Carnivorous Blue Tang

[Gligor]

Hello everybody.

Before anyone asks, yes it's a hippo tang.

The thing is, my blue tang doesn't eat any type of nori, seaweed or algae. I even bought the expensive stuff from the aqua shop, red, green, with added garlic, you name it. I tried to feed it along with the flakes, but she spits it out. I tried to attach it to a rock with a rubber band, nothing works.

She eats only mysis, krill or flake food, and eats a lot of it.

Beside that, she is active and happy fish.

I have this fish for 3 months now, when i got it it was 1.5 inches, now it's 2.5 inches, so she grows.

I've read that seaweed is essential for this fish metabolism and health, that's why I'm worried.

Also the top of her head started to become black. When I got her, the top of her head was blue as it is supposed to be. Beside the colour, there is no sign of damage or illness on the head.

This is when I got her

This is her now

 

[jaghorireefs&mma]

Good morning Gligor,


This actually brought back some memories for me six years ago I had a little hippo tang named Azul who did the exact same thing. She was about the same size as yours, super active and healthy-looking, but absolutely refused to touch nori or any type of seaweed. I must’ve tried every trick in the book garlic-soaked, tied to a rock, clipped on with magnets, even mixed into frozen blends. She wanted none of it. Like yours, she only ate mysis, krill, and flakes, and honestly, she grew just fine for a long while. I remember stressing because it used to be general knowledge about how crucial algae was for tangs, especially for digestion and overall health, but Azul seemed to thrive on a more carnivorous diet early on. Eventually about six or seven months in she suddenly took interest in seaweed on her own, like she just woke up one day with a new taste. As for the blackening on the head, I actually saw that same kind of color shift with Azul, and it turned out to be a part of her maturing pattern. Juvenile hippos are often much more vibrantly blue, and as they grow, their heads sometimes take on darker tones or change hues. If she’s eating well, growing, swimming actively, and doesn’t show signs of scratching or distress, I wouldn't panic just yet. Keep offering the seaweed occasionally so she has the option, but don’t stress if she’s not biting some of them are just late bloomers when it comes to greens. As for her growth, this is excellent growth. It shows she’s metabolizing well and your tank parameters and feeding regimen are working. If she were missing vital nutrients, you'd likely see signs like clamped fins, odd swimming, or lethargy not consistent growth and a happy demeanor. Something that eventually worked for Azul was mixing finely chopped nori into frozen food and letting it thaw into a mushy mix. She ignored the seaweed visually, but as she gulped the mysis, she accidentally got bits of algae. After a few weeks of that, I noticed her starting to peck at the algae clip on her own. Also, try feeding nori early in the day, right after lights come on. Tangs are grazers in the wild and more likely to explore and nibble in the morning.


Regards,
Slade

​

 

[edsbeaker]

There are flake foods and pelleted food that are loaded with algae for herbivores if you are worried.

I find that tangs may take a while to start eating nori. They need to learn. Just keep offering it, but keep the location and way it is being offered to him consistent.

Do you have any other fish that will eat it? Sometimes watching another fish helps the process.

 

[Goaway]

My experience. The smaller juvi tangs eat a lot of meat. I would have to get them used to eating nori by adding it to a slushy frozen blend. I no longer have to add the nori to the blend as they will eat nori off a rock/clip whatever.

The juvis I have had were

Clown tang, scopas tang, chocolate tang, sailfin. All started on meaty foods with coxing to nori.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Blue Hippo Tangs are primarily carnivorous, unlike some (but not all) other tang species:

For the blue hippo tang (Paracanthurus hepatus), A.K.A. the pacific blue tang;

"Feed on zooplankton and occasionally on algae (Ref. 9710, 48637, 27115, 83665)."***

"Pacific blue tang broodstock were fed a varied diet to apparent satiation three to five times daily. The diet consisted of a mixture of a commercially prepared seafood blend (LRS Fertility Frenzy, Larry's Reef Services, Advance, NC, USA); fish eggs (LRS Fish Eggs, Larry's Reef Services); frozen mysis shrimp, Mysis diluviana (Piscine Energetics, Inc., Vernon, BC, Canada); and a commercially available 1.7-mm extruded pellet ([EP1 – 46% crude protein, 16% crude fat, and 2% crude fiber], TDO Chroma Boost, Reed Mariculture, Inc., Campbell, CA, USA)."****

***Source:

Paracanthurus hepatus summary page

www.fishbase.de

****Source:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/oidcStart?redirectUri=/doi/10.1111/jwas.12426

 

[Gligor]

