get tang to eat nori?

salt creepette · 10-03-2003, 05:14 PM

I have red 'tang heaven' macroalgae in my tank and my scopas tang nibbles on it, but i also add nori on a lettuce clip. he doesnt appear to have eaten the nori. doesnt even seem to have tried it. is it because he just hasnt found it yet, or is it cuz he likes the tang heaven too much? any thoughts? He is not skinny...

(...wait...I think I hear sirens...iwhat is that...IS THAT.... THE TANG POLICE???)

(upgrading tank soon.....)

MammaDuck · 10-03-2003, 07:52 PM

WOOOWOOOWOOOO That's right missy, it's the tang police

If you've seen him eat the tang heaven, chances are he may not be hungry. How long has he bee in the tank? If you want him to eat the nori try offering it to him first, before you add the tang heaven. Another thing to try is to soak the nori in garlic. It may simulate his appetite. Keep us posted.

salt creepette · 10-03-2003, 08:57 PM

ok. its not like an emergency situation or anything, i was just curious. he's been in there for a few weeks now, eating flake and macro... will let you know if he starts eating the nori!

JennM · 10-03-2003, 10:08 PM

I sometimes "trick" tangs into eating Nori by putting a bit of caulerpa on the clip with the nori. They will recognize the caulerpa as a foodstuff and "accidentally" try the Nori - usually after that they will grab the nori out of my hand before I cen even attach the clip!

Jenn

Geoff · 10-03-2003, 10:10 PM

OK, OK, gotta break up these BRW threads.

sounds like your tang is going fine. if it is eating a variety of the foods you put in the tank than it sounds like it likes it there.

some do not like nori, or they have better things to eat.

as long as you keep the food varied it should be fine.

G~

Junkzoo · 10-04-2003, 09:30 PM

to "dispute" a previous post,,,,Tangs are ALWAYS hungry ! LOL
myself, at first , my tangs would not touch nori,,,only Romaine,,,(i know, i know). quess i've be doing everything else right, cuz i had to return 3 sets of Hippo's back to my ex-partners LFS for new lil ones,after the ones i had, grew too big for the tank,,(i like to think of it as "foster -raising" them

)
time and time again i offered nori,,,the once they started to eat it,,
now , i have two hippo's , a Yellow tang,green bird wrasse,lawnmower blennie,foxface etc etc,,,mowing down three full sheets at a time,,,,,dunno why it took all the attempts,musta been since i went to the Oriental Groc. store to get 100 sheets of it , for what i would spend on the same stuff at the LFS for about 8-10 sheets,,,,

keep trying,,,mebbe soak the sheets in Selcon , or the likes,,,keep offering it,,,but still offer other green food types in the meantime,,,

thefatman · 10-04-2003, 11:00 PM

fwiw, my scopas mowes down a sheet a day of nori from the oriental market. he'd probably eat more if i put more in.. has no problems with munching his share of blender mush too.

however, i had been attaching the nori to a rock ledge with a rubberband, but it proved to be too much annoyance for me. so i bought a clip the othernight, and attached the nori to that. took 4 hours before he went near it. dont know if it was due to being in a new location, or the site of the clip. but he finally came around, and devoured a full sheet today again. even my cinnamon has started eating the nori.

and i keep seeing at least 1 or 2 ceriths a day attached to the sheet as well

if yours is fat, and eating other stuff, he should come around soon enough.

you may try leaving the nori in a few days and NOT putting in any red stuff. that may force him to eat it when he gets hungry enough.

salt creepette · 10-05-2003, 01:05 AM

well maybe thats my problem. the red algae is just sitting in my tank as part of my decor....should i really take it out? :

(if I need to, I will....)

MammaDuck · 10-05-2003, 01:47 AM

If you like the look of it and the tang is grazing, why worry?

Sounds to me like you have a happy tang, as long as he retains his weight I don't see any reason to worry. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

thefatman · 10-05-2003, 01:48 AM

i dont know enough to say whether you SHOULD remove it or not.

but i'm betting that if you did, the scopas would start eating the nori, out of need.

i can't say whether there is anything negative to having the red always in the tank though. other than the fact that it's 10 times more costly than nori at an oriental market

salt creepette · 10-05-2003, 01:51 AM

jay, oh i know thats the truth! when it starts to be almost gone i will certainly be feeding nori.

im not worrying, just curious. thanks for everyones input once again!

erin

salt creepette · 10-05-2003, 06:26 PM

well i caught the little bugger eating the nori, i guess he finally came around