Tangs eating coral?

[Monkeytank]

I saw my Desjardini tang take a solid bite out of an acan. I moved my acans to another tank.

 

[renato120]

I already had two blue hippo that ate acans! Not talking about nipping. They took chunks out of it. For me blue hippo tangs are not 100% reef safe.

 

[hunnydu2]

Oh yes..tangs can and WILL eat coral..or at least tick it off enough to kill it. I have banished many to my fish only tank after finding them starting to pick at my LPS.....welso and acanthophyllia being the tastiest apparently ..and not the plain green ones..they love the taste of the most prized pieces!. Just recently banished my desjardini sailfin. Before that it was a hippo, magnificent fox face, purple tang..took a long time to figure out what the issue was because you never see them do it..when they see you they want real food. But when you aren't looking they are slowly killing things leaving you to wonder about flow and lights and every other dam thing that could go wrong. Oh ya..this is a touchy subject for me..LOL

 

[nhat]

my yellow eye kole nipped my mystic monti when i forgot to feed him

 

[AJQ69]

I had a Blue Hippo that after two years of being a well decent citizen went bizarre and killed two welsos and out of the tank that fish went.

 

[Dingo]

Oh yes, had a powder blue eat growth tips off of millepora before. But only green ones... he may have thought it was algae.
He was temperamental so maybe the coral grew too fast for him.

Anyways, I've kept pbt after the fact and they didn't eat acros so must have been a one off thing.

 

[dontpbg]

I had a blue tang develop a taste for all my high end polyps after about 3 years. One day I put some on the frag rack and the next thing I know they are on the sand bed. I put them back on the rack and the saw the tang take a bite.

 

[djreef]

When organisms feed outside of their normal patters that often indicates some sort of dietary deficiency. Try getting your hands on some live macro algaes (Caulerpa, Codium, Gracillaria) and feed liberally and see if that helps.

DJ

 

[flyfisherman]

My yellow tang destroyed a patch of darth mauls i had. Brutal.

 

[flyfisherman]

Yet Ive never had a problem with an Emperor...

 

[vetteguy53081]

As suspected after this aritcle, I have a Lavender who I have been trying to evict for months going after my Zoas. I have gone through $300-400 of zoas due to this jerk, and I have to eliminate him as he is also a very unwelcoming Bully who has killed a kole and other fish in my system

 

[Robs Reef]

My Blue Regal ate the tips of my sps, especially my fox flame. Had him for over 2 yrs before he started doing so. So I sold him

 

[firemedix911]

Like someone already said. Hippos are the likeliest to try coral. I had not 1 but 2 of them that had affinity for LPSs. Had to get them out. So
It's not crazy to imagine another type of tang taking to coral. Bad luck I guess.

 

[Robs Reef]

 

[4FordFamily]

When organisms feed outside of their normal patters that often indicates some sort of dietary deficiency. Try getting your hands on some live macro algaes (Caulerpa, Codium, Gracillaria) and feed liberally and see if that helps.

DJ

I agree - tangs that eat coral are most likely not getting proper nutrition. In all honesty, those of you that have had these issues, how many of you offered daily nori, and varied frozen foods soaked in selcon?

Nori particularly. I'm just curious. If you feed flakes and pellets you are more likely to have issues, IMO

 

[Robs Reef]

I agree - tangs that eat coral are most likely not getting proper nutrition. In all honesty, those of you that have had these issues, how many of you offered daily nori, and varied frozen foods soaked in selcon?

Nori particularly. I'm just curious. If you feed flakes and pellets you are more likely to have issues, IMO

Dont agree with this, feed my fish the best food around. And are all fat. Still my regal ate sps. Tang eating sps is not very common

 

[4FordFamily]

Dont agree with this, feed my fish the best food around. And are all fat. Still my regal ate sps. Tang eating sps is not very common

Not saying it's the only factor, curious how much of a factor it is. Not saying anyone specifically had this as an issue, but the point that fish with nutritional deficiencies may strange things reigns true throughout the animal kingdom.

 

[jml1149]

Hah, I have the same Tomini Tang, and i just noticed a branch on my Hawkins Echinata looks a bit shorter than normal...

 

[Lockyn]

Have a Tomini that ate all my zoas and an entire acan

 

[rmiles54]

Oh yes, had a powder blue eat growth tips off of millepora before. But only green ones... he may have thought it was algae.
He was temperamental so maybe the coral grew too fast for him.

Anyways, I've kept pbt after the fact and they didn't eat acros so must have been a one off thing.

Crazy..I have a powder blue that chews on a neon green nepthia... he noticeably bites the tips off. Not enough damage to kill the coral yet. It's about a 7" piece. I have witnessed him doing it. Lives with a Naso & sailfin. All at least 5" in size. I feed heavy pellets, mysis, and nori daily. A lot of zoas, acans, torches, brains, and a few sps. All go untouched. Everyone I have spoke with and all the research I've done is as previously mentioned. Once a coral eater always a coral eater. May have to relocate or replace, I chose to keep my fish. A lot of personality. Good luck