Regal Blue Tang

[MATT_H]

I purchased a large mature Blue regal Thursday of last week. It was shy and is now becoming more social. However, I never really see it eating. I feed brine for my other fish (docile fish) every other day and supplement with sheet algea on the days I don't feed brine. The tang isn't showing any signs of white spot or any other parasitic infections, so he appears healthy. It is approx 5" long. I need some suggestions on getting it to feed.

[DeletedAccount]

Do you ever see it picking at the walls, LR, or sand?

[StephenA]

Get several kinds of nori and rubberband it to a rock. If you can get your hands on some macro algea put some of that around the tank. Don't clean the crud off of the glass either. Like Misti said, he should be picking at everything. Try to stay away from the tank. Don't make any sudden moves toward the tank.

[Tim Marvin]

4 days isn't that long. Does it look skinny? If it isn't skinny it is eating when you aren't watching. Sometimes they take a week before they are noticably eating. They may also hide from you for months. Mine took a couple months before it really got settled in.

[MATT_H]

He doesn't look too skinny. What is Nori? I am using seaweed selects for the other tangs as well as a variety of other fish and they love it. Tim, you are right, he does hide a lot. Sometimes if I sit motionlessly by the tank he will come out and mingle with other fish or the cleaner shrimp.

[StephenA]

Nori is seaweed. You can buy it at HEB for $2.00. Seaweed selects is a fancy name and reason to charge to too much.

[alton]

Mine eats Mysis Shrimp and LifeLine soaked in Garlic Extreme and Zoecon. I wish I could get him to slow down he acts like a garbage disposal. I did have a juv. Chrysurus that took three weeks to eat and I had him for a year until I sold him. Good Luck

[Polkster13]

You can also get it at Whole Foods and most of the Oriental Grocery stores.

[jaded]

Be warned... the nori at HEB is roasted... some would say don't use "prepared" Nori

I have no opinion either way since my fish ignore Nori completely

[StephenA]

I use the roasted and non-roasted types. The main thing to look at is the ingredients. It should just say SEAWEED, some add salt and oils.

[CD]

I feed brine for my other fish (docile fish) every other day and supplement with sheet algea on the days I don't feed brine.


Sometimes I feel like a broken record on this issue, but brine shrimp has almost no nutritional value - mysis is MUCH better. I prefer the Piscine Energetics brand of mysis, but I'm sure any brand is better than brine shrimp (unless you are gut packing live brine). Here's some stats, and you can read and compare with the brand you are using:

**P.E. Mysis - Crude Protein....69.5%
Crude Fat.........8.35%
Crude Fiber......2.75%
Max. Ash..........5.5%
**San Francisco Bay Brine - Crude Protein....5.8%
Crude Fat..........0.6%
Crude Fiber.......0.25%
Moisture............92.%


Also, IMO, I don't feel that feeding your fish once every other day is sufficient. Smaller amounts two times a day works best for my fish...this would be closer to how they would feed in the wild, as fish will usually snack all day long (every day) in the ocean. As far as your Regal tang is concerned, give it some time to adjust to it's new surroundings. They are very shy creatures. If you still haven't noticed it eating what you offer within a week to 10 days, try some gut packed live brine shrimp to illicit a feeding response.
Oh...on the Nori, if you are in Austin, Hong Kong Supermarket, Inc. on 8557 Research Blvd. sells a HUGE pkg. of Nori for $5. bucks.

Just out of curiosity, what size tank do you have, and what are the other (fish) inhabitants?

Wendy

[Thunderkat]

My clown fish and cleaner wrasse refuse to eat mysis. They eat brine shrimp though so in that case brine shrimp are better for them :)

[CD]

My clown fish and cleaner wrasse refuse to eat mysis. They eat brine shrimp though so in that case brine shrimp are better for them


Please don't take offense, but that's like saying all your kids will eat is candy, so it must be good for them. :roll I'd be willing to bet if they were denied the brine for a day or two, they would eat the mysis. I don't own a cleaner wrasse, but my clownfish loves mysis. Look at the difference in the protein content! ;) It may take some effort on your part to get them to eat the mysis, but they will be MUCH healthier.

Wendy

[Reef69]

IMo..I would never buy a cleaner wrasse, but Wendy is right..if you feed one thing alone, your fish will suffer a looong starvation..they need their vitamins and all... ^_^

[MATT_H]

My tank is a 125 display with a 50gallon xenia refugium and a 20 gallon calurpa/mangrove refugium. All tanks are plumbed together. I have tons of mysis in all tanks. When I run a flashlight across the display at night, they scatter--looks like the sand and rocks are moving. Don't you think they would supplement their diet with the real thing versus frozen mysis?? And on the days that I'm not feeding brine they have a constant supply of dried seaweed.

[CD]

Yep...Thanks, Diego!

Our fishies get a decent array of foods: mysis, formula II frozen, spirilina, squid, mussels, brine, pellets, cyclopeeze, and some flake. Not to mention the live amphipods and mysis they have availb. to them in the tank. We humans have to have a varied diet to stay healthy...your fish are the same way. ;)

Wendy

[Reef69]

I mix my own special cube. its funny because, i had a fish with ick a looong time ago, so i stared reading the nutritional facts of a lot of frozen foods. I came up with a bomb for fish's inmune system, that fisyh cleared up in no time,he's one of my hippos, its worked so far, not a single sick fish in over a year, they are fat and happy and i believe its because of the food i give them.

[CD]

I have tons of mysis in all tanks


That's really wonderful! However (and take my word on this) you will be surprized how quickly a larger Regal can wipe out your 'pod population. That's probably what he/she is eating now, but it would still be a good idea to continue to try and get it to eat frozen...there are other things besides the mysis that you can get in frozen form that will benefit the Regal's health (see my list). ;)

Wendy

OH...BTW...what other fish do you have in your tank?

[MATT_H]

I have 1 purple, 1 yellow tang, 1 blue damsel, 1 four stripe, 1 domino, 1 gold stripe maroon and now 1 regal blue. Pretty sparse for such a large system. I have never been as big a fan of fish as opposed to corals.

[Jenn]

Like Tim said, I think he may just take some time to settle in. I have 3 regals and 2 of them took a few weeks to feel comfortable.
I use the RAW Nori sheets and provide them with an almost constant supply to nibble on. HTH. :D

Jenn