Yellow eye tang won’t eat.

[Kostas]

I’m curious, what do you guys feed your tangs?


I’ve had my kole tang for three days, (my first ever tang)

The first day I didn’t bother to feed it,

The second I dropped a PVC pipe with some seaweed wrapped around it which was left in for 24hours, and I don’t think he eat any of it.

Third day (today) I tried to feed him some mysis but he was hiding. (he is very shy) Also replaced pipe with new seaweed and moved it to the side of tank he likes to hide in.

I don’t have hair algae in my tank, but he does suck on my rocks and glass often

Only other tank mates are a pair of tomatoe clowns in a host anemone and they eat NLS.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I would keep any metal (ie. lead pipe) out of my sw tanks. Use PVC instead.

My tangs all eat mysis, bloodworms, pellets, nori, basically anything I toss in. Kole tangs are mostly vegetarians though. If you have access to some live macroalgae, like grape caulerpa, it would probably scarf that down.

[Kostas]

opps, no idea why i even type lead pipe, its a PVC pipe i used, blue world gave it to me to feed my tang i bought from there.

[ponokareefer]

My tangs eat anything that goes into the tank, but tend to go a little crazy for any of these: http://www.jlaquatics.com/info/288/Ocean+Nutrition+Seaweed+Selects+Algae+Sheets.html

[noirsphynx]

Sorry to hear that Kostas. Try some brine shrimp. Maybe soak it in some garlic from the LFS.
Mine readily eats brine/mysis and what ever else I throw in and eagerly awaits the seaweed everyday.

[Doo]

Kostas, I am supposed to be getting some food from Michikatonight, if I do, you can come pick some up - that might get him started...

[michika]

The other thing you can also try is soaking your nori in any frozen food you are trying to feed. If your tang is still shy maybe its too afraid to eat yet. If you want though, and if I am going up to Edmonton tonight (its a bit up in the air), I might be able to bring you an extra bag.

[Drock169]

Gold eye kole tangs are often a film algae eater/detrivore. They usually dont eat nori, at least not right away, but depending on the size they should go for the brine/mysis soaked in garlic.

[naesco]

The yellow eye tang eats the film algae that you find on the inside walls of your tank.
If your tank is large enough and you keep one side unclean it should be fine.
You can also make a pile of those smooth two inch stones you see in lfs which will also collect the film algae. After a while he will discover that some of the food you are throwing in tastes good as well.

[Trigger Man]

The tang will probably be eating the algae that is in your tank for a while. When I first got my yellow eyed Kole tang I had the same problem of it not eating anything I fed. The tang continued like this for over 3 weeks before it started to nibble a bit on mysis. Now it also eats pellets when I feed my fish. My kole still does not eat Nori of any kind no matter what I dose the nori with.

[EmilyB]

They love OSI spirulina nibblers !

[Kostas]

Blue world had this guys for a few month and told me they were feeding it mysis everyday and seaweed sheets every other day. So I thought it would adjust easy and eat its routine food right away.

I guess I’ll just be patient I think I over react when I get a new fish and its not an aggressive eater

Thank you everyone for your suggestion :D

[naesco]

Blue world had this guys for a few month and told me they were feeding it mysis everyday and seaweed sheets every other day. So I thought it would adjust easy and eat its routine food right away.

I guess I’ll just be patient I think I over react when I get a new fish and its not an aggressive eater

Thank you everyone for your suggestion :D

Kostas Rule No. 1.
Always SEE the fish eating. Don't buy the story that it was just feed. Ask the lfs guy/gal to put some food in her tank and watch it eat aggressively. If not, pass on the fish.
BTW when she starts to eat other food, put some garlic extract and selcon in her food from time to time to build her up.
Cheers

[Trigger Man]

Ya I have learned the hard way about just believing a fish was eating or was just fed. Since then I always make sure a fish I am purchasing is eating, and if not I'll keep it on hold till it eats.