Tang Diet... what are you feeding?

[Tswifty]

I'm just trying to gather some more information about my new little addition... and any future tangs I may add... So far he eats spirulina enriched brine, nori, and grazes on the rocks all day...

What else should I be feeding him to keep him healthy?

I've heard mysis... also romain lettuce.. soaking the food in garlic..

What about addatives or vitamins?

Basically, what's your tang's diet, and how often do you feed them?

Here's a pic of the little guy (2-1/2") He spent 2 or 3 weeks in QT, and I just added him to my new display a few days ago:




Thanks in advance

[cloak]

All my fish are fed these. The tangs, more so on the greens. Still missing formula 1 & 2 frozen, mysis, spirulina enriched brine shrimp, squid, krill, marine cousine. Can't beat a varied diet.

[rbursek]

Mix bag, some days frozen Formala 1 thru a garlic press, dried fomula 1 small pellets Mysis, sheet algae, frozen Marine cuisine, Spectrum pellets, and frozen Daphiena, garlic and vodka is for humans.

[DEXNC]

man you are right on track

[xJake]

One thing to keep in mind is that tangs graze all day long on algae so providing them with algae or other greens (i.e. romaine lettuce) on a clip or secured to the rock is important and will help to minimize their tendency to begin grazing on other things (i.e. corals).

When I first started feeding the tank I care for at my school I didn't want to have to feed a bunch of different foods. To solve the problem I mixed my own. I mixed a bunch of different ingredients and feed the mixture to the tank everyday.

Recipe:
30g Dried Green Seaweed
30g Dried Brown Seaweed
30g Dried Red Seaweed
30g Dried Purple Seaweed
1lb Raw Whole Shrimp
16oz Frozen Mysis
16oz Frozen Krill
16oz Cyclops (Cyclop-eeze or other brand)
1- 60ml Bottle Selcon

Thaw and blend until smooth and then freeze in 3-4 cup batches in freezer bags (thin and flat for easy breakage). My fish go crazy for the stuff and will actually bite at my hands every time I reach in the tank for anything.

[Longchamp]

Wow, your aquascape looks GREAT!

We keep red nori on a clip all the time, along with feeding formula 1 pellets. Sometimes we'll feed frozen cubes (its a huge roll with 4 different kinds)

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by DEXNC
man you are right on track

Thanks... you can check out the build if you want by clicking the red house.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by Longchamp
Wow, your aquascape looks GREAT!

We keep red nori on a clip all the time, along with feeding formula 1 pellets. Sometimes we'll feed frozen cubes (its a huge roll with 4 different kinds)

Thanks... I tried to do something a little different with it, and am very pleased so far with how it has turned out.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by xJake
One thing to keep in mind is that tangs graze all day long on algae so providing them with algae or other greens (i.e. romaine lettuce) on a clip or secured to the rock is important and will help to minimize their tendency to begin grazing on other things (i.e. corals).

When I first started feeding the tank I care for at my school I didn't want to have to feed a bunch of different foods. To solve the problem I mixed my own. I mixed a bunch of different ingredients and feed the mixture to the tank everyday.

Recipe:
30g Dried Green Seaweed
30g Dried Brown Seaweed
30g Dried Red Seaweed
30g Dried Purple Seaweed
1lb Raw Whole Shrimp
16oz Frozen Mysis
16oz Frozen Krill
16oz Cyclops (Cyclop-eeze or other brand)
1- 60ml Bottle Selcon

Thaw and blend until smooth and then freeze in 3-4 cup batches in freezer bags (thin and flat for easy breakage). My fish go crazy for the stuff and will actually bite at my hands every time I reach in the tank for anything.

This is perfect... exactly what I was looking for! I know a local reefer also makes his own mix of frozen food, and all his livestock looks extremely healthy.

[Tswifty]

Thanks everyone for the responses, I really appreciate them. Anyone else care to share some custom recipes they use?

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by cloak
All my fish are fed these. The tangs, more so on the greens. Still missing formula 1 & 2 frozen, mysis, spirulina enriched brine shrimp, squid, krill, marine cousine. Can't beat a varied diet.

I currently use a variety of these products... but since the tang is the only livestock I have allowed into my DT tank at this time, I've only been feeding more so on the greens like you said.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by rbursek
Mix bag, some days frozen Formala 1 thru a garlic press, dried fomula 1 small pellets Mysis, sheet algae, frozen Marine cuisine, Spectrum pellets, and frozen Daphiena, garlic and vodka is for humans.

What's a garlic press? I have Formula 2 flakes, but he doesn't seem to like them, and I end up fishing them out after about 5 minutes.

