together and the Naso staring following the rabbitfish in eating patterns. She is still not eating pellets or food I put in, she will chase it but it seems she has to get the hang of catching food as it is floating around. Now she chases nori when it comes off of the clip, so it is just a matter of time now.

Originally Posted by reefermadness

I hope things turn around for you.

One question though. How does calling the LFS and complaining about a fish you bought that is not eating help?? I mean it is nice to get a fish that is eating before it leaves the store (that is why we like to see them eat before purchase) but it's not the stores fault if a fish refuses to eat once placed in your tank.

Of course this is just my opinion and maybe others see it differently.

[Ken]

Hi, glad to hear that your new naso tang is starting to feed, sometimes other fishes in the tank will help teach new fish to eat and then they follow suit. I found in the past of owning many Naso tang \naso lituratus, they perfer brown algae, a few years ago I had an aquarium that had quite a bit of brown algae growing on the rocks and sides of the tank, namely lobophora brown algae, they were fairly leafy and I could reduce the population by picking them off the rocks to keep them under control. As soon as I added a Naso tang, the algae population was reduced. Try a brown seaweed product. My Naso ate both the brown and green and I never tried the red alage but perfer to grazed off the rocks instead of feeding off the seaweed clip with the rest of the tangs. It always tense seeing your new fish not eating or socialling with the rest of the fish at first but hope for the best, fish are not disposable item but good on you for trying many food and experminting, you will always be a better aquarist with that attitude. Regards Ken

[marie]

Originally Posted by naesco

...

Experienced reefers would never buy ANY fish without actually seeing it eating in the LFS.

Experienced reefers would never buy large angels and naso tangs, ribbon eels, Copperbands, dragon, tamarind, pencil and leopard wrasse and other difficult to feed species because the success rate is so low that they are better left in the ocean.

I guess I've got a few more years before I'm experienced then

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by my2rotties

Because my husband has given him a lot of business in the past. My husband called for advise and the guy said to bring the fish back for an exchange... I guess it depends whom you do business with. We didn't want to bring her back since that would probably stress her out even more and kill her. She is our pet and "yes" we paid good money for her, but still sometimes it is not about the money...

Hubby forgot to ask to see her eating, and now he knows better. It was a stressful lesson to learn, but it didn't end in failure this time.

Good on you. For sure bringing the fish back to the store would have meant almost a positive death for the Naso. My remark was not meant to put down the fact that your husband forgot to ask to see it eat (although the best practice) because lets face it the fish has a better chance of eating in a good hobbyists tank vs. a standard LFS. My point was only that if you buy a fish and it's not eating when you get it home, that is not the LFS fault per say (by the way watching them eat at the store does not mean they will eat when you get them home.) Some fish will just not eat no matter how hard we try...just one of the reason why I don't like to the idea of importing fish for the aquarium trade that have poor success rates. Naso's are not impossible and I wish you luck.

Originally Posted by Ken

Hi, glad to hear that your new naso tang is starting to feed, sometimes other fishes in the tank will help teach new fish to eat and then they follow suit. I found in the past of owning many Naso tang \naso lituratus, they perfer brown algae, a few years ago I had an aquarium that had quite a bit of brown algae growing on the rocks and sides of the tank, namely lobophora brown algae, they were fairly leafy and I could reduce the population by picking them off the rocks to keep them under control. As soon as I added a Naso tang, the algae population was reduced. Try a brown seaweed product. My Naso ate both the brown and green and I never tried the red alage but perfer to grazed off the rocks instead of feeding off the seaweed clip with the rest of the tangs. It always tense seeing your new fish not eating or socialling with the rest of the fish at first but hope for the best, fish are not disposable item but good on you for trying many food and experminting, you will always be a better aquarist with that attitude. Regards Ken

I also had a brown waffer algae (lobophora) and I had read that a Naso would be one of the only things that would eat this algae as they eat mostly brown algae in the wild. Well I got a small specimen that eat and eat and eat the lobophora. It eat so much that it looked pregnant and I thought it was going to explode. It was a healthy fish for the month that it took to demolish this algae from my tank. At that point I had not been paying close enough attention because even though the fish was not skinny by any means it passed away a week or two after the algae was gone. I wish I would have been more keen on these things and I'm sure had I been a more advanced hobbyist at the time things could have been different.

Anyway I'll stop rambling but you might want to try some sort of brown algae like Ken suggested.

[my2rotties]

Thanks for the kind words, but I don't think I could live with myself if I brought her back... Its not her fault she is in her situation. I was mad at hubby for bringing her home, but he thought since she was midsized, she was not mature.

I have all sorts of algae for her to snack on, but right now she is pigging out on the nori. I'll start tossing different things with it shortly. I'm just glad to see her eating lots now, and her belly is already nice and fat. Before it honestly looked like it was imploded.

I know I have a lot to learn about the hobby, and this is the placed to be to learn most of it. Mind you I have made a few mistakes that I needed to make on my own in order to be in a better place with this hobby.

Originally Posted by Ken

Hi, glad to hear that your new naso tang is starting to feed, sometimes other fishes in the tank will help teach new fish to eat and then they follow suit. I found in the past of owning many Naso tang \naso lituratus, they perfer brown algae, a few years ago I had an aquarium that had quite a bit of brown algae growing on the rocks and sides of the tank, namely lobophora brown algae, they were fairly leafy and I could reduce the population by picking them off the rocks to keep them under control. As soon as I added a Naso tang, the algae population was reduced. Try a brown seaweed product. My Naso ate both the brown and green and I never tried the red alage but perfer to grazed off the rocks instead of feeding off the seaweed clip with the rest of the tangs. It always tense seeing your new fish not eating or socialling with the rest of the fish at first but hope for the best, fish are not disposable item but good on you for trying many food and experminting, you will always be a better aquarist with that attitude. Regards Ken

[marie]

Originally Posted by my2rotties

Thanks for the kind words, but I don't think I could live with myself if I brought her back... Its not her fault she is in her situation. I was mad at hubby for bringing her home, but he thought since she was midsized, she was not mature.

I have all sorts of algae for her to snack on, but right now she is pigging out on the nori. I'll start tossing different things with it shortly. I'm just glad to see her eating lots now, and her belly is already nice and fat. Before it honestly looked like it was imploded.

I know I have a lot to learn about the hobby, and this is the placed to be to learn most of it. Mind you I have made a few mistakes that I needed to make on my own in order to be in a better place with this hobby.

If yours is eating nori then he'll do fine. As I said before my naso lived for a year and a half eating only Nori before he decided to try new things and in the 2 1/2 years that I had him (I sold him to someone with a bigger tank) he easily tripled his size.

[rkelman]

Congrats on getting your naso to eat. I currently have one in QT. I find feeding then leaving the room helps. They don't like being watched it seems.

[my2rotties]

She's come a long way in the past two weeks. She comes and grabs the nori from my hand while I try to put it into the clip for everyone...

Originally Posted by rkelman

Congrats on getting your naso to eat. I currently have one in QT. I find feeding then leaving the room helps. They don't like being watched it seems.