Kole Tang - feeding habits and compatibility

[Todd]

I recently had a kole tang picked up for me (Thanks RonD). A very nice individual, but I have never seen it eat nori, mystis, flake or cycolpeeze. It is healthy and active, and seems to have gotten over a small bout of ich that it had after the long trip from Vancouver to my tank. I have seen it grazing on the glass and LR, but never taken any of the food added to the tank (including the omnipresent Nori in a clip). Should I be concerned about this? I am worried that it may run low on stuff for grazing and then have a problem getting enough nutrients. My tank is a 135 with a fairly light fish load. My last Kole Tang (died in a power-outage when I was out of town :cry: ), loved the same nori that I am trying to get this guy to eat.

Also I was hoping to add two more tangs to my tank in the future. I would like to add a yellow tang, and a sailfin tang. I know that sailfins have been known to be a little mean, but they all have very different body shapes so I think they should be alright together. My tank is a lay-down 135 and currently has:

2 Maroon clowns,
3 Blue / green chromis
Kole Tang
6 Line Wrasse

Any suggestions of if these will be compatible in a 135 and the order of which I should add them?

[fishoholic]

Our tangs (salfin, regal, naso, yellow, lavender, and clown) are pigs they eat mysis, nori and pellets. The only tang that doesn't eat nori is our clown tang however, he is the newest to the tank so I think in time he will probably eat it too. It took a few weeks of modeling how to eat nori from my other tangs before my naso ate it.

I would add the salfin and the yellow at the same time or add the yellow second. I have a 8" salfin and 4" yellow tang in my tank. I had the salfin for a week before I got the yellow and every once in awhile (not often) my yellow will try to challenge my salfin for top spot, even though my salfin is twice his size. Everyone else is smart enough to leave my salfin alone. I will also note that everything I've read about clown tangs is mostly about how mean and vicious they are, however my yellow tang nips at his tail and chases him around at least twice a day, while my salfin ignores him. So I would say the yellow is a lot meaner then the salfin. Also when I bought my clown tang the lfs was only concerned about my yellow being mean to him and not the others, so I guess they have a bit of a bad rap. Sorry blab on but I hope it helps :biggrin:

[Chin_Lee]

sometimes it takes the tangs some time to realize the nori is actually food. Its worked for me in the past by breaking some nori into little pieces and let it float in the tank. It does slightly pollute your tank but once the tang realizes its food and eats it, then just clip it and it will find it way to the clip.

[EmilyB]

OSI spirulina nibblers were a favorite for my Kole.

[skylord]

What I did was wrap nori around a small rock with a string on it and drop it in the tank. The Kole will find it. After it starts eating the nori I continue that for a few days then start using the clip.

Scott

[Reefer Rob]

I've had a Kole Tang for a few months, and it eats very little other than what it sucks off the rocks and glass. It will eat the little pieces of nori that float around the tank during the feeding frenzy, and the occasional pellet, but it really likes, well, poo. A little disgusting to watch, but the fish is very healthy.

[naesco]

The kole tang is different from other tangs.
They must have the brown slimy algae that you see forming on your glass. That is why he is sucking the brown stuff on your glass.
If you want to keep this tang alive, you can do two things.
1. Keep a large portion of your glass in the corner uncleaned.
2. Buy some of the smooth stones you see in LFS and pile them in an area on the bottom of your tank.

Both these suggestions will provide sufficient food for you kole.
Note the mouth of the kole. It is a sucker an its mouth piece will be damaged if it is forced to eat the brown algae that is also found on jagged live rock.

[Todd]

Thanks for all of the great advice guys.

Fishoholic - Interesting I have always heard that it is the sailfin that is mean, and the yellow rather calm. I will take that into consideration, although as I may be moving this year (just within the city), I dont think that I will be adding anything more for awhile.


Chin and Skylord - Some of the peices that have broken off of the clip have been floating around, none of the fish seem to notice so far. Tying it to a rock on the bottom is a great idea! I will try this!

Naesco - I have a bare bottom and a large center overflow that is never cleaned, this is alot of glass space so it should be lots of space for algea growing. I was mainly concerned that this would not be adequate in terms of variance and quantity.

[naesco]

Thanks for all of the great advice guys.

Fishoholic - Interesting I have always heard that it is the sailfin that is mean, and the yellow rather calm. I will take that into consideration, although as I may be moving this year (just within the city), I dont think that I will be adding anything more for awhile.


Chin and Skylord - Some of the peices that have broken off of the clip have been floating around, none of the fish seem to notice so far. Tying it to a rock on the bottom is a great idea! I will try this!

Naesco - I have a bare bottom and a large center overflow that is never cleaned, this is alot of glass space so it should be lots of space for algea growing. I was mainly concerned that this would not be adequate in terms of variance and quantity.

It should be fine. You have probably noticed that it is sucking at the glass all the time. You can see the sucker marks. As it is feeding off the bottom glass throw in a couple of the sinking wardley spirulina discs.