tangs eating zoanthids

mfinn · #1 09/17/2006, 10:58 AM

I think it has been pretty well documented here that given the opportunity tangs will eat zoanthids.
What I want to ask now is, What are the common names of the zoanthids did your tangs eat? Which ones did you lose?
The hippo tangs I had seemed to really go after the eagle eyes and dragon eyes.
I have a lot of protopalythoas and palythoas that they ignored. Is it just because of the color? The ones they ignored were fairly plain.

ficklefins · #2 09/17/2006, 11:19 AM

On reefcast.com Marc mentions that his blue tang was eating his Mean Green zoas.

So check one off for green color!

raider77 · #3 09/17/2006, 11:33 AM

My yellow tang ate some eagle eyes and some pink zoa's . But this happened when I first put them in and they hadn't opened yet.

mfinn · #4 09/17/2006, 11:42 AM

I also had a purple tang that went after some pink zoanthids.
But if I remember correctly, none of the eaten polyps were of the bigger palythoa types.

55semireef · #5 09/17/2006, 01:29 PM

Won't the tangs die of toxins within the zoas?

mfinn · #6 09/17/2006, 01:35 PM

Nope.

deanos · #7 09/17/2006, 08:30 PM

My Hippo Tang only eats the skirts of pink zoanthids.

Ken668 · #8 09/17/2006, 08:44 PM

My hippo would take off full polyps of bright green skirt zoas.

mfinn · #9 09/17/2006, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 55semireef
Won't the tangs die of toxins within the zoas?

I wished they would have.

BryanBusza · #10 09/17/2006, 09:40 PM

I have seen one of my yellows nip at my pink zoas on several occasions.

mfinn · #11 09/17/2006, 10:20 PM

No palythoas so far.

jasonj90 · #12 09/17/2006, 10:37 PM

i think that tangs will only eat dead/ dying/ decaying zoas. i dont think that tangs go out on patrol looking to devastate peoples healthy colonies. i just recently got an order (2 day shipping) with 3 zoa frags. of the 3 frags, 1 frag arrived a bit ragged compared to the others. my tang kept picking at it removing visibly damaged polyps from the piece. after a few days of pruning, my yellow tang left it alone.

mfinn · #13 09/17/2006, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jasonj90
i think that tangs will only eat dead/ dying/ decaying zoas. i dont think that tangs go out on patrol looking to devastate peoples healthy colonies. i just recently got an order (2 day shipping) with 3 zoa frags. of the 3 frags, 1 frag arrived a bit ragged compared to the others. my tang kept picking at it removing visibly damaged polyps from the piece. after a few days of pruning, my yellow tang left it alone.

Nope. Saw my tangs going after good healthy zoanthid colonies.
This subject has come up many times and there are many people that say the same thing. Tangs will eat zoanthids if they think they are a food source.

Ken668 · #14 09/18/2006, 06:18 AM

I agree, my tang was popping off nice healthy polyps even with a full clip of Nori not even 6" away.

heartbreak7 · #15 09/18/2006, 09:04 AM

I had a hippo that once ate a colony of about 50 alien eyes, good times...

itz frank · #16 09/18/2006, 07:58 PM

My sailfin tang nipped off of good amount of skirts from some of my Brown PEs.

55semireef · #17 09/18/2006, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by heartbreak7
I had a hippo that once ate a colony of about 50 alien eyes, good times...

WOW. Man, I know they don't do that in the wild. But being in a fish tank can make fish do strange things.

Peter Eichler · #18 09/18/2006, 09:00 PM

Has anyone ever had a problem with Chevron, Tomini, or Kole tangs? I think I'm going to get a small Tomini or Chevron soon but I'll skip it if people have had problems. My guess is they're less likely to bother zoas just from the shape of their mouth.

Just an FYI. I had a Purple and Dejardini tang for several years with two large colonies of zoas and never had them touch em. This was long before the naming craze but if I had to say, they were green and orange skirts with green and orange centers.

mfinn · #19 09/18/2006, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Peter Eichler

Just an FYI. I had a Purple and Dejardini tang for several years with two large colonies of zoas and never had them touch em. This was long before the naming craze but if I had to say, they were green and orange skirts with green and orange centers.

I had 3 hippo tangs for 3-4 years that never bothered them either, untill one day a colony of eagle eyes I had that was about 7-8 inches in dia. was suddenly gone almost overnight.

.223NATO · #20 09/19/2006, 06:14 PM

I think if your feeding your tangs well and always keeping algae leafs clipped in your tank then you shouldn't have to many problems.... If they are going after your aoas they are obviously hungry and there's nothing else appatizing to eat. my 2 cents...

mfinn · #21 09/19/2006, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by .223NATO
I think if your feeding your tangs well and always keeping algae leafs clipped in your tank then you shouldn't have to many problems.... If they are going after your aoas they are obviously hungry and there's nothing else appatizing to eat. my 2 cents...

I thought that as well. But when I got my last Purple Tang, I feed it every day and made sure that there was something in the clip for it to eat.
But they are natural grazers, They will go about their area and graze on everything.

It seems once they found something as substantual as a colony of zoanthids, it was like a spicey salad bar.

ct_vol · #22 09/19/2006, 07:32 PM

I'm rethinking the addition of a blue hippo now...

Will have to find another grazer... Perhaps I'll just throw in some extra snails... lol

raider77 · #23 09/19/2006, 07:44 PM

I don't think it has anything to do with not feeding enough. My yellow is nice and thick eat's twice a day flake in the a.m. and meaty foods in the p.m. . I think it's like mfinn said natural grazer.

mfinn · #24 09/19/2006, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ct_vol
I'm rethinking the addition of a blue hippo now... Will have to find another grazer... Perhaps I'll just throw in some extra snails... lol

I wouldn't want to talk you out of a great fish. Alot of people don't have problems with tangs, but it is always a possiblity that they will at some point start eating them.
I've great luck with different pigmy angels, where others have had problems. So I figure it's a 50/50 crap shoot with em.

But I'm starting to think that the bigger palythoa polyps may be a safer bet with them.

Don Lino · #25 09/20/2006, 02:17 PM

I have 5 baby hippos, and none of them touch my zoas. Maybe you can get them when they are small and hopefully they will learn...through the years...that Zoas are freinds----not FOOD!!

Or on the other hand, when they get bigger--They plan on wipping my zoas out. Time will tell.