Good morning Gligor,


This actually brought back some memories for me six years ago I had a little hippo tang named Azul who did the exact same thing. She was about the same size as yours, super active and healthy-looking, but absolutely refused to touch nori or any type of seaweed. I must’ve tried every trick in the book garlic-soaked, tied to a rock, clipped on with magnets, even mixed into frozen blends. She wanted none of it. Like yours, she only ate mysis, krill, and flakes, and honestly, she grew just fine for a long while. I remember stressing because it used to be general knowledge about how crucial algae was for tangs, especially for digestion and overall health, but Azul seemed to thrive on a more carnivorous diet early on. Eventually about six or seven months in she suddenly took interest in seaweed on her own, like she just woke up one day with a new taste. As for the blackening on the head, I actually saw that same kind of color shift with Azul, and it turned out to be a part of her maturing pattern. Juvenile hippos are often much more vibrantly blue, and as they grow, their heads sometimes take on darker tones or change hues. If she’s eating well, growing, swimming actively, and doesn’t show signs of scratching or distress, I wouldn't panic just yet. Keep offering the seaweed occasionally so she has the option, but don’t stress if she’s not biting some of them are just late bloomers when it comes to greens. As for her growth, this is excellent growth. It shows she’s metabolizing well and your tank parameters and feeding regimen are working. If she were missing vital nutrients, you'd likely see signs like clamped fins, odd swimming, or lethargy not consistent growth and a happy demeanor. Something that eventually worked for Azul was mixing finely chopped nori into frozen food and letting it thaw into a mushy mix. She ignored the seaweed visually, but as she gulped the mysis, she accidentally got bits of algae. After a few weeks of that, I noticed her starting to peck at the algae clip on her own. Also, try feeding nori early in the day, right after lights come on. Tangs are grazers in the wild and more likely to explore and nibble in the morning.


Regards,
Slade

​

Thank you very much, this is what i wanted to hear. I'm no longer worried for my fish, I'm going to continue offering her nori.

There are flake foods and pelleted food that are loaded with algae for herbivores if you are worried.

I find that tangs may take a while to start eating nori. They need to learn. Just keep offering it, but keep the location and way it is being offered to him consistent.

Do you have any other fish that will eat it? Sometimes watching another fish helps the process.

I don't have other fish that eat nori. I tried feeding algae flakes, she eats it, but no so much

 

[edsbeaker]

Blue Hippo Tangs are primarily carnivorous, unlike some (but not all) other tang species:

Great info!!!
I never knew this.

 

[Gligor]

Blue Hippo Tangs are primarily carnivorous, unlike some (but not all) other tang species:

Yes, I've read that somewhere, but I've also read that algae is essential for it's digestion...

 

[littlefoxx]

Hello everybody.

Before anyone asks, yes it's a hippo tang.

The thing is, my blue tang doesn't eat any type of nori, seaweed or algae. I even bought the expensive stuff from the aqua shop, red, green, with added garlic, you name it. I tried to feed it along with the flakes, but she spits it out. I tried to attach it to a rock with a rubber band, nothing works.

She eats only mysis, krill or flake food, and eats a lot of it.

Beside that, she is active and happy fish.

I have this fish for 3 months now, when i got it it was 1.5 inches, now it's 2.5 inches, so she grows.

I've read that seaweed is essential for this fish metabolism and health, that's why I'm worried.

Also the top of her head started to become black. When I got her, the top of her head was blue as it is supposed to be. Beside the colour, there is no sign of damage or illness on the head.

This is when I got her

This is her now

Have you tried frozen algae cubes? And yeah these tangs are just plain weird, dont do normal tang things. Dory was aptly picked for the movie lol.

 

[JayM]

I had mine for probably 6 or 7 months before she started eating nori. I'm convinced now that she'd eat a cheeseburger if I dropped one in the tank. She'll eat anything that doesn't live with her.

 

[Gligor]

Have you tried frozen algae cubes? And yeah these tangs are just plain weird, dont do normal tang things. Dory was aptly picked for the movie lol.

No, but I might try that.

 

[MnFish1]

As others have said - tangs are herbivore, but eat everything. I never fed my fish nori - and they thrived. I would not worry. They also constantly pick on rocks etc - and get nutrients (assuming you have 'green things' growing on your rocks.) There are (probably more than 1) thread about this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...ddict&text=nereefpat said:,can't remember why).

 

[Should I]

yea my purple tang would eat meaty foods but would not touch nori i would not worry about it as long as its eating

 

[Tangdora]

My tangs all love nori and all love marine flakes (I blend ocean nutrition flakes together if they are all awaible at time of purchase. Green formula 1 ,blue formula 2 and the purple prime fruit punch mix lol)