Fat fish

[Delphinus]

Yeah you were a little quicker on the submit than I was.

Even just going to Hawaii and snorkeling is an eye opening experience to see what these fish are supposed to look like. I never saw a yellow tang that was >6" in captivity before, but I never saw any that were less than 8" or less than 2"-3" WIDE. It's unreal. It tells me we are seriously throttling back their food intake and probably shortening their lifespans as a result.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Yeah you were a little quicker on the submit than I was.

Even just going to Hawaii and snorkeling is an eye opening experience to see what these fish are supposed to look like. I never saw a yellow tang that was >6" in captivity before, but I never saw any that were less than 8" or less than 2"-3" WIDE. It's unreal. It tells me we are seriously throttling back their food intake and probably shortening their lifespans as a result.

Very good points and I even wonder if some of the harder to keep species are harder as a result of diet. Not necessarily what they are eating but perhaps how much.

Now that I think about it...most of the 5+ year old Yellow Tangs I know of are what most people call "fat".

[my2rotties]

I sure hope I can get a chance to dive and see these fish for myself. There is no better way to tell if you are doing something right, or wrong in this hobby then.

A long time ago I saw a post on another forum chastising another member for having so many tangs in one tank, and overfeeding them to keep them subdued in temperment was wrong. I believe it was untamed's tank to be honest. When the fish are hungry they are more aggressive and active...

Today has been a peaceful day with everybody, and I have no seen anything out of sorts until I put the mirror up as someone suggested I do. What was funny is all my peaceful fish were out for blood and the aggressors were in hiding...

Marie, congrats on keeping your tang so healthy and robust. I need to see if you have more pictures posted of him else where. Beautiful fish.

[Pansy-Paws]

I'm also in the mega-feeding camp ... and agree that much of the aggression in our tanks is hunger driven. In the wild, the amount of territory that a fish controls defines how much food it will have ... and whether it can also support a mate . So, if the fish is "more" hungry, and sees a fish in near proximity that eats the same food items, it's game on.

The downside, of course, is water parameters. My nitrates usually run between 5 and 20 ppm, even with 10% weekly water changes. This nitrate level precludes a reef tank, and I happily maintain the tank as fish only.

For comparison purpose, my daily feeding regime consists of 1 1/3 sheets of nori (8" x 9" sheets) and 12-14 frozen Hikari cubes (included in this volume count is PE mysis as well). I'll occasionally add a piece of scallop or a clam for more variety.

Our widest fish are a 7" foxface and a 5" huma huma, each with a 2" girth.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Going to play devil's advocate here. How can we emphatically believe that a wide fish is unhealthily obese? AFAIK I haven't seen a BMI chart posted for fish.

All I can say is that when I've seen the same fish that we keep in aquaria in the wild, they were fatter and wider than the fattest fish I ever saw in captivity. As in no comparison whatsoever. So I tend to believe that in general even if we think we're overfeeding, we're not, not really anyhow. Yes it is true that as long as they see food they will eat food, so we can't use a "they'll stop eating when they're full" sort of thing to figure out how to throttle back the amounts, but the flip side is although they'll never really be "less" hungry, they can be "more" hungry and that can sometimes lead to aggression. So it's a fine line or a balancing act, maybe with some experimentation and observation you'll find the balance that works for you..