Yellow Tang HELP?

[lunchie]

To make a long story short a friend thought they were doing us a favor and got us a yellow tang...unfortunately I don't think we were ready for it...Our tank has been up for 8 weeks now. It is stable and everything is running smoothly. Unfortunately, I have no idea what to feed the yellow tang. I went to the LFS and they said don't worry about it he will eat algae from your tank. However, I find it hard to believe he can live off of just that not to mention we don't have many algae blooms because the tank is so new. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated. I don't want the guy to starve...

Thanks

 

[gobie]

sea veggies, prime reef,any thing but lettuice

 

[Ed Hahn]

Lunchie,
If you go to a Asian Market or Your local Grocery Store, look in the oriental food section for Nori. Nori is sheets of dried seaweed. Your tang will love you for it. I hope this helps.
Ed

 

[lunchie]

Thanks...I was going to do the lettuce, why is lettuce not good??? Also, what is sea veggies and prime reef?

 

[Nashon]

Lettuce has no nutritional value. I feed mine a 50/50 mix of nori and fresh spinach. They like to graze so leave it in the tank for 24 hours and take out anything thats left then replace with fresh nori. This works great for me.

 

[Frankie]

Sorry but I feel you will do better by bringing that fish to someone who has an established aquarium. Yellows are not good fish to start with IMO and 8 weeks is not long enough. Im sorry for that fish since you can't bring it to the lfs,(bad addvice you got from there) good luck!

 

[spongebob lover]

Hello lunchie !!
I used to have one yellow tang he was very beautiful.
Unfortunately he died of ich.
What you can do is feed him formula 2, if he doesn't take it buy him live ulva and put it in your tank, mine used to eat that one too and some kind of red hair that i have on my rocks.
Here is a link, so you can learn a little bit more about your yellow tang:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ytangfdgfaqs.htm

I hope your tang does good

 

[lunchie]

I really appreciate everyone's input and so you know FFrankie I would never have bought this fish it was bought for us without our prior knowledge or consent and now I am going to do everything I can to keep him healthy and alive! I don't know anyone to take him and I definately do not trust the LFS. So I hope I can keep him alive...thank you all again and I will let you know how it goes...

 

[gobie]

here is a lil info for ick and other parasites. when they become present in my pacific blue i feed him slivers of fresh garlic. there is a garlic suplement that you soak food in and you feed your fish but decided what a waste it rinses backout of the food as soon as it hits the tank water so it really becomes pointless. so why not use a sliver of garlic. it seems to work.

 

[BCT182]

Yellows are not good fish to start with IMO and 8 weeks is not long enough.

No fish is fun to have in a tank that is still trying to cycle as it may die, especially a $20 fish like a yellow tang. Once the tank is stable, a yellow tang is an excellent fish to start with. They are active, eat almost anything, and very hearty. Just my opinion.
Brett

 

[Ohgee]

No fish is fun to have in a tank that is still trying to cycle as it may die, especially a $20 fish like a yellow tang. Once the tank is stable, a yellow tang is an excellent fish to start with. They are active, eat almost anything, and very hearty. Just my opinion.
Brett

I have to agree completely, before I knew any better I got a Yellow tang as one of my first fish, It is still alive and doing very very well. If you have no algee growing in your tank then the cheapest way I found to feed is with "Seaweed Selects" that I have found from most any LFS, My Yellow loves the green better than the brown.

GL and be patient

 

[spongebob lover]

About the ick, you can do a fresh water deep too , but if you do that, you gotta make sure he's not stress. I also heard that cleaner shrimps help alot.
and like ohgee says.. be patient, but make sure he swims around.

 

[lunchie]

Thank you Thank you Thank you

Just wanted to give you all an update and let you know that our Yellow Tang (Cooper, we named him) is doing well. He is eating quite well. He doesn't care for the Nori yet but goes crazy when we give him Seaweed Selects. I am going to try some frozen brine now and also thinking of getting some Formula 2 for him. Anyhow, hopefully he will continue to do well. He is still a little shy but each day he gets better. THANKS AGAIN

 

[MikeS]

Yellow Tangs will eat lots of different things, but to keep him long term, he needs primarily a vegetarian diet. You've got him to eat Seaweed selects, that's good, but continue to offer up a variety of greens. Fresh greens can be offered too. As noted above, lettuce doesn't have a lot of nutritional value, but there are others, like fresh spinach, even green beans. You can hang a leaf or two in the tank to give the tang something to munch on between feedings. I like to use organic spinach, but rinse any fresh greens off really good before putting it in the tank, and remove the uneaten portion within a day or so, don't let it rot in the tank.

