Tomani Tang

[Kittypowpow]

So I recently had an algae outbreak, so I introduced a Tomani Tang to my tank. Has anyone had any experience with a tang not eating algae ..... fed or in the tank. He goes crazy for food that I feed to my clowns, but will not eat any nigiri or existing algae in the tank........ any advice?

 

[JPM San Diego]

I used to have a lush green hair algae farm. Getting it under control included multiple measure including adding a foxface, a Tomini, and a Kole Tang. The herbivors primarily kept the rocks that were already free of long strands of algae clean. The worked the short stuff and "invisible" algae. One by one, as my other measures cleared out the clumps, the constant picking at rocks kept it from coming back. It took several months, but the battle was won.

 

[sfin52]

So I recently had an algae outbreak, so I introduced a Tomani Tang to my tank. Has anyone had any experience with a tang not eating algae ..... fed or in the tank. He goes crazy for food that I feed to my clowns, but will not eat any nigiri or existing algae in the tank........ any advice?

In my experience tomini like most bristle tooth don't like the long algea strands. They really prefer rasping the rocks.

Foxface on the other hand have a wide and diverse pallet. Mine will even eat turf.

 

[Kittypowpow]

HMMMM. I have a bunch of algae on the rocks but still no interest

 

[vlangel]

My tomini tang is more of a small algae picker, (off the glass) and goes after detritus. I quit offering it Nori sheets because that was just ignored. It does love spirulina flakes, emerald entree, seaweed delight and spirulina enriched brine shrimp. I have lots of macroalgae and the tomini never eats any of them, just picks detritus off of them.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I have a tomini in quarantine. It likes algae on the rocks, and it's learned to eat the Hikari algae pellets I feed, but it still doesn't like the nori on the clip much.

 

[jhadaway]

Mine doesn't touch hair algae or nori for that matter. Detritus, any fish food and bites the rocks.

 

[Tamberav]

So I recently had an algae outbreak, so I introduced a Tomani Tang to my tank. Has anyone had any experience with a tang not eating algae ..... fed or in the tank. He goes crazy for food that I feed to my clowns, but will not eat any nigiri or existing algae in the tank........ any advice?

Bristletooths are not always great at eating unsightly algae. They often just scrape the short micro algae on the glass and rocks.

The tangs bioload will probably help feed the algae unless he changes his mind, sorry

 

[GardenofZoas20]

I first added a full grown Tomini who was super shy about eating anything. After several months it slowly got more brave at feeding time, but mostly hid otherwise. Then I added a young Biota YT. The pair 'bonded' instantly. Now the Tomini follows right behind the YT everywhere. The YT continuously picks at frags and rocks and will be the first one to eat any nori I put in, with the Tomini mimicking right behind it. It sounds crazy, but it's like the YT showed him what to do!

 

[nereefpat]

As a couple have said, Tomini and others in the genus Ctenochaetus aren't algae eaters in terms of what aquarists think of as algae. They eat film/slime and detritus in nature. Some adapt to eating nori, but some won't. It's harder to fatten up Ctenochaetus tangs than Zebrasoma tangs.

 

[Kittypowpow]

Bristletooths are not always great at eating unsightly algae. They often just scrape the short micro algae on the glass and rocks.

The tangs bioload will probably help feed the algae unless he changes his mind, sorry

OOF Thanks for the input. not gonna lie I was expecting an algae eating machine, but thanks for the honesty.

 

[Kittypowpow]

As a couple have said, Tomini and others in the genus Ctenochaetus aren't algae eaters in terms of what aquarists think of as algae. They eat film/slime and detritus in nature. Some adapt to eating nori, but some won't. It's harder to fatten up Ctenochaetus tangs than Zebrasoma tangs.

Thank you so much for the info. I guess he's pretty to look at hahahaha

 

[Kittypowpow]

Mine doesn't touch hair algae or nori for that matter. Detritus, any fish food and bites the rocks.

alright so mine isn't just a special kinda misfit lol. Appreciate the feedback.

 

[Kittypowpow]

I used to have a lush green hair algae farm. Getting it under control included multiple measure including adding a foxface, a Tomini, and a Kole Tang. The herbivors primarily kept the rocks that were already free of long strands of algae clean. The worked the short stuff and "invisible" algae. One by one, as my other measures cleared out the clumps, the constant picking at rocks kept it from coming back. It took several months, but the battle was won.

alright ill keep my hopes up then

 

[Kittypowpow]

My tomini tang is more of a small algae picker, (off the glass) and goes after detritus. I quit offering it Nori sheets because that was just ignored. It does love spirulina flakes, emerald entree, seaweed delight and spirulina enriched brine shrimp. I have lots of macroalgae and the tomini never eats any of them, just picks detritus off of them.

Ill have to try some of the other foods you mentioned. Im fed up with the nori, it just ends up getting soggy (?) and breaks loose from the clip ending up in my powerheads.

 

[Tamberav]

Ill have to try some of the other foods you mentioned. Im fed up with the nori, it just ends up getting soggy (?) and breaks loose from the clip ending up in my powerheads.

Fold it up a bunch into a small square and then clip it so it is sort of layers they pick at.

 

[Kittypowpow]

Fold it up a bunch into a small square and then clip it so it is sort of layers they pick at.

Awesome thank you! trying this now!!

 

[Idech]

My kole tang won’t eat nori (yet) but he is just crazy about spirulina flakes. Try to get bulk flakes so they come in big pieces, not little flakes. Mine likes to eat the whole thing in one go !

 

[Gtinnel]

I feed nori on a clip and my foxface, purple tang, Melanurus wrasse, and engineer gobies all devour it, but my tomini never shows any interest.
My tomini constantly pecks at the glass and rocks of the tank but never eats any filamentous algae. For a fish that eats a lot of algae a foxface is hard to beat in my experience.