How much nori is too much?

[phreezee]

My tangs ferociously gobble up the nori I put in. They seem like they are hungry all the time, and they are all putting on weight. I put it about 3"x2" strip about 3 times a day and feed a cube of mysis/brine.

To give you an idea, this is 2 days worth of skimmate (dark and stinky).



Is this too much nori? How often do fellow reefers offer nori?

[Myanth]

I will start by saying that I am the least rythmic and strutured reef keeper there is. That being said, I feed a sheet at a time and see no increase in skimmate. Sometimes daily, sometimes twice a week, or right now I'm out. If my fish don't have a bit of a belly it's time to feed them. I have a powder blue, regal, sailfin, lawnmower blenny (who's always fat), and three damsels and three clowns who have aquired a taste. I've seen hermits eating some, and my emerald tries to steal the whole feeding station.

Basically, what I'm getting at is feed as much as your fish want, they are grazers. Frozen food will be eaten until they are satiated and then left to rot, whereas nori just floats around until someone wants a snack. Elastic it to something and let them have at it.

Just my two cents.
Mike

[phreezee]

Cool, thanks for you input. I thought I might ask cause it's a new tank and I've avoided algae blooms for the most part (cross-fingers).

That's funny that your other fish have developed a taste for nori... I was quite surprised when my 4 chromis started to eat it also LOL

[TheReefGeek]

That is terrific you feed your reef 3 times a day, I feed nori a couple times a week, but every day they get veggie flake, and a frozen variety.

You might want to vary their diet up a bit more than nori and brine/mysis.

Brine is just a treat, so really you are feeding nori and mysis.

I would get a veggie flake food too, and vary up the frozen. I buy flat packs of mysis, bloodworms, spirolina, etc, anything I can get my hands on. Then I puree it, and re-freeze it flat in large ziplock bags. Then I just break of a chunk every day for them, and they get a nice varied diet.

I also use meaty flake, and pellets on ocassion too. I think variety is the key to health and disease prevention, i've never lost a fish to disease.

[TheReefGeek]

Amount of skimate doesn't tell us much, because it depends on tank size, bioload, feeding, and of course the actual skimmer.

You could be pulling out nothing with a crappy skimmer, or tons with a great skimmer, hard to say.

[phreezee]

Regal and a Yellow Tang, 4 chromis. 240G + 100G sump.

Cool, thanks for the advice. I've been meaning to pick up some spirulina flakes also.

[TheReefGeek]

That is a light bioload, add more fishiessssss.

[Tangman]

Nori is really all your Tangs need to fulfill their dietary needs. Be careful with flakes as they all contain phosphates.

[Ruth]

Nori is the only thing that my very large Naso Tang will eat - and only if clipped to the side of the tank - no free floating food for this beast. Of course my 2 Angels and Moorish Idol saw how much he was enjoying it and joined in to make it a free for all. I feed this tank (190g) 1 to 1 1/2 full sheets of nori a day.

[TheReefGeek]

Nori is really all your Tangs need to fulfill their dietary needs.

Really? Is there any evidence of that?