Tang feeding...

[robert]

I am just curious how you guys/girls feed your tangs. I leave a piece, about 2"x3", of NORI in my tank for hours. My tang loves it and constantly rips it apart. However, after a few days of doing this my tank starts to be messed up with tiny pieces of uneaten seaweed. Flakes are not a problem, because these are gone in no time without any remains. Do I have to provide NORI everyday? can I just use it as a dessert here and there? Thanks.

[ 17 September 2002, 17:02: Message edited by: pirate ]

[christyf5]

I can't believe you actually see your tang eat the nori. I strap mine to a rock with an elastic band (the nori of course tongue.gif ) and nobody touches the stuff but its magically gone the next morning. Who knows where it ends up? At least I have a never ending supply of algae for the little guy :D

Christy smile.gif

[Aquattro]

I feed almost everyday. When I have time, I feed by hand so they don't make as much of a mess. I get a bit of debris in the sump and that's about it.

[sumpfinfishe]

I feed the following schedule: frozen brine once every other day in the morning, spirulina every day in late afternoon,nori once a week- one full small sheet that's gone in two days. After day two I will pick out any pieces that make it over the overflow, these small pieces are trapped by a course pre-filter in my overflow.Phyto is also added once a week(2 ml) for my clam and feather dusters smile.gif

[ 17 September 2002, 17:51: Message edited by: sumpfinfishe ]

[EmilyB]

Originally posted by pirate:
Do I have to provide NORI everyday? can I just use it as a dessert here and there? Thanks.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">In nature, herbivores graze all day long. If you have other algae in your tank that is part of the tangs diet (this varies by species), probably not, but healthy fish are well fed. I have fed it daily for almost four years. There is a good thread on RC about new innovative feeding techniques to minimize the damage of nori feeding smile.gif

[jedimaster]

I don't know if I am feeding right or not but this is what I do.
Every day I feed 1 piece of Nori about 2" x 4"
As well as Flakes, The chromis and maroon eat up the flakes in about 2-3 minutes the Naso and Yellow tang eat the nori in about 5-10 minutes, No pieces left over and mess anywhere to be found. I have been doing this for a nearly a year. My phosphates are normal levels as are the rest of them, ammo, trite, trate, ph, calc.
And all my fish seem to be healthy, no ick or an other diseases, for one week a month I will pre soak the nori in garilc for 12 to 24 hours before feeding them. I have tried blanched letuce and spinach as well as just plain letuce and spinach, romain and iceberg, and none of them every touched it.
So I stopped putting it in. I never clean the back or sides of my tanks so the Yellow is alwyas picking off the glass and the Naso seems to enjoy picking at the rocks. Somtimes I will feed them twice in a day, I do that only maybe about once a week.

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

I feed my fish with homemade fish food -- which contains Nori. There are bits of left overs in the tank, but the snails, pods and the sandbed eliminate it in about 6 hours.

- Victor.

[naesco]

Selcon soaked nori from time to time but mostly spirulina discs.
They are hard so they stay together for a long time and therefor ideal for tangs that graze all day.

[smokinreefer]

1)they graze on the algae present in my tank
2)i feed frozen brine, mysis, and plankton or a combination of the above a couple times during the day
3)i put a clump of grape caulerpra attached to a piece of rock with an elastic into the display tank...they love it...i have grape caulerpra growing in my sump as a nutrient export
4)once in a while i feed some flake food that i have lying around

i am contemplating making my own mixed blend of frozen fish food to add to the menu in the future

[Troy F]

Naesco, I've never seen spirulina discs (never looked honestly), but what brand and can you enrich them with zoe or selcon, ie. will they fall apart if you pre-soak them?

[StirCrazy]

Originally posted by Troy F:
Naesco, I've never seen spirulina discs (never looked honestly), but what brand and can you enrich them with zoe or selcon, ie. will they fall apart if you pre-soak them?<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">you will findd them in the fresh water food section of your local Petcetera :D :D right beside the Pleco algae wafers.. haikari makes them also..

Steve

[smokinreefer]

how do these discs hold up over time...if they maintain some nutritional value...i probably have an old pack of the stuff lying around somewhere.

[EmilyB]

Originally posted by smokinreefer:
how do these discs hold up over time...if they maintain some nutritional value...i probably have an old pack of the stuff lying around somewhere.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">:rolleyes: go buy some....

[smokinreefer]

ummm...i wasnt going to use it for my tank.

i was merely suggesting that if the food is still good to use, whoever wanted to try feeding the discs to their fish, could help themselves to it.

but i guess not.

[EmilyB]

Oh, take a spirulina... :D

I can't see they would be bad if sealed ??

[naesco]

Wardley makes the spirulina discs but, there may be others. Make sure the label says 100% spirulina as some spirulina products which say spirulina are only 10%.
The discs are hard so they do not absorb well.This is what you want as the discs lie on the bottom of the tank for the tangs to feed on for some time

I soak the nori in selcon when I add nori though to avoid the possibility of HLLE and to keep the fish colours bright.

I always soak all foods in garlic extract when I add a new fish as an ich preventative cecause all tangs are ich magnets. I have not had an ich outbreak since using garlic extract in this manner.

[ 18 September 2002, 19:53: Message edited by: naesco ]

[Troy F]

Thanks for the info Naesco & Steve and thanks for the offer Shao.