clown tang wont eat!

[docmal]

Ok I took home a small clown tang from my LFS. we just recieved them that day and I took the smallest one home. I know we have been having trouble getting them to eat, but I thought I could do something to get him eating. I have tried everything. I have some culerpa in the tank that he seems to nibble on a bit but he wont eat anything else that I have tried... Prime reef frozen, prime reef flake, brine shrimp, clam, krill. He is rapidly loosing weight and gaining ich. I don't know if there is anything I can do for him. He seems interested in the food and swims around alot when I put it in but will not actually eat it. any suggestions?

p.s: Out of the other 3 at the store at least 2 of them are eating like crazy.

[KASESQ]

In situations like this I have either purchased or raised live brine shrimp to offer to the picky eater. If you purchase a portion of live shrimp do a one minute FW dip for the netful you are offering to the tang to explode any ich/crypt. parasites. You should go with the store bought as you don't have the time to wait for some homegrown shrimp to grow up. How big is your tank?

[docmal]

you can buy live brine at the store? None of our LFS have live brine... The tank he is in houses a small dragon wrasse and a red scooter blenny.. and is a 20 gallon. I have a very stocked 58 gallon that is doing great but I don't want to up the bioload on the 58 anymore... considering I dont run a skimmer on it. What other live foods will a small tang eat?

[KASESQ]

really well washed tubifex worms. Your tank is way too small for a tang, and that might have something to do with the lack of a feeding response. I would see if you can't take him back for store credit or a refund. Do they have a guarantee? To give you some idea of what I consider an adequate tank size for a tang, I have a hippo tang and a kole tang in a 200 gallon system, and I expect to have to move them in a year or so.

[lori344]

I know, you've heard this before.... several times. No tangs in less than 50gal and only 1 per 50. It is really good advice, adhere to it. Your ich out break & lack of eating are due to the stress of keeping him in such small quarters. (although ich must be present in your system) A 20 gallon = bending the rules too much, even if for a short time or even if he is small. Take him back to the LFS so he has a fighting chance. I'm not trying to be tough on you docmal, however I know you know better.
~lori

[Flanelcamel]

If you would like yet another opinion I would say take him back! Clown tangs are much like Sohal tangs and need a minimum of 180 gal tank. They will suffer in anything less, they need lots of space for swimming and territory. Do the right thing you and the fish will be happier!:)

[0dan0]

Clown tangs are very very picky eaters. It took about 2 weeks to get a medium clown tang to eat in a 150. All he seemed to like was caulerpa for the first week, and frozen brine the 2nd week. Also, about no tangs in a tank under 50, I disagree. I have a small scopas tang in my 15 that has been fat and ich-free for over 2 months. When I first got him he was healthy, and he has stayed heathly, and I dont feed garlic, but I do feed vitamins and a varied diet of dry and live seaweeds. When he gets bigger I will move him to the 50, but until he is about 2.5", he is fine in a 15. A small tang can be kept in a smaller tank, the problem here is that clown tangs are hard to adapt to captivity.
To get the tang to eat, put some nori or other dried macroalgae on a lettuce clip and leave it there. The clown tang might start to eat it, and if it does then you can put some garlic in to get rid of the ich. I would keep feeding smaller foods like brine because the clown tangs have tiny mouths. If you have any type of hair algae or anything growing in the sump, put that in the tank. This is the dead way to feed your tang, if you get anything like live brine or the like, use that first.

-Dan

[Flanelcamel]

"He's fine in the 15." Well are we suposed to assume he told you this? (or maybe your lfs)

Just look at the size of that tank and ask your self if you want to be locked in your room until you get bigger!!! Sure he's still "ALIVE" after 2 months but certainly not in the correct environment.

This is again just my opinion, and not intended as a personal attack on anyone. Everyone who reads this will form their own opinion too. I feel when you publically post advice for people it should at least be good advice you never know how many lives it may affect. Just something to think about! Nuf said!

[Jaffo_botz]

I think you got the picture that this fish doesn't belong in the 20G. It is also good to note at this point that you should have kept the fish at the LFS at least until it is eating.....