As noted above, Yellow Tangs can be somewhat susceptible to the ick...keep an eye on him for that. Other than the ick and the somewhat specific diet, YT's are a pretty hardy fish. My last one lived for over a decade, and I have no idea how old it was when I got it....

Good luck with the tang...

MikeS

 

[fishermann]

With a tank only 8 weeks old you have to be careful not to raise the ammonia and nitrite levels yet even though the tank has cycled. Be really careful feeding formula 2, It is a good food but breaks up into tiny pieces in the water and can pollute your tank very easy. I would not leave food in the tank over about 15 minutes at a time with such a new tank. You can feed him 2 or 3 times a day for short periods. Really try to keep the feedings small so that most of the food fed the fish gets and it doesn't go into the tank uneaten. The surest way to have him get ich is to have the water parims get out of wack and it doesn't take but a very little spike in ammon. or nitrites for stress. Your fish well always act like he is starving, something like a dog so resist the temptation to over feed. If his belly is full looking then he is being fed plenty.

 

[MikeS]

On the Formula2....you can place a thawed piece of it in a coffee filter and rinse it...this helps rinse away some of the gel binders and other stuff that are full of bad nutrients, this will help keep your water quality a bit higher and lessen the potential for algae blooms.

MikeS

 

[spongebob lover]

i agree with MikeS and John becareful with the food and don't feed to much even though its kind of tempting, but ya let him just pick stuff from your rocks and if you feel like you want him to eat a little bit more just buy live ulva and put it on your rocks, they like this green.
About giving him lettuce or any other kind of vegetable i would try not to because that's human food not fish food so it doesn't really help fish.
I'm glad your fish is doing good, just keep an eye on him for the ick you really don't wanna get that.

 

[MikeS]

About giving him lettuce or any other kind of vegetable i would try not to because that's human food not fish food so it doesn't really help fish.

But we humans wrap sushi in kelp, which is a macroalgae... Algaes tend to have a nice high nutrient content, but rarely will you have a tank that produces enough algae to totally fulfill the tang's dietary needs. Supplimentation becomes necessary...that's where your commercial foods like Sea Veggies come in. These commercial vegetarian foods have many ingredients that are not normally in the tangs diet, like salmon, wheat flour, yeast, ect...the list goes on.

I'm defiantely not saying that a tang can survive long term on a diet of produce intended for humans. However, some of the higher nutrient ones like fresh spinach can provide some supplimentation between feedings and in addition to the available algae in the tank. I have supplimented Yellow Tangs for years and years in my tanks with these types of things, and based on my observations, it does seem to help.

Kelp or Nori are a more ideal grazing supplimentation...but depending on where you live, you may or may not be able to find it. I live in Wyoming, I see that kind of thing in the stores only very occasionally, so it's not something I can rely upon.

MikeS

 

[spongebob lover]

hmmm sushi, i love sushi .
I hear what you say about the veggies and ya for some people is hard to get the nori, but you can feed formula 2, live ulva, gracilaria and something that's called tang heaven it doesn't have to be nori only.
Now about feeding the tang lettuce i have heard that it's not really a good idea and when i used to have a tang people stoped me from buying the lettuce or any other kind of vegetable, some people told me it was good some told me it was bad that's why i said that, but hey if it works for you it works

 

[gobie]

feeding a tang or other herbavore lettuice or other unnatural green it like feeding goldfish to a puffer fish, it is just poor practice of husbandry. i would like to thing that in purchasing a fish a hobbiest would want to give the fish every benifit at living rather than a substandard means of survival. feeding foods natural to each species is just good sense rather than giving them garbage, it is harder to digest thus making it harder on their system. it really is not that hard to get a fish its proper diet now with the internet you can even get fresh foods from the right vendors with little to no difficulty at all. if properly cared for a fish can last quite a long time in captivity.