Yellow and Hippo tangs will not eat Nori

[Acon]

Hi All,
I have had a yellow and hippo tang for about 6 weeks now. They seem healthy, fat, and brightly colored. But they won't touch Nori. They both eat frozen mysis/brine/seafood mixes, TDO pellets, seaweed extreme pellets, and PE pellets voraciously. The both tend to pick at live rock for algae, though I really don't have much growing to feed them. I have put Nori on a clip on the glass wall of my tank and on the live rock. they won't touch it. I have tried daily for 4 weeks (removing at night each day). I had a yellow tang in my last tank that ate Nori non-stop.

Any suggestions? Should I just give up on Nori and keep with the algae-based pellets?

Thanks.

 

[myinvalidname]

I have a yellow tang that also will not eat nori from a clip, or a rock despite weeks of trial and failure.

What I tried that did work is to soak a piece of nori is some tank water in a shot glass for a few minutes then using your fingers run the nori underwater to break it up into smaller, flake sized pieces. Once I started to do that, my tang went crazy eating it.

 

[Acon]

good idea, thanks. Plus, any residual bourbon may be a flavor enticer

 

[K7BMG]

My Kole tang and Potters Angel are the same way, in the fact that they just nibble at the clip.
My fish eat well mind you and look bright eyed, thick, and always moving.
But they prefer the moving stuff in the water column.

 

[milesbooher]

Try tieing seaweed to a rock it may be more natural for them

 

[Tamberav]

Got fish go eat it by adding a little garlic the first few times until they figure out it's delicious.

 

[ca1ore]

As long as your fish are getting a balanced diet - and it sounds like they are - I would not worry about them not eating nori. It can take a while for some tangs to get the hang of the clip, particularly if there is no fish to 'show' them how. Also, keep in mind that the hippo is commonly misunderstood. As a juvenile it is exclusively a plankton eater; as an adult it is an omnivore. Yellow, indeed all zebrasomas, tend to prefer grazing the rock.

 

[Auquanut]

Welcome to R2R!
Sounds like they're getting enough of the right things to eat, so I wouldn't stress it too much. When I was feeding nori on a clip daily, my tangs (hippo, yellow and kole) didn't show much interest. Went to twice a week and they tore it up. Now I feed nori every other day. Of course, I think my tangs would eat a rubber boot if I dropped it in the tank. Once they get the hang of it, they will probably come running when the clip goes in.