Dorey's munchies

redlion4 · 09-30-2005, 08:52 PM

Our blue tang has got the munchies. We found him/her biting on two different candy cane corals in the tank. Been wondering why they had not been opening well the last 1-2 weeks, and Dorey was caught in the act (multiple times) today and yesterday.

We got Dorey from another local member ~18 months ago, when he helped his father break down a tank. It is medium sized (4" or so), and is VERY outgoing. Most blue tangs I have seen tend to hide frequently under rocks and behind the rock work. Not ours...it is out often, and has become very territorial - killing a new fish we tried to introduce (six line wrasse). Dorey can be hand fed with either frozen food or nori/dried seaweed.

Our tank is a standard 55 gallon, with four fish - 2 false percs, 1 spotted mandarin (my avatar), and the blue tang. The rest is a mix of corals - zoas, gsp, leather, torch, frogspawn, candy canes, mushrooms, ricordia, monti cap, m. digita, and a GBTA (home to the female clown).

Before we put Dorey on the sale or trading block, has anyone ever had this happen with a blue tang? Is there anything we can do? Ideas and input welcomed!

Ryan.

Casey · 09-30-2005, 09:21 PM

Nothing you can do, mine is 4 in also and does that too, she is now in my fowler tank.Swims in the open all the time and bites my arm when I clean the tank
they get more bold as they grow.

oyam123 · 09-30-2005, 10:31 PM

feed greens and get a bigger tank.....55=stress for a hippo that is that big.

i am open to trade

the_colonel · 10-01-2005, 12:29 AM

I would say try to keep some seaweed on a clip for Dorey. If that does not work, she can have a home in my 90!

Loverotties · 10-01-2005, 07:34 AM

Yeap seaweed mite keep him away.soak it in garlic too!

redlion4 · 10-01-2005, 11:17 AM

Seaweed = gone in 15 minutes. We can try to feed more, but I'm convinced he/she will just gorge it down.

Garlic is understood to help prevent/cure illness, especially in tangs. Dorey has never been sick since coming to our tank - no ick, no black spots, no problems at all.

Probably start looking for a trade or sale....perhaps for a new tiny/small blue tang and/or a six line wrasse. Would prefer to introduce two new fish at once, to prevent the female perc from bullying a single new fish. Would be open to a trade for two fish, and I could throw in a frag or some $$ with our Dorey.

gwen_o_lyn · 10-01-2005, 11:19 AM

Would ur lfs trade it out for a small one? Mine will... its a good trade for the lfs since they can sell a bigger one for more money. And benefits you at the same time.

redlion4 · 10-03-2005, 08:25 AM

If nobody is interested in a trade for Dorey, we will come up with a price for sale....

. Hoping I can bait seaweed and use the net to catch him/her.

I will post a few pictures and try to get an accurate size measurement. My current guess is 3.5-4".

oyam123 · 10-03-2005, 08:45 AM

Trade???
Mimic Lemonpeel Tang - Adult
(Acanthurus pyroferus)
Palau

redlion4 · 10-03-2005, 10:15 AM

oyam - thanks for the offer. Will have to pass on that tang though, since we still want to get a new smaller blue hippo (now or in the future). Really looking for a small wrasse or tiny/small blue hippo tang.

capman · 10-03-2005, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redlion4

If nobody is interested in a trade for Dorey, we will come up with a price for sale....

. Hoping I can bait seaweed and use the net to catch him/her.

I will post a few pictures and try to get an accurate size measurement. My current guess is 3.5-4".

I have caught my blue tang (also my sailfin tang, twice) by hand. A net will be useless unless you remove your rockwork.

If you get your fish used to eating out of your hands you should be able to do this. Gradually get the fish used to swimming right up into your hand to get the food (hold the food between your index finger and thumb, and hold your hand up near the front glass with your other fingers forming sort of a tunnel the fish has to swim into to get to the food. You'll probably need to work up to this gradually over a number of days. Don't rush it. If the fish senses that you are up to something it will lose its trust (maybe for a long time...these are smart fish), and you will probably either have to use a trap or tear the rockwork apart to get the fish out.

Once the fish is really used to swimming right up into your hand, almost squeezing past your fingers to get to the food, you can just grab the fish (again, do this up at the front glass so you can use the glass as part of the "trap". You probably will only have one chance to get this right. Don't try this until the fish is really comfotable with your hand and in a perfect position. If you miss, the fish will probably not trust you for a long while.

Watch out for the very very sharp tail spines.

This really works. Honest. I have done it a total of three time, and another TCMAS member succeeded in catching a scopas tang this way after following my advice.

I tried doing this with a purple tang though, but this fish was more skittish and never got really comfortable with my hand (and I was impatient and gave up on trying.

Incidentally, my blue tang (when it got large) used to nip at Red Sea Xenia (but not X. elongata, or any of the other corals), which explains why Red Sea Xenia always wasted away in my 220.