Help getting new tang to eat

[cgthebeast]

I recently got a yellow eyed kole tang for my 75

It's been in the tang for 6 days, he's very active, cruising around the rock work and such, but I can't get him interested in any food. He picks at the rock work and glass but refuses to pick at any seaweed strips, both green and brown, flake, frozen, pellet, mysis, I'm running out of options here and he still won't take anything.

 

[Sniperhank]

Rubberband a piece of algae to a piece of rock. It will simulate what it is used to eating in the wild.

 

[cgthebeast]

I'll have to try that agian, he seems to have a shell he like to stop and pick at, so I'll try it there

 

[idol1]

This is one tang that should always go into QT tank first.

very ick prone. Its better to get this fish to start eating before going into the main tank.

The way I get This Tang to eat is by offering it all types of reef rock with all types of algae and sea grass on it. I also use our Hawaiian Tiny rock oyster.

I always partner this tang up with a small Raccoon butterfly while in QT. I find the butterfly helps induce the tang to eat.

I use the same method with my Morish Idols. ( I DONT RECOMEND AN IDOL TO ANY ONE )

This tang needs a large tank 50gal or more. Lots of reef rock. Lots of algae. Constant grasser.

This is the most difficult of the Hawaiian tangs to get to start eating.

Once you get them eating they will try different foods and compete with the other fish for it.

Sorry I could not be more help. I catch my own and I can pick witch one I want to keep. Most you people have to work with what you bought.

Good Luck. I hope he starts eating for you.
.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have kept tangs for a long time. My oldest is over 10 years old. I even have a clown tang I raised from a baby. My tank is designed for tangs, so my advice is that the only time I see any parasites is when I have added a new fish. I have a adult hippo that gets stressed easily. Keep the stress down and the fish can usually repel parasites without medication.

My yellow eye Kole is a easy fish (at least among tangs) as they don't require as much swimming room and are constant grazers. He eats nori and mysis shrimp. He's about 8 years old.

I've had excellent luck, but mixing tangs is a delicate process.

 

[melosu58]

I`ve had these tangs for a good while. They are definitely herbivores. Leave some dried seaweed in the tank. Here are mine

 

[cgthebeast]

Very pretty! Good news everybody! I finally got him to take food today, some dried nori in the current got his attention and he ate it right up!!

He's still doing great, no signs of parasites, Ich or velvet (which I was worried about when I was researching tangs) He still picking at every surface and swimming laps around my 75g. He was even picking scraps of food off the sand bed, hopefully this is the start of something solid.

 

[arnoldndana]

I got a yellow eyed kole from my LFS a while back and he never has problems eating.. Shortly after I got a hippo not long after and a day later he got ich. Him and 3 other fish died leaving me with 5 fish in the tank, but weird as it seems my kole wasn't affected by it and is doing great. The only problem with him that I've had is my clip broke and forgot to get another one and started feeding LRS and thought that'd be sufficient and lost all of his color. Got another clip for his sea veggies and started getting his color back.

 

[cgthebeast]

Mines still a bit shy, I had to build a "fish" blind just so I could see him eat. He also seemed to developed a taste for snaileggs, odd little bugger

 

[Sniperhank]

Being caught and shipped around the world is a stressful event. Then housed in a small tank prior to purchase and then travel again into our home systems. Most likely what was going on.
I'm glad things worked out. These smaller bristletooth tangs are pretty resilient when it comes to tangs. I tried a beautiful yellow eye, but sadly the purple beat him to death. Second time around I put in a two spot who has fared much better than the predecessor. The addition of the powder brown calmed things down in the system, but the two spot is the most shy fish I have ever encountered. If I stand up on the opposite side of my living room he dives into his hiding spot. Really hard to get a good look on him, but still eats like a pig.

 

[melosu58]

Very pretty! Good news everybody! I finally got him to take food today, some dried nori in the current got his attention and he ate it right up!!

He's still doing great, no signs of parasites, Ich or velvet (which I was worried about when I was researching tangs) He still picking at every surface and swimming laps around my 75g. He was even picking scraps of food off the sand bed, hopefully this is the start of something solid.

Sounds like good news to me.

 

[cgthebeast]

It's official, he's eating flakes now! And also stole half of the algae pellet I had thrown in for my cleaner shrimp as a treat. So he's officially settled and healthy

 

[melosu58]

Just be careful that the algae pellets are consumed quickly. They will foul up your tank with excessive nutrients. Then you will see hair algae and other types of algae. The shrimp are scavengers. They will find food on their own.

 

[cgthebeast]

Oh yeah, I only give him one once in a blue moon. Unless I'm trying to get a fish to eat, I feed very sparingly to avoid algae blooms.