powder blue eating enough?

specialk · May 18, 2015

Hey all ..

So I just picked up a powder blue tang .. currently have it in QT and am feeding it, AND it IS eating, frozen mysis that I soak in selcon for about 2-3 hours prior to, and then also it is eating seaweed sheets that I also attach to a rock. So this is good news obviously that he is eating ..

I am trying to fatten him up though as he was on the skinnier side, so my question is .. is the mysis WITH the selcon and the seaweed enough to start putting some weight on him or should I know try to move on to some other stuff and try a different type food?

I tried flakes, pellets and he did not touch those .. so I am hoping that what he is eating now will be good enough.

I also am not sure, and hoping some of you may be able to answer this, but when I soak the frozen mysis in the selcon, and then put them in the tank, doesn't a lot of that selcon just "wash off" the mysis once it gets into the tank water? Or no will it still be good to go and really give him the nutritional components that selcon offers?

Thanks all!!

Fishguy597 · May 18, 2015

I think the food is absorbing it. I'll thaw a cube with selcon, vitachem, and seachem products. I'll let it thaw for 15 min then feed a little bit. Then every time I walk by the tank I'll feed a little bit. I think the key is feeding small portions often. These fish have a high metabolism and need food frequently.

I think if you are soaking the food for a few hours it's saturated and fine. I'm sure some gets washed off but they are still ingesting whatever you may be soaking your food in.

Something you may want to remember is for the most part this fish is a herbivore. So I try to feed more algea sheets and things like spirulina brine. From what I have read it takes more to digest the algea then the meaty foods and keeps them full longer. But I still try to feed as many different foods as possible mainly because of all the different fish I keep.

Fishguy597 · May 18, 2015

Btw I love your name that's part of my Xbox live name lol.

footballdude2k3 · May 18, 2015

You should be good to go. If it stops eating, that's when you're in trouble.

redfishbluefish · May 18, 2015

First off, I think you're doing just fine.

What's important with tangs is that they get algae every day as part of their diet. Suppliment the algae with something meaty, whether it is a quality flake, pellet or one of many different frozen options. What I do is vary flakes, pellets and frozen foods along with the daily algae clip. My tangs are fat and happy.

4FordFamily · May 18, 2015

I agree, you're in good shape. My powder blues (small) from live aquaria have been coming in very thin and not eating. In the past, many of them ate same day! Not sure what's going on. Hoping for better luck this time around.

Anyway, keep up the good work. 80% of his diet should be nori or other vegetable matter.

specialk · May 19, 2015

redfishbluefish said:
First off, I think you're doing just fine.

What's important with tangs is that they get algae every day as part of their diet. Suppliment the algae with something meaty, whether it is a quality flake, pellet or one of many different frozen options. What I do is vary flakes, pellets and frozen foods along with the daily algae clip. My tangs are fat and happy.

Thanks! Yah I did try flakes, of which he did not eat. I also tried pellets and he did not go for those as well. I also tried larrys reef frenzy and he did not touch that either. I am trying to try different foods and see what he likes but I also don;t want to pollute the tank by loading it up with all sorts of fish food in hopes he will eat one of them.

And when I do try the different foods, I always mix them into the mysis and feed at the same time since he is used to those mysis triggering his "feeding time"

specialk · May 19, 2015

3fordfamily said:
I agree, you're in good shape. My powder blues (small) from live aquaria have been coming in very thin and not eating. In the past, many of them ate same day! Not sure what's going on. Hoping for better luck this time around.

Anyway, keep up the good work. 80% of his diet should be nori or other vegetable matter.

Yah he is definitely eating the seaweed algae sheets that's for sure .. so that is a good sign and I'm pleased with that. I guess just looking to get him eating more stuff so I can plump him up

I rubber band an algae sheet to a rock and he grazes on it thru ought the day

4FordFamily · May 19, 2015

IMO algae is the way to fatten them up. All of my tangs are morbidly obese and it's the nori that gets them there. Just my .02

specialk · May 19, 2015

3fordfamily said:
IMO algae is the way to fatten them up. All of my tangs are morbidly obese and it's the nori that gets them there. Just my .02

Morbidly obese .. I love it. Yah I just tried some brine shrimp soaked in selcon and he devoured those more so then the mysis. So this should be good to go then based on all I have read here ...

4FordFamily · May 20, 2015

specialk said:
Morbidly obese .. I love it. Yah I just tried some brine shrimp soaked in selcon and he devoured those more so then the mysis. So this should be good to go then based on all I have read here ...

Yep. My tangs look like they swallowed a golf ball after a few months of ownership... My skimmer agrees...