carnivoris Tang

[Orion80]

I just got a purple Tang, and he will eat any type of shrimp that I through in the tank, but it will not touch eith the flake formula 1 or any of the red macro/ tang heaven algae I have growing in my tank, or the green algae I put on a clip for him. Any ideas on how I can train him to eat some of his veggies.

Adie

[Aquattro]

Yup. Patience. Like you said, you just got him. Green leaves hanging off plastic clips are fairly uncommon in the wild, so it will take a while for the tang to get used to it and recognize it as a source of food. The shrimp it recognizes already.

[bulletsworld]

I totally agree.

I had the same problem with a regal tang I had just gotten. As they are herbivores, it wouldn't eat anything but mysis. But Regal was just shy getting used to the tank and did finally realize the Nori won't bite back.

[Orion80]

Thanx guys, thats pretty much what I figured, was patience, only thing that still makes me curious is that it so far has not touched the red nori I have growing in my main tank, I know not ideal place but it was a hitchiker on some rock, and after much investigateing it does turn out to b a form of tang heaven, so I can only hope he goes for it eventually, otherwise those rocks will get moved into the refuge.

Adie

[naesco]

Originally Posted by bulletsworld

I totally agree.

I had the same problem with a regal tang I had just gotten. As they are herbivores, it wouldn't eat anything but mysis. But Regal was just shy getting used to the tank and did finally realize the Nori won't bite back.

I hope you are feeding your regal tang food other than algae.
The regal tang is the only tang that is NOT an algae eater and NEEDS meaty foods to survive

[bulletsworld]

Originally Posted by naesco

The regal tang is the only tang that is NOT an algae eater and NEEDS meaty foods to survive

To keep Regal's healthy they also need to be feed frequent supplements of herbivorous foods like nori and veggies; they will eat algae off of rocks and readily take all sorts of prepared foods, but require a diet high in vegetable matter.

My Regal Tang is spoiled with all sorts of meaty foods, brine shrimp, mysis, krill, squid, etc. But I wanted my Regal Tang to eat his veggies too.

No worries Adie, give some time. Your Tang should come around? How long has it been since you got him? Another idea would be to soak a little piece of Nori in Selcon or even garlic worked great for me. Also hey I noticed your using RED Nori, try GREEN Nori. My yellow tang won't touch the RED Stuff but LOVES the GREEN stuff. Only my Regal Tang will eat the RED Nori. So maybe try the green for your purple tang. Just a thought.

Best of Luck!

[Quinn]

Originally Posted by Orion80

Thanx guys, thats pretty much what I figured, was patience, only thing that still makes me curious is that it so far has not touched the red nori I have growing in my main tank, I know not ideal place but it was a hitchiker on some rock, and after much investigateing it does turn out to b a form of tang heaven, so I can only hope he goes for it eventually, otherwise those rocks will get moved into the refuge.

That's a lovely run-on sentence. You probably mean Gracilaria spp. algae?

[Willito]

Just be patience, the best thing to try is to just leave the Nori in the tank and eventually he will eat it. This method worked for me just last week. Don't bother taking the Nori out daily. Now my blue tang can't get enough of it. He's a fatso already. Initially he would only take shrimps.

Just to clear up the regal tang debate, as juviniles they are omnivores that get most of their nutrition from algae, as adults they are exclusively open water plankton feeders that rarely consume algae.