Help with tangs. New to QT’ing these guys!

[Mini Coop]

i have my first set of tangs in QT. Did tons of research before I decided what to get. I’m in love with my Naso and hoping to train my PB not to be a jerk. Lol.
I just got them Thursday. They were both eating at the stores. PB is eating fine. Nori has been gone every day but haven’t seen the Naso eat anything yet.
First video is explanation. And basically asking advice. Separate them?
Second video is how that Naso was acting last night and a couple times today. Just wondering if it’s normal.




I’ve mostly kept smaller fish and can deal with just about any disease. But getting one to eat who doesn’t want to is a huge challenge!

 

[Mini Coop]

Hopefully the videos help. I’ve got lights out for them to rest a while! Water is mixed for the 20 in case they should be separated.

 

[HotRocks]

Hopefully the videos help. I’ve got lights out for them to rest a while! Water is mixed for the 20 in case they should be separated.

Normal behavior. The Naso is seeing it's reflection. My powder brown does this even in my display after being there for 7 months.

They both look good to me. The dark mark is probably just stress coloration. Keep an eye on it.

Are they eating nori?

 

[Mini Coop]

Normal behavior. The Naso is seeing it's reflection. My powder brown does this even in my display after being there for 7 months.

They both look good to me. The dark mark is probably just stress coloration. Keep an eye on it.

Are they eating nori?

Someone is. I’ve kept it clipped int he tank and 3 sheets have been eaten over 2 days. but I have seen the Powder blue eat at it but not seen the Naso take a bite yet.

 

[User1]

Not either of your tangs but I recently introduced a Lt. Tang and he/she eats nori aggressively. Same with any other food I put in there be it frozen (brine and mysis), flake, or pellet. It was going through two sheets a day (purple and green). I've since stopped that and put in a half of sheet each.

If one is aggressive you could always divide the tank with egg crate. Also provide larger PVC maybe? Glue a couple 4" together.

 

[lion king]

What size tank, even though it is a temporary qt, large fish still need room. The 2 most common reasons I've found when a fish isn't eating, internal parasites and stress. Large fish like a naso needs space to swim, that pacing to me is reflective or too small a tank. The naso can be a rather tightly wound fish, if you could, I would put in him something like a 55g.

 

[4FordFamily]

Normal behavior. The Naso is seeing it's reflection. My powder brown does this even in my display after being there for 7 months.

They both look good to me. The dark mark is probably just stress coloration. Keep an eye on it.

Are they eating nori?

I agree. Tangs need lots of nori to graze on — my rule of thumb is enough that they can graze on it 1/2-2/3 the day without running out. If any is left after that, reduce the amount of nori fed. Remove uneaten portion as it will foul water.

They also need a variety of meaty offerings, and have higher nutritional needs— mixed frozen offerings soaked in selcon, zoecon, and/or vita chem are a good move.

 

[Mini Coop]

What size tank, even though it is a temporary qt, large fish still need room. The 2 most common reasons I've found when a fish isn't eating, internal parasites and stress. Large fish like a naso needs space to swim, that pacing to me is reflective or too small a tank. The naso can be a rather tightly wound fish, if you could, I would put in him something like a 55g.

I have them in a 40. It’s my biggest QT tank I have. I have a 20 that I could put the powder blue in but they appear to be getting along ok. I’m worried it’s stress. Is the 40 ok if he is by himself? Any tricks to getting a fish to eat after they stop other than reducing stress?

@4FordFamily - I am keeping Nori in most of the day. If I see it’s gone, or mostly gone I go ahead and put a new sheet in. Going to get a second clip so they have access at 2 points.
I’m doing rods reef frenzy mixed with mysis, fish eggs and cooepods. It’s soaked in selcon as well. Plus the nori pretty much all day. Anything else I need to add?

 

[lion king]

A 40 is ok, that was my large qt for a while. I did see a marked difference when I scored a 90g from a friend who owns a lfs for like $40. I started keeping all my fish over 4" in the 90, they seemed to adjust much better. I also started immediately with 1 of 2 rounds of prazi pro, many times I think we classify some fish as difficult eaters, when they actually had internal parasites. These days with the distribution practices and such, unless you get your fish from a source that treats for internal parasites, I would automatically treat them as if they do. Since I started this, even my so called "difficult" fish, started eating within a couple a days or so. Some cases like with my angels, I even followed up with a metro/focus mix in the food. Naso's have been difficult to acclimate for some, but you did say he was eating at the store, right. My tangs like live black worms, I don't know if this is weird or not, I've settled in some fish with those. If you are not seeing any aggression between the 2, sometimes having a tankmate can actually help. I have a few fish that struggled through qt, but really blossomed when they went into the dt ; but i would not put the naso in the 20.

