Any tang that doesn't eat macroalgae?
- Thread starter jarrod13
- Start date
NatureNerd
New member
IME, the Bristletooth tangs tend to avoid macro's. I have experience with Two-spot and Tomini tangs. The ones I had would not touch caulerpa or any macro algae in my tank.
Recty
New member
My old reef tank had some caulerpa on the side and I never had any fish eat it, I kept most of the common tangs that people keep in reefs too. I've heard it's slightly noxious and I'd tend to agree from watching fish near it, no one wants to eat it.
I wouldnt worry much about tangs eating your caulerpa, is what I'm getting at.
I wouldnt worry much about tangs eating your caulerpa, is what I'm getting at.
Monkeyfish
Active member
+1 with the possible exception of C. prolifera.
GoingPostal
Active member
I wouldn't say bristletooths are safe, my kole ate two kinds of caulerpa that I tried adding to my tank, grape and prolifera. He mostly nibbled though, my foxface mowed through it. I put in several handfuls and it was gone in days.
jarrod13
New member
Thank you for the advice... #1 why not? #2 it's a planted tank, no corals, I'm not using it for filtering purposes.
jarrod13
New member
Well I've personally seen a sailfin, Atlantic blue, and a yellow destroy it. That's why I'm hoping there are some that wouldn't be interested in it.
Anybody have experience with a hippo on this subject?
Recty
New member
I had a yellow tang, a powder blue, a powder brown, a sohal, a clown and a tomini at one point or another in my 75g (I know, most of those dont do well in small tanks but at the time I didnt have a clue) and none of them would eat the caulerpa. I also had some of the calcium rich ones that look kind of like cactus and the real leafy type of caulerpa that looks almost like pine tree branches but I never had any tangs eat them. The only algae growing on the rocks my fish would eat were a red branchy type that they loved, I almost suspect it was some type of gracilaria.
Anyway, just my experience, every fish is different to some extent and probably the number of times you feed and the quantity/quality of the food you're providing make a difference in whether they snack on algae or not. I never had a problem with it and I WANTED them to be eating it, I probably could have cut back on the food I was putting in but I didnt feel good about doing that.
Anyway, just my experience, every fish is different to some extent and probably the number of times you feed and the quantity/quality of the food you're providing make a difference in whether they snack on algae or not. I never had a problem with it and I WANTED them to be eating it, I probably could have cut back on the food I was putting in but I didnt feel good about doing that.
NatureNerd
New member
I used to have grape, the fern-like caulerpa, and the calcium type mentioned above. I would have been thrilled if my two-spot BT Tang would have nibbled on any of them. In my tank, they were pests but probably did play a part in nutrient export. My tang never even looked at them. It did love the micro alga that grew on the front glass and live rock.
