skittish Tang

[MikeyG]

Ive had my tang in my tank now for 4days but he stills seems really skittish. He hides when i come in the room? He is feeding fine on brine shrimp, but ive got a fair bit of hair algae that he hasnt touched yet, is this normal?

[MikeyG]

sorry its a yellow tang by the way, and hes in a 68g. with two clowns been setup for 6months

[MikeyG]

yep he still like it? any advice?

[racer69]

Give him time, he will get used to his surroundings and eventually come out more. My yellow is very active now and swims in the open all the time. Patience my friend.

[MikeyG]

in terms of the hair algae, will he eat that?

[MikeyG]

or do some tangs never eat it? the thing is i wanted to give him some nori but dont know if ill bother if he aint eatin my hair algae?

[MikeyG]

any 1?

[Jeremy Blaze]

Most tangs will not feed on hair algae, esp. if it is long. They tend to graze on shorter stuff. If you pull as much as possible from the rock, he may graze on the short stuff that is left behind.

I would not offer any nori at first. He will go for it before the hair, and may never eat the hair.

[JuanGil75]

I have had my yellow tang for months he is the same way skittish, as soon as you approach the tank he hides. He won't really touch the hair algea either. I think those guys are hit and miss. I had one previous to him that would swim up to you and was always out. He/she would tearup some hair algea.

[MikeyG]

i scrubbed the hair algae off my rocks with a toothbrush yesterday because it was REALLY REALLY LONG!! hopefully now he'll eat it as it grows back.

[sixliner6]

When he figures out that you are the one who feeds him he won't be shy about swimming about. If you give him too much food to choose from he won't eat the algae.

[MikeyG]

i feed him brine shrimp once a day, do you think i should starve him a bit?

[sixliner6]

No, but feed him once a day unless he starts to look thin. You should feed him something more algae based.

[Spuds725]

Brine shrimp is not really healthy for a yellow or any fish for that matter-- they are like potato chips for fish-- good but not good for you.

A yellow tang needs a very green diet-- get some spirulina flakes, veggie flakes, and some dried seaweed (sheets)--seaweed salad. They will eat nori sheets too which you can get at oriental food stores-- (I've never fed one nori-- just read you can)--you will need to get a "lettuce" clip with a suction cup to hang on the glass for him.

it should pick at the hair algae eventually-- my first yellow (R.I.P.) started picking at the hair algae immediately after I put him in (I mean within a minute of putting him in the tank)-- and was never skittish. Does he have any good hiding places in the tank-- if he is skittish he will calm down if he has a good place to hide- makes him feel more secure and he will actually come out more if he has a good spot(s) to hide.

My Regal Tang took a while to learn to feed of a lettuce clip-- does great now.