 

[4FordFamily]

I have them in a 40. It’s my biggest QT tank I have. I have a 20 that I could put the powder blue in but they appear to be getting along ok. I’m worried it’s stress. Is the 40 ok if he is by himself? Any tricks to getting a fish to eat after they stop other than reducing stress?

@4FordFamily - I am keeping Nori in most of the day. If I see it’s gone, or mostly gone I go ahead and put a new sheet in. Going to get a second clip so they have access at 2 points.
I’m doing rods reef frenzy mixed with mysis, fish eggs and cooepods. It’s soaked in selcon as well. Plus the nori pretty much all day. Anything else I need to add?

Copepods are probably too small for most adult tangs to eat and probably just foul the water— anything they don’t eat, avoid offering.

As for nori, make sure uneaten nori is always removed at the end of the day as it’ll make the water very nasty overnight.

 

[lion king]

Do you have a powerhead for some flow, open swimming fish like a naso can act adversely if the water is too still. I had a angel acting weird in my 40 qt, I remember adding more flow and he seemed to settle down some.

 

[Mini Coop]

Do you have a powerhead for some flow, open swimming fish like a naso can act adversely if the water is too still. I had a angel acting weird in my 40 qt, I remember adding more flow and he seemed to settle down some.

I don’t have a powerhead in it. I have 2 airstones and a 100 gallon rated HOB on the 40 tank. Think I still need to add one? I have a small one that could add some flow.

 

[Mini Coop]

Copepods are probably too small for most adult tangs to eat and probably just foul the water— anything they don’t eat, avoid offering.

As for nori, make sure uneaten nori is always removed at the end of the day as it’ll make the water very nasty overnight.

I’ll make a new mix for them with just mysis and Rods and see if they like it better. I’ve been leaving Nori overnight as well and it’s gone in the morning, but I’ll just leave it in during the day. I’ve been keeping the lights out for a couple days to reduce stress (they are in the basement so it’s pretty dark). I even put a towel over the one end of the tank to reduce reflection on one side so they can rest. I have an LED on the coral QT tank. I was going to start leaving that on for a little ambient light today.

 

[Mini Coop]

A 40 is ok, that was my large qt for a while. I did see a marked difference when I scored a 90g from a friend who owns a lfs for like $40. I started keeping all my fish over 4" in the 90, they seemed to adjust much better. I also started immediately with 1 of 2 rounds of prazi pro, many times I think we classify some fish as difficult eaters, when they actually had internal parasites. These days with the distribution practices and such, unless you get your fish from a source that treats for internal parasites, I would automatically treat them as if they do. Since I started this, even my so called "difficult" fish, started eating within a couple a days or so. Some cases like with my angels, I even followed up with a metro/focus mix in the food. Naso's have been difficult to acclimate for some, but you did say he was eating at the store, right. My tangs like live black worms, I don't know if this is weird or not, I've settled in some fish with those. If you are not seeing any aggression between the 2, sometimes having a tankmate can actually help. I have a few fish that struggled through qt, but really blossomed when they went into the dt ; but i would not put the naso in the 20.

I’ll keep a good eye on them. But yeah-the Naso is a lot bigger than I had planned on getting, but I wanted a male with streamers and he already started with them. So I couldn’t resist. Hopefully he will settle in. I’m planning on getting a couple of larger PVC pies to put in he can hide in them.

 

[4FordFamily]

I’ll make a new mix for them with just mysis and Rods and see if they like it better. I’ve been leaving Nori overnight as well and it’s gone in the morning, but I’ll just leave it in during the day. I’ve been keeping the lights out for a couple days to reduce stress (they are in the basement so it’s pretty dark). I even put a towel over the one end of the tank to reduce reflection on one side so they can rest. I have an LED on the coral QT tank. I was going to start leaving that on for a little ambient light today.

The nori is gone overnight because it breaks apart and falls off the clip most likely.

 

[Mini Coop]

The nori is gone overnight because it breaks apart and falls off the clip most likely.

I haven’t seen it floating around in the AM. But I’ll keep my eye on it and just feed during the day.

 

[HotRocks]

I haven’t seen it floating around in the AM. But I’ll keep my eye on it and just feed during the day.

I would definitely add a powerhead especially once you begin medications. You will want it for oxygenation of the water. Plus the fish will be much happier with flow.

 

[lion king]

I don’t have a powerhead in it. I have 2 airstones and a 100 gallon rated HOB on the 40 tank. Think I still need to add one? I have a small one that could add some flow.

Yeah fish like these, I don't think we could give them "too" much flow, imagine the ocean.

 

[Mini Coop]

I would definitely add a powerhead especially once you begin medications. You will want it for oxygenation of the water. Plus the fish will be much happier with flow.

Oxygen is why I have the two airstones going but I’ll add the powerhead today too!

 

[HotRocks]

Oxygen is why I have the two airstones going but I’ll add the powerhead today too!

Airstones are helpful as well. The powerhead is much more beneficial for oxygenation than airstones.

I used both!