Do tangs need Nori?

[Bam327]

I got a Convict and a Purple Tang last week. The purple settled in immediately and took to Nori and LRS. The Convict took a little longer but he’s been eating LRS as well but won’t touch Nori. I have been giving him Romaine lettuce which he has taken to. I know tangs need vegetation to avoid HLLE but if he doesn’t take to Nori is romaine enough to prevent this? I’m not worried about him starving because LRS fattens everyone up but I want to make sure he’s getting the vitamins he needs. It’s not just Nori he won’t eat, I’ve tried spirulina, collard greens, broccoli. And everything above soaked in garlic as well.

 

[Garf]

Yes, and any other free greens

 

[Zionas]

1. Nori sheets / Sea Veggies

2. Ocean Nutrition Formula-2 Flakes and Pellets

3. Hikari Mega Marine Algae

4. Hikari Algae Wafers

5. Whatever other herbivore foods you can find (LRS Herbivore Frenzy etc.- not available to me in China)

 

[Yellow Coris Wrasse]

With my tangs, some prefer the standard nori, others prefer the purple seaweed from Sea Veggies. I have also had luck with the Hikari Seaweed Extreme pellets for tangs that are hesitant about nori.

 

[Zionas]

Oh yeah forgot Seaweed Extreme. That’s a good one too. What Tangs do you keep and how long have you had them?

 

[Zionas]

1. Hikari Mega Marine Algae

2. Hikari Algae Wafers

3. Hikari Seaweed Extreme

4. Ocean Nutrition Formula-2 Flakes

5. Ocean Nutrition Formula-2 Pellets

6. Julian Sprung’s Sea Veggies

7. Sushi nori (unprocessed / clean) from supermarket

8. LRS / Rod’s Food (Herbivore varieties)

9. First Bite Veggie Flakes

10. First Bite Veggie Pellets

11. Easy Reefs Masstick

 

[lion king]

How mature is your tank. I never feed nori but have a mature tank that offer constant grazing of micro algae, and I feed Hikari mega algae. Orange shoulder and scopas for several years.

 

[Bam327]

My tank is a year old. I have no algae in it other than some bubble that’s apparently too tough for even my Fox Face. There’s nothing for the Tang to graze on other than what I put in the tank. I’ll try to pick up some flake today. I’ve tried pellets and he doesn’t seem to know that’s food.

 

[Zionas]

Nice how well is your Orange Shoulder doing? Do you still have the Mimic? If so for how long and how big is it?

 

[Bam327]

Wrong guy. The only tangs I have a re the convict and the purple.

 

[Zionas]

Hey sorry I was talking to another member. @lion king

Lion King was the one I was talking to

 

[ca1ore]

Tangs are herbivores (duh, I know) so you just need to make sure they get greens. I’ve tended to avoid feeding mine terrestrial greens, preferring non-roasted nori. Naturally occurring algae in the tank is obviously good. It can take a bit for a new tang to work out that the algae flapping around in a clip is food. Convict can be a bit tricky, and often arrive very thin, but as long as it’s eating something I’d not be overly concerned. You could try spirulaina fortified frozen brine. That’s my go to food for uncooperative tangs.

You could try breaking a piece of nori up into bits and mix it into the thawed LRS. I know a lot of people still recommend garlic. I don’t use it, mostly because it actually doesn’t make much difference and is reputed to do liver damage.

 

[X-37B]

I have a convict, tomini tang, and a foxface. They will not eat nori on a clip. I cut up small squares of about 1/8" to 1/4" and let it soak with the cubes in a shot glass.
When I dump the frozen in they all eat the small pieces of nori.
My convict is a pig, lol.
And yes he was super skinny when I got him.

 

[ca1ore]

Well done .... he’s a chub! I’ve a soft spot for the convict and it’s extra striped and overpriced Mauritian cousin.

 

[lion king]

Nice how well is your Orange Shoulder doing? Do you still have the Mimic? If so for how long and how big is it?

Orange shoulder is great, a big fish, the 210g I would say is bare minimum. I gave the mimic to a friend whe he was about 6". He was originally in a 125g trigger grow out tank, and he got beat up pretty good. So i moved him to my 90g lion's reef and that tank proved too small.

 

[X-37B]

Well done .... he’s a chub! I’ve a soft spot for the convict and it’s extra striped and overpriced Mauritian cousin.

This a year ago when I got him.
Local lfs and friends say they are hard to keep alive.
I made sure it was eating before I brought it home.

 

[ca1ore]

Yup, that how almost all of them show up. I have a very small one (maybe 1 1/2”) and it’s taken me almost a year to get it to a healthy weight. Convict is an excellent grazer. My zebra came from DD and was not thin thankfully.

 

[Hincapiej4]

You can try turning off all flow and putting your hand in the tank with nori and rubbing it in your fingers so it comes apart. That might work.

My convict and and even my ****** BLUE JAW TRIGGER go nuts when I scrape the glass and eats the algae particles.. he learned that from the convict and my Japanese gold hawkfish WHO ALSO EATS THE NORI WITH THE HERBIVORES.

what the heck IS GOJNG ON IN MY TANK? YOUD THINK I STARVE THEM!!

 

[Zionas]

That’s really lucky of you. I don’t have the confidence to try to Convict because I heard they don’t feed well and I have never seen a Polyzona for sale.

 

[md2882]

I got a Convict and a Purple Tang last week. The purple settled in immediately and took to Nori and LRS. The Convict took a little longer but he’s been eating LRS as well but won’t touch Nori. I have been giving him Romaine lettuce which he has taken to. I know tangs need vegetation to avoid HLLE but if he doesn’t take to Nori is romaine enough to prevent this? I’m not worried about him starving because LRS fattens everyone up but I want to make sure he’s getting the vitamins he needs. It’s not just Nori he won’t eat, I’ve tried spirulina, collard greens, broccoli. And everything above soaked in garlic as well.

My tangs love Nori and I’m sure my Naso would say yes, he needs nori. They like the brown too it falls apart and the other tangs scoop up the pieces. No one will touch red.