[Peter Eichler]

You're getting good advice in this thread, except I'd skip the romaine lettuce or any other green that didn't originate in the ocean. Romaine doesn't really have much nutrition, it should be blanched or quickly frozen to break down the cells, and then there may even be a concern for pesticides. Your fish will be much better served by getting a clip with some nori on it and it's far easier for you.

[Pastor B]

Dear hobbyist,in my 150 gallon aquarium, I have 4 tangs.
A Clown Tang
A Hippo Tang
A Blond Naso tang ,and
A Yellow Tang .
All of my tangs are fed seaweed,spiralina flakes,formula one, marine cuisine, and marine-A soaked in Vita-chem . This keeps their colors vibrant .:thumbsup;

[vanmo92]

I only feed my tank formula 1 & 2 and VERY rarely, nori.

[Mikeeee]

your tank looks great cant wait to see that thing get filled up with corals!

I feed Formula 1 & 2, Cyclopeeze Flakes, Frozen Mysis & Brine Shimp also nori.

[tbittner]

I soak Seaweed Veggies with Selcon, Zoe, and Garlic and feed a quarter of a sheet each morning. My Purple, Hippo, and Foxface love it. They are all fat too.

They don't care for the red but they love the green and purple. Especially the purple.

[kylekinder]

i have a sailfin tang.. he eats on seaweed on a clip, loves garlic enriched marine pellets, and then a variety of frozen foods vegy and meaty.... yellow tangs are good at grazing on hair algae and other things on rocks

[AtlanticBlue]

Originally posted by Peter Eichler
You're getting good advice in this thread, except I'd skip the romaine lettuce or any other green that didn't originate in the ocean. Romaine doesn't really have much nutrition, it should be blanched or quickly frozen to break down the cells, and then there may even be a concern for pesticides. Your fish will be much better served by getting a clip with some nori on it and it's far easier for you.

I am with Peter on this one...LOTS of people throw romaine lettuce into their tanks. Most don't even cook it. You never know what kind of pesticides may be on the stuff. Yes they will eat it, but as Pete pointed out, how much nutrition are they going to get? My main philosophy for deciding what to feed my Tangs is simple - would they consume this in the wild? This goes for broccoli, snow peas, any vegetable really, and I've even heard of people tossing in hunks of banana for vitamin C. Crazy. I've never seen a pic of a reef with a school of Achilles Tangs grazing on a banana tree.

In addition to all of the other great responses you've gotten, I'd like to add the fact that I grow macroalgae in my refugium and I harvest it specifically for my tangs. They LOVE grape calurpa. It's a nice little cycle...the fish help the calurpa grow and then I turn around and feed it back to them. The stuff groes fast, it's a natural food source and it's pretty cheap!

[Tswifty]

Once again... thanks everyone for the responses... keep them coming.

I hadn't thought about feeding macro algae... I grow caulerpa in my refugium. Not sure what type though... maybe I'll give it a try.

[Mikeeee]

My purple tang loves macro algae! nice looking refugium! what lighting do you have over that? looks like a energy saver spiral bulb?
i am not sure why but i use 2 energy saver (15w) 6500k over my refugium and i just cant get macro algae to really grow in it.. kind of dies back.. not sure why.

[Tswifty]

That's actually an older shot...

Here's one from tonight... time for a trim :


I have the macro under one 100w (26w) GE spiral energy saver daylight (6500K) bulb. It hangs from a work lamp:



If you're having trouble with you macro... here's a great thread to ask questions on and check out pictures of other member's setups:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1349443

[bookfish]

The best single food I've found for tangs is the purple porphyra by 2 Little Fishies. It's sold as Sea Veggies.

[Tswifty]

Anyone have any more DIY recipes out there, or links to them?

[downhillbiker]

Here's my DIY recipe:

3 XL prawns, whole, shelled
6 clams
6 oysters
6 muscles
3 squid, pull the pen out
1 pkg green algae sheet
1 pkg red algae sheet
Garlic

BLEND IN BLENDER

Add this after blending:

1 pkg Mysis
1 pkg #2 Frozen
1 pkg Frozen Brine
1 pkg Daphnia
1 pkg Cyclopeze

Put in gallon freezer bags, 2.5 cups per bag and freeze on cookie sheet as flat pack.

Put small amount in tank to open up coral polyps.

Half hour later add the rest:

I feed the corals and anemones and let the fish eat whats left. I turn the skimmer and filter off for 1 hour and then turn it back on to pull out all the excess.

This recipe makes 4 gallon bags of food.