Any good LFS will hold a fish for a couple weeks to ensure it is eating and healthy, before you bring it home to your q-tank. Gotta use some common sense.....
Also, clown tangs are one of the harder species of tangs to keep...what were you going to do with this tang 6 mos from now after it grew a couple of inches (assuming it was going to be healthy?). These guys, once eating, need to eat often as they have high metabolisms and not much extra mass.....they get territorial as well once settled.

You have to plan for the long term needs of the animals you bring in....avoid these impulse purchases, they are not commodity items...

[docmal]

Ok people... this tang is no more than an inch in total length. He is very small. I work at the LFS that I got him from and I got him for free because he wasnt eating since we got him. I wasn't asking your opinion on his accommodations because I KNOW that they are okay for now... I had no intention of keeping a large fish in a small tank. If I could get him to eat I would raise him for a while in the 20 gallon "sort of" hospital tank and then place him in my 75 or in a clients tank. You people are to quick to judge and you need to relax.

Also you have to much faith in the LFS. Their tanks are WAY less mantained than yours at home. The truth is if you want to save a fish... take it home. It's sad and we work really hard at my LFS to keep things alive but we have so many horrible shipping stories you would not believe it. Most LFS don't really even check to see if a fish is eating unless you ask. If you would heve read closer to my statement you could have picked on some of this. When I said "we have been having trouble getting them to eat" I meant me and the owner of my LFS... We get them in almost weekly and they have not been comming in well at all. actually this last shipment contained 4 of them and 2 of them ate... This was the first time this year I have seen a new clown tang eat. It's sad but it's no ones fault but the shippers, and collectors, and most of the time its not even their fault.

Anyway, I am sorry I rambled on but I was I guess I wasn't clear enough on where I stand. I know that clown tangs can get up to 2 feet long... I have seen them in the ocean. The fact is that I never intended to KEEP the fish in those accomodations I just know that his chances (since he was the smallest) where best in one of my tanks at home. I assumed that you guys all knew what I was thinking and I realize that that was a really dumb assumption. Sorry for the confusion and I apologize if I mad anyone mad.

Also don't put so much faith in your LFS.. They do it for money and you do it for Love... ask yourself which is the better motivator?

[Staceon]

Hey Docmal,

Glad to see you took all that advice well. I am certainly glad you didn't take it the wrong way.

Have you tried any other macros other than caulpra?

[Jaffo_botz]

Docmal...ok, got the rest of the story...I was a little off in my previous post as I thought you bought it.

The tang is a grazer, so I would try to make all 'flavors' of dry algae available to it: red, green, brown..rubberband to a rock. Even romaine (little nutrition)...just to get it to go after something.
If your store has any live brine or daphnia, try that. Blood worms (little nutritional value) but may be taken...any substance is better than none.

The tang probably doesn't get the eating out of the water column thing yet. Do you have any other mild mannered, but eating fish that could join him in this 20G to show him how to eat? Believe it or not, this can work...especially for 'schooling' type fish.

I assume your boss has the option like most stores in that you 'order' fish...not just 'receive' fish. Tell him to stop ordering the clown tangs if they aren't surviving...or try a different distributer (your boss is just 'feeding' the need)
You may not be in the position to do this...just a thought though FWIW.

[docmal]

actually your right about the learning to eat from other fish... The ones at work did just that from two blue eyed tangs... To bad I am not about to try and catch anything in my reef... But I took him back to the store and I really don't think he is going to make it... He was just too small. We actually order our fish through a broker in LA, he usually does an excelent job. But clown tangs are just so iffy but they are really cool... They have been comming in alot better lately according to the broker... So I beleive 3 out of the 5 from this last shipment lived... Quite an accomplishment considering it missed a connection flight and ended up in Michigan overnight instead of Nebraska... Anyway, thanks for your help and I will use these suggestions from now on at work...

Bye the way, I kind of am in the position to get the owner to do stuff like that.. Him and I are kind of friends and I am a really good employee ;) Our store is finally recovering from a location change about 3 months ago... Plus all the corals comming in are doing better because of the lower avg ocean temps. So we are going to start stocking our 400 gallon show tank ;) OHHH YEAH!

[O'Man]

Nori might be worth a shot. He is going to need help to get rid of the ich.