Tangs won't eat, I've tried everything:(

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

My two "newest" tangs will not eat. They are both very large "about 8inches each" and are fat as your hands. One is an orange shoulder and the other is a kole. Both get along great and are peaceful with each other as well as everyone else. I got the kole about 3 days ago and the orange 2 days ago. I've tried everything from frozen to dry to flake to meat and veggie!! With garlic as well... and still nothing

anyone have any suggestions?? No signs of stress or anything. They just won't eat

Reefing Madness · Apr 6, 2017

What were they being fed in the store? And what are you feeding them now?

ca1ore · Apr 6, 2017

New fish often refuse to eat. Really not to worry unless it gets to be 2 weeks or longer. Assume you plopped them straight into the display?

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

Reefing Madness said:
What were they being fed in the store? And what are you feeding them now?

The store said they were eating and I've tried feeding exactly what they said to feed them. Maybe still new to the tank and just being shy

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

ca1ore said:
New fish often refuse to eat. Really not to worry unless it gets to be 2 weeks or longer. Assume you plopped them straight into the display?

Good to know I have a some time to keep trying to feed and yes I did. It's my only tank at the moment.

Robink · Apr 6, 2017

Do you feed nori? If not I would put some in there on a clip. Your older fish will no doubt eat it up and hopefully the others will follow.
Beautiful fish btw.

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

Robink said:
Do you feed nori? If not I would put some in there on a clip. Your older fish will no doubt eat it up and hopefully the others will follow.
Beautiful fish btw.

I don't use "nori" but I put the garlic infused green seaweed from my lfs on a clip and my foxface and sailfin eat/snack on that all day. But the tangs won't touch it

should I try "nori" instead ? And can I pick it up at a grocery store ? Because my lfs doesn't have it

Robink · Apr 6, 2017

I just got a big batch on amazon. I would think its pretty much the same minus the garlic. How long did the LFS have them? Have you tried live foods just to get them to eat?

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

Robink said:
Do you feed nori? If not I would put some in there on a clip. Your older fish will no doubt eat it up and hopefully the others will follow.
Beautiful fish btw.

this is what I use and no luck

Robink · Apr 6, 2017

That should do it... I would get some brine and see if you can get them to eat that. Maybe add the brine and frozen at the same time... to try and get them to eat.

Robink · Apr 6, 2017

Is there any algae in your tank for them to graze on? I had a tang that ate algae for the longest time before I saw him eat any of the foods I offered.

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

Robink said:
Is there any algae in your tank for them to graze on? I had a tang that ate algae for the longest time before I saw him eat any of the foods I offered.

There was but all my darn snails and crabs ate it all lol :/ so I was thinking maybe going and getting a rock with lots of algae and see if that works ??

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

If I set up a QT tank , how large would it have to be :/ I have 4 fish total and the tangs are 7-8 inches and the foxface is about 5-6 as well as the sailfin. And what would my set up need to be?? Kind of on a budget at the moment

ngoodermuth · Apr 6, 2017

I wouldn't worry about QT at this point, unless you think they are ill. Have you noticed any symptoms of illness? Scratching, twitching, yawning,etc?

My kole tang was eating everything through QT, went into the display and wouldn't touch anything besides the live rock for well over a week [emoji15]Luckily I was still in the "uglies" stage so he had plenty to graze lol.

He is now nice and fat, and back to eating everything in sight.

biomek · Apr 6, 2017

my sailfin and kole wouldn't touch seaweed on my clip. i had to rubber band some to rock rubble to it looked more natural before they would eat it. Now they devour it. Might give that a shot if the clip doesn't start seeing any action.

Vahanyos · Apr 6, 2017

Are you sure it was only your snails eating the algae? Have you observed the tangs enough to see them nipping at any algae?

Leadfooted · Apr 6, 2017

just a thought, what about adding poly lab polyp booster or something else that has a liquid amino acid in it? Something that turns on their appetite first?

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

ngoodermuth said:
I wouldn't worry about QT at this point, unless you think they are ill. Have you noticed any symptoms of illness? Scratching, twitching, yawning,etc?

My kole tang was eating everything through QT, went into the display and wouldn't touch anything besides the live rock for well over a week [emoji15]Luckily I was still in the "uglies" stage so he had plenty to graze lol.

He is now nice and fat, and back to eating everything in sight.

And that's the last thing I think I'll try is a algae covered rock. All mine are clean due to snails n crabs lol so I might just go buy an infested algae rock and try that. On Saturday when I don't work. He's still really fat and happy, just not eating.

Jonathan blackwood · Apr 6, 2017

Vahanyos said:
Are you sure it was only your snails eating the algae? Have you observed the tangs enough to see them nipping at any algae?

My Sailfin nips at everything but my two new large tangs "kole and orange shoulder" haven't been that I know of. Still new to the tank, but just swimming and hiding . No grazing that I see :/