How much should I feed 2 large tangs?

[jda]

Kelp is a cold water algae along the pacific coast from Alaska to Cali. It is not from where our fish come from. Not all nori is kelp, but most of it is from cold water regions near Japan. This does not mean anything since none of our fish are from where Mysis are collected nor Silversides being an Atlantic fish. The algae that tangs eat in the wild are along the lines of Ulva type algae (I am using a generic name here) and tropical seagrasses which are usually covered in zooplankton which help them with nutrition. They eat plenty of plankton in the wild too and are not strictly herbivores while some do not eat much algae at all.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

I do not like pellet at all and do not understand why they are so popular. They sink so fast the fish cannot catch them and they just go to waste. I use PEflakes and a wide variety of frozen food from Hikari. I also put 1 or 2 Nori sheet on a clip, and it is usually gone in half a day. My rabbit fish of course loves Nori, but so do my Hyppo and my Eibli angel.
I also like the fact that they can nibble on the Nori at their leisure, instead of having just a few minutes to feed.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Pellets must depend on the fish-- I have Angels, Wrasse, Rabbitfish and Tangs that all eat them off the bottom.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Hmm maybe I should try this with my dog some time.

Maybe not the same. Like a wild active dog will eat until it cant, and go many days sometimes without food. Remember watching something somewhere like some wolves needed 45,000 calories a day during hard winters. Don't remember exactly. Something else says 3-6, 5-14 lbs meat a day, something else 12.6%. This not good for a typical home dog. Shoot for lower % and exercise if you want your dog to lose weight haha. @jda https://www.researchgate.net/figure...bution-of-species-in-the-genus_fig1_331249191 comes from all over. There is a lot more than just shown in this picture. So it would probably be found in a fishes wild habitat. They also love most anything red algae type. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteromysis tropical mysis.

 

[davidcalgary29]

There's some ripping on nori. That stuff is a great food. It's full of protein, A-C-and B vitamins. Lots of carbs that aren't fiber. Some call it vegetable matter, but it's nutritionally nothing like the vegetables we eat.

My opinion is to feed frozen or flake/pellets a couple times a day, enough that it takes them a couple minutes each time, and have some nori available.

Side note: 'blue tangs'/pacific blue/regal are mostly not algae eaters like other tangs. They are plankton eaters... so Mysis, brine, krill etc.

Okay, here's a question: my regal tang is obsessed with nori and consumes at least half of every sheet that I put out, and quickly at that. My nitrates are spiking, though, and I'd like to cut down on the daily nori sheet I put out (cut in thirds over the course of each day). Is there any harm in reducing the quantity of nori by half? The fish simply vacuum up the frozen food I feed them. There's almost no visible algae left in my tank due to their constant grazing and the steady work of the inverts.

 

[nereefpat]

Okay, here's a question: my regal tang is obsessed with nori and consumes at least half of every sheet that I put out, and quickly at that. My nitrates are spiking, though, and I'd like to cut down on the daily nori sheet I put out (cut in thirds over the course of each day). Is there any harm in reducing the quantity of nori by half? The fish simply vacuum up the frozen food I feed them. There's almost no visible algae left in my tank due to their constant grazing and the steady work of the inverts.

I think those are good thoughts, and those are mostly philosophical discussions.

I'm not saying you are doing this, but I would never recommend someone to underfeed their fish to keep nitrates down. If your tang is otherwise fat and healthy, and you want to try feeding a little less, then that's probably fine. You could also feed less nori and more frozen/pellet/flake. As I've said, regal tangs are more plankton eaters than they are algae eaters naturally.

I do have a little trouble relating to people with high nitrate issues. Mine always end up really low, I assume due to live rock and sand. Some people do have a lot more fish then I keep, or they feed way too much. How high are your nitrates? Is there something you could do, other than cut feeding, like skimming or rock or a fuge?

The other philosophical thing is, you mentioned that you don't have an algae issue. So if you don't have algae, and your tank's inhabitants aren't suffering, then it really doesn't matter much what your nitrates are, within reason. Are your values too high for certain SPS, for example?

 

[davidcalgary29]

I think those are good thoughts, and those are mostly philosophical discussions.

I'm not saying you are doing this, but I would never recommend someone to underfeed their fish to keep nitrates down. If your tang is otherwise fat and healthy, and you want to try feeding a little less, then that's probably fine. You could also feed less nori and more frozen/pellet/flake. As I've said, regal tangs are more plankton eaters than they are algae eaters naturally.

I do have a little trouble relating to people with high nitrate issues. Mine always end up really low, I assume due to live rock and sand. Some people do have a lot more fish then I keep, or they feed way too much. How high are your nitrates? Is there something you could do, other than cut feeding, like skimming or rock or a fuge?

The other philosophical thing is, you mentioned that you don't have an algae issue. So if you don't have algae, and your tank's inhabitants aren't suffering, then it really doesn't matter much what your nitrates are, within reason. Are your values too high for certain SPS, for example?

I do run a skimmer -- the RSK 900, and run GFO and carbon in a reactor, and dose NoPox, and do twice-weekly water changes of 10% each. The tank is a RSR 350, with a lot of live rock, but perhaps I've exceeded the capacity of the tank with this fish, as it's only six months old. I'll try to ramp up macro cultivation in the sump, as I've got a spare Kessil sitting around.

I can't grow any SPS (with the exception of stylocoeniella), and LPS, with the exception of a huge pagoda cup colony, has struggled. Nitrates consistently read above the maximal level of the high range checker, although it'll drop, after water changes, to around 50-60.

It shares this tank with a yellow tang, which has fattened up very nicely since I acquired it (from the same source as the regal tang), and a rotund Lamarck's angel. They're fed frozen, twice a day -- about a cube each time. I'm not terribly worried about the high numbers as long as they fish are thriving (as they appear to be). I moved all sensitive coral to other builds.

 

[nereefpat]

50-60 ppm is higher than I would like too. I would think those values would come down as the tank matures. I would guess that the young tank, corals struggling, and high nitrates are all connected.

It is a smallish tank for two tangs and the angel. It doesn't sound like you're feeding too much to me. I would bet that reducing nori probably won't make a difference.

What are your phosphate levels?

A remote deep sand bed or a sulfur denitrator might seem drastic, but those both really work. I would just give it some time though. Good luck.