enticing tangs to eat

[parrotchute]

Any advice on enticing a tang to eat algae off of a clip? I have one who pigs out on food on food on a clip but the other (tomini tag) avoids it. He eats food I feed just fine,and I'm not worried since he's putting on weight - I'd just like it if he'd show some interest too, so I can ensure he gets a balanced diet.

 

[Solarfall]

Have you tried different types of algae sheets?
My tangs always went nuts over the purple stuff, some didn't like the plain green though.

 

[parrotchute]

I just bought some red...maybe he'll go for it!

 

[Smitty]

Get the algae sheets with the garlic in it...garlic entices finicky fish to eat their food.

 

[Bifferwine]

Try rubberbanding the sheet to a rock. The clip may look to "unnatural" to the fish.

 

[parrotchute]

I'll try both of those things, thanks!
The convict tang is ridiculous, he gets all excited when I even go near the clip and attacks it as soon as it gets in the water.

 

[DAvis]

My hippo sometime rips the seaweed (nori) out of my hands before I can clip it! But in the beginning, I would soak it in garlic (gvh) and he was cautious. In a few days, he got over his 'fear of clips' and would immediately attack.

Perhaps, the tomini is not fond of the aggressive chowing of the convict though.
Good luck!

 

[parrotchute]

Thanks Davis - yeah, I would think he might not be, but the convict is less than 1/3 the size of the tomini and otherwise doesn't intimidate him...
I was hoping he'd watch the convict and catch on!

 

[little_fish]

I would still try putting the algae sheets in a couple of spots

 

[wontonflip]

+1 biff -- rubberband on a rock worked for me when training my foxface. Then I gradually moved it to a clip that I placed down on the sand bed, and eventually moving it up slowly. Now he eats algae clips from my hands.

Just watch out though...all your cuc will find the algae rock in no time ;)

 

[parrotchute]

Purple/red algae worked! Guess the tomini is fussy! He's now bristling a little at the convict tang to get his share of the clip.

Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be adding a magnificent foxface - it will be interesting to see the competition.

 

[DAvis]

Awesome! Good job parrot!

 

[bazza1979]

my regal tang is a bit like that too he loves the purple algae but wont touch the green but took a little while for him to take it i found keeping it away from any direct flow helped and about mid water with a clip and stuck it on back of the tank !!!

 

[Northstar24]

I have had good success in rotating the different colors of algae sheets, so that all the tangs can get what they need (green, red/purple, and brown) For some reason the red isn't very popular with my tangs other than the naso, but I still rotrate it through

 

[Smitty]

Glad to hear he's eating it.