Pretty basic question - Feeding Tangs Seaweed/nori.

[Husky_1]

Ok, now that I have the PBT, I need to make sure that he is getting enough seaweed. On the other hand I need to make sure that I do put too much food into my water since my P04 has been lower recently. My question is how do you guys that keep SPS and low nutrient tanks normally feed seaweed/nori?

Of course when buying the fish I asked the same question, and they said keep a sheet in the tank all the time. Unfortunately, this stuff breaks up too much after a few hours, and then stuff goes all over the tank. This seems like it will just cause me issues down the road.

So what do you guys do or suggest with one medium tang? Keep in mind I do have some filament algae, but not a lot in the tank. I also feed the other fish 1 time per day, and rotate between cyclopeeze, the reef formula, mysis, and spectrum pellets.

What really prompted this question was the fact that the PBT did not touch the clip all day yesterday, when I saw that the seaweed was falling apart I pulled it out. This release some of the seaweed in the tank and he went right after it.

BTW, I am using Julian Sprungs Sea Veggies. I bought both red and green, would you suggest something else?


Dale

[carlosngloria]

I use seaweed select for mine and he is eating it fine. How high in the tank did you put the clip? I noticed the lower in the tank the better. Try putting a little piece on the clip and put it about mid way down in you tank.

[carlosngloria]

also you can try and take a little piece and break it up a little in the water and he might go after it that way.

[db_triggerfish]

i have a purple tang and a flame angel both eat Southern Tsunami all natural Susshi Seaweed from Publix $1.99 and i am doing the same as carlosngloria midway down in tank and cutting very small pieces, fed like flake food.

[gasman059]

this stuff breaks up too much after a few hours, and then stuff goes all over the tank. This seems like it will just cause me issues down the road.

this tool will avoid that problem. Half a sheet with rubberband and take out after they lost interest,
HTH
Clips IME don't work too much flow tears the nori apart.
[/IMG]

[Husky_1]

Ok, looks like I will not be leaving the stuff in the tank as long. I tried midway down and lower and he still did not like it. Once again as soon as I started taking it out of the tank he went right after the free floating pieces.


Gasman
I love that tool, I think I will make something similar.

[gasman059]

make sure the pvc has drilled holes.

[wizsmaster]

I use the blue/black nylon (?) tarp clips from Homedepot/Lowes on fishing line. I fold a 12x12 sheet in 1/2, then do another fold again, gives me a long, but narrow sheet, then overlay it like a bow, and clip it.

I usually feed 2sqft of nori a day, sometimes more.

2 x PBT (1 x 4", 1 x 6")
3 x Hawaii Yellow
1 x Indo Yellow
4 x Regal (2 x med 4-5"/ 2 x small 2-3")
1 x vlamingi (7-8")
1 x tomini
1 x purple (2")

i think i'm forgetting someone on the tang list ... + 20-30 other fish.

[illal]

from my experiance they usually dont touch it for the first day or 2.... aside from that i put a nice size piece in every other day and not only do my tangs love it but so does evryone else in the tank

[szhttm]

I use the nori from Publix. I usually find it near the fresh sea food or in the isle with the asian food.

Good Luck and Have Fun!!!;

[Husky_1]

Thanks everyone,

Wiz, I dont think I need to feed as much as you do right now . Maybe someday..

[wizsmaster]

BTW ... i keep it affordable ... I go to the chinese market store & pickup the 50 sheet pack of 12x12 for $8

[bawla47]

you can try soaking it in garlic too to see if that helps entice him.

[pedromatic]

Originally posted by gasman059
make sure the pvc has drilled holes.

If you wet the nori on the tube and let it dry it glues itself to the tube, then it stays put. You can actually leave it in the tank for a while, pull it out, let it dry and use it again later.

Also I feed my tang and lawnmower blenny Algae tabs like they sell for fresh water plecos. They love those. It eliminates the mess caused by the nori.

[ReefWreak]

I've fed my fish those pleco algae tablets like pedro mentioned, and while the fish try to eat them, they're like little stones, even after a few minutes of soaking in the tank water while attached to the nori clip.

I usually feed about 1/2 of a dollar bill sized piece of nori to my medium/large sailfin, christmas wrasse, and two dwarf angels. The other fish all pick at whatever flies around, but all of it is consumed off of the clip, none is ever left over. I feed that once every two days or so. I also feed a few pinches of Spectrum too per day. and a cube or mysis every day or two. Sometimes I feed cyclopeeze, but usually just at night, just for corals.

Anyway, dale, if you have a problem feeding the PBT, try using selcon, soaking the nori in it before putting it into the tank.

[Bernie21]

I feed about 1 square inch of sea weed every other day (alternate days from my feeding) for my Angels, but my clowns and neon goby also eat it. When I had my fox, I enticed him by dipping the sea weed in garlic and he began eating immediately, and now dip in garlic every time!

[gasman059]

Originally posted by pedromatic
If you wet the nori on the tube and let it dry it glues itself to the tube, then it stays put. You can actually leave it in the tank for a while, pull it out, let it dry and use it again later.

Also I feed my tang and lawnmower blenny Algae tabs like they sell for fresh water plecos. They love those. It eliminates the mess caused by the nori.

It only stays put for a while and if you turnover your tank more than 30-50x it will only stay put for less than a min and the all over your tank.
If you use the rubber band IME it stays put period.

[Husky_1]

The idea of the placo food is great, but for now i think I am going to keep on going with the seaweed. He does like it, just not on the hanger. I am making a similar contraption to what gasman has and will try this today. Like Illal said, it may take a couple of days]. Just this morning I saw him swimming in more area of the tank, so he is probably starting to adjust.

Originally posted by ReefWreak

Anyway, dale, if you have a problem feeding the PBT, try using selcon, soaking the nori in it before putting it into the tank.

Hey Eric, He is eating fine, just not off the clip, but I will keep this in mind if he stops eating. I was also thinking of the garlic soaking if he does loose his appetite.

[Husky_1]

Not the best picture in the world, but you get the idea.
Thanks Gasman for the idea.
I Glued a 3" piece of 1/2" pvc to an acrylic rod and put the red Seaweed on there. I am not exactly sure how long it took him to go to it but it was no longer than 30 minutes. The hermits seem to like it as well. Now if the blenny will go to it, I will be happy.





-Dale

[gasman059]

Dale nice going.
That's a beautiful fish if I ever saw one.
great score!

[bawla47]

that tube thing is a really good idea! i like it. been just doing the tarp clip on a string deal.

[Husky_1]

Thanks Gasman,

Bawla, it was Gasman's idea and it works great.