Kole tang only eats nori

[mtgmichaelg]

So I had an established atlantic doctorfish in my tank before adding a juvenile yellow tang and medium sized kole tang. Long story short, the kole tang got beat up and the doctor fish is in the frag tank. This happened about 2.5 weeks ago. Now the kole tang has ptsd and refuses to come out of the shadows when I am near the tank. I have seen him pick at the nori that I leave on a clip and let sink down to the sandbed where he hids. He is nearly fully recovered from getting beat up and is not skinny. However, I would like for it to eat other foods. So my question is whether it is healthy for the kole tang to be eating only nori and how should i transition him off of only nori. Thanks!

 

[EmdeReef]

It is fine for them to eat only nori. You could try some sinking algae wafers. I recently picked a bag after someone on here posted their kole would pick on and qll 3 of my tangs love it more than nori.

 

[JumboShrimp]

My Kole Tang eats Nori, but also pellets, flake, and frozen food. Do you have other ‘good eaters’ in your tank, because I think for my Kole it was in large part, “Monkey-See, Monkey-Do” when it came to trying new things.

 

[ca1ore]

Bristles are slime and film algae eaters mainly, so a supply of live rock is important. That it eats norimis good - most of mine don’t. Just keep offering variety and at some point it’ll take other stuff.

 

[mtgmichaelg]

My Kole Tang eats Nori, but also pellets, flake, and frozen food. Do you have other ‘good eaters’ in your tank, because I think for my Kole it was in large part, “Monkey-See, Monkey-Do” when it came to trying new things.

I do all the other fish go crazy when I feed frozen. That being said I think it only scares the kole tang more.

 

[mtgmichaelg]

Bristles are slime and film algae eaters mainly, so a supply of live rock is important. That it eats norimis good - most of mine don’t. Just keep offering variety and at some point it’ll take other stuff.

Yea I see the kole pick at the rocks pretty often so hopefully between that and the nori it will be enough to sustain it until it gets accustomed to the tank.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Maybe try feeding from both ends of the tank with the flow turned off, and the Kole Tang might have more of a private dining area. (LOL)

 

[Jesterrace]

So I had an established atlantic doctorfish in my tank before adding a juvenile yellow tang and medium sized kole tang. Long story short, the kole tang got beat up and the doctor fish is in the frag tank. This happened about 2.5 weeks ago. Now the kole tang has ptsd and refuses to come out of the shadows when I am near the tank. I have seen him pick at the nori that I leave on a clip and let sink down to the sandbed where he hids. He is nearly fully recovered from getting beat up and is not skinny. However, I would like for it to eat other foods. So my question is whether it is healthy for the kole tang to be eating only nori and how should i transition him off of only nori. Thanks!

I assume you mean an atlantic tang? Tangs are technically herbivores, so it can make it on a nori diet, but it may take some time for it to get confident enough to come back out. What size is your tank?

 

[mtgmichaelg]

I assume you mean an atlantic tang? Tangs are technically herbivores, so it can make it on a nori diet, but it may take some time for it to get confident enough to come back out. What size is your tank?

It is a 150 gallon. Yes that is what I meant.

 

[mtgmichaelg]

The kole tang has been getting more confident and I have noticed bite marks on the glass where it grazes on algae. That means that it is coming out, just not when I am in the room. It is also starting to pick at frozen mysis that comes near where it hides out. Hopefully it continues to gain confidence because it would kinda suck to have a fish who just likes to hide.

 

[laverda]

As mentioned tangs are herbivores. As such they should be feed algae or seaweed daily. Feeding them frozen food is like feeding a child candy. Most love it, but it is not the best thing for them to be eating.

 

[mtgmichaelg]

As mentioned tangs are herbivores. As such they should be feed algae or seaweed daily. Feeding them frozen food is like feeding a child candy. Most love it, but it is not the best thing for them to be eating.

Yes I feed other foods like spirulina flakes and PE pellets using an auto feeder. It is just that I personally feed frozen so that when I see the fish eat.

 

[Jesterrace]

When I had my Yellow Tang (and now my Foxface, which is also supposed to be an herbivore), I did two small feedings of frozen LRS Reef Frenzy (a mix of meats and greens) per day plus a small seaweed/nori feeding daily. This seems to keep both sustained.

 

[A sea K]

I assume you mean an atlantic tang? Tangs are technically herbivores, so it can make it on a nori diet, but it may take some time for it to get confident enough to come back out. What size is your tank?

There is an Atlantic Surgeonfish that is not your typical Atlantic Blue tang. They are truly beautiful fish and not often seen in the LFS of my area and I live in FL.

 

[Bradley Keck]

I have heard and have been experiencing this as well, that Kole tangs can be rather shy and timid. My Kole tang(Frankie) never got beat up, in fact she was the 2nd fish in my 150g right after a midas blenny. She has always been shy when I am around, but step out of the room and peak around the corner, and she is out munching on the rock. Frankie is the only tang in my tank and shares the 150g with three wrasse, the blenny, and a diamond goby. I have had her for 11 weeks now and still the same way. If I stay still she will come out and swim around, but then will dart back into her cave for really no reason. Always hides when I first walk in the room. She loves frozen mysis, Nori soaked in selcon, and Hikari seaweed extreme soaked in garlic and selcon. I had a hard time getting her to eat for the first week that I had her, but she gradually figured it out. Make sure your Kole tang gets plenty of opportunity to eat by getting the others fed and then drop some right by where your Kole tang hides. I'm sure it will start taking a liking to the mysis more, but Nori is excellent for them, so yours is doing just fine.

 

[4FordFamily]

Nori is perhaps the most important staple of a tang’s diet. I think it’ll transition in time. Live bribe and blackworms may prove irresistible to it and be a great gateway in to frozen.

 

[mtgmichaelg]

There is an Atlantic Surgeonfish that is not your typical Atlantic Blue tang. They are truly beautiful fish and not often seen in the LFS of my area and I live in FL.

They are pretty cool. They can change color very quickly as well it is pretty neat to see.

 

[A sea K]

Simply Gorgeous!!! I was really impressed the first time I saw one of these, they truly are beautiful. Kudos to you and thanks for posting the pic.

 

[User1]

Has everyone already said - Nori is perfectly fine. Both purple and green or the stuff one would order/buy in a store that has no flavor or other additives. A good tip to have with Koles is to leave a glass pane dirty. Don't clean it at all so obviously a side or back that you don't care about. This way algae will grow on it and the tang will have a natural go-to source for algae. Of course this goes out the window if you have other grazers but has already noted tangs in general, especially bristletooh, will always graze just like a cow you see in the field.

Great fish btw.

 

[JumboShrimp]

This stuff is amazing— 1/2 the price for 10 times the amount of what I was buying at my LFS. My Foxface, Kole Tang, V. Puffer, and Banner Fish attack it off the clip. ;Joyful