tang not eating

[CD]

The Powder Brown has a reputation for being delicate/hard to acclimate/a finicky eater. Keep on trying mysis for variety, but mostly veggies for this fish...Nori, live macro (gracelaria w/b a nice start), and *especially* Spirulina. Pellets are OK - Dainichi Marine makes a wonderful pellet for veggie eaters called "Reef Veggie FX".

DO NOT feed these fish land oriented veggies like lettuce or spinich. IOW, if it didn't grow in salt water, don't feed it to them!! Why, you ask? Spinich contains oxalic acid which can cause crystals to form in the fish's kidneys (very BAD), and lettuce can and will clog the digestive tract in marine fish. If you don't believe me, ask Bob Fenner or Calfo.

As far as the PB not eating the Nori yet - with our tangs I found that sometimes it takes another fish that is used to eating "veggies on a clip" to show them how good it is. It may take a little while if there is no other fish to show him "the ropes". You can also try rubberbanding the Nori to a rock and putting it on the sand bed...this will usually help, as this is a more natural way for the fish to eat (picking algae off of rocks).

W.

[CD]

what is live nacro and how do you use it

I actually called it "macro", and that is short for macroalgae...there are lots of different kinds and uses - Gracilaria (or Ogo - as its called in Hawaii) is a good food source for herbivorous fish (like your tang). ZenReef sells it (see our sponsor list), and I believe FinAddict keeps it in stock frequently. There are other kinds that your fish will eat also, but you'll have to experiment to see which one it likes best. Chaeto is another type of macro that is great for usage in a refugium or even somewhere in your display (if you don't have a 'fuge)...almost all macro can be used in this way as a biological filter - IOW, as it grows, it sucks up excess phosphates and nitrates from your water.

W.

[CD]

got home tonight, powder brown out and swimming, even ate some myses ,I think hes ok just a little shy and shock from being trasfered, i'm still going to check out the macro you told me about, im sure its very good for the fish

Great! Glad he/she ate something ;)

Yeah, definitely try out the Gracilaria...there is a good chance that your fish will love it (I've had a couple of tangs that *chowed* on that stuff). Worst case scenerio, if the PB doesn't like it, you can use it to help keep your water cleaner - you never said if you have a refugium or not, but if you do, Gracilaria likes more light than most algaes to grow. If you don't have a refugium, you may want to look into getting one - even a small hang on will be better than nothing...if you are not familiar with refugiums, do a Google search under "marine refusium", and you will get tons of information on them. OR, you could either buy or borrow a book called "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner - LOTs of infomation that will be really helpful to you.

Oh, and do try rubberbanding some of that dried Nori you mentioned to a rock in lieu of using the clip...your fish just may not be used to a plastic clip yet, and will be a lot more prone to eating it if it's hanging off a rock.

Lastly, don't forget about the Spirulina - this is very healthy algae for tangs, and IMO a must to have in any tang diet. For ease of feeding, you can buy it in the frozen cubes (s/b very dark green - you may want to chop the cube up a bit for feeding). ALL of my tangs LOVE this stuff!! ;)

W.

[CD]

The macro needs to be kept in the tank, and will need light to grow. Since you don't have a refugium, you can get one of those fry nets (mainly used in FW tanks to keep baby fish in to keep the mom fish from eating them)...they hang on the side of the aquarium at the top. They're cheap, and they work ;) You can even cut tiny holes in the netting to allow the macro to grow out of the container - this works well, as anything growing outside the container can be eaten by the fish in your display.

W.