Can a Kole Tang be Healthy on Frozen Food Vs Detritus?

[Darth_Tater]

Hi all,

I've noticed quite a few threads lately mention that the minimum tank size for a Kole Tang is 75 gallons. Not because it needs the space, but because they usually don't have enough detritus to eat in a smaller tank.

My question is this: Can a Kole Tang that eats frozen food be healthy long term in a tank without much detritus (assuming the supply of algae is not an issue)?

 

[sde1500]

What do you mean by detritus? You mean algae growing in the tank? I don't have experience with tangs, but from what I know Nori would be a a good food for them. And the size is also about room to swim in I believe.

 

[jbvdhp]

Recently, in the Caribbean, I saw tangs grazing on rocks for what I thought was algae. I dove down closer to the rocks and to my surprise it wasn't really algae (although I'm sure there were some) but it looked like random crap and detritus for sure. And these guys were big!

I would think feeding our fish meaty foods is certainly better than the random crap I see them grazing on, although I'm certain mysis and chopped seafood isn't something they're used to eating.

If you're offering nori everyday it's really helping to supplement their natural diet.

 

[Darth_Tater]

I feed a mixture of LRS Reef Frenzy in the evening (although lately I've been thinking the chunks are too big for my fish, but that's a different discussion) and NLS pellets in the morning.

I don't supplement Nori because I have tons of "naturally occurring" algae in the tank. Mostly hair, but also other kinds. I am however working towards setting up a display fuge with macroalgae I can feed the fish with.

The fish is active and constantly picking at the rocks and algae and doesn't act cramped. It's skinny, but not as skinny as when I bought it and there's a good stomach bulge so I think it's getting plenty to eat. The thing I'm worried about is that frozen food is just plain different than detritus and I'm wondering if there will be long term health issues if it doesn't get enough of its natural diet.

 

[kmbyrnes]

If you are feeding a variety of foods and there is 'naturally occurring' ( great choice of words ) algae, they should be good. Be sure to feed an algae based food as one of the choices.

 

[ca1ore]

Bristles are slime/film algae and detritivores yes, but protein is protein, so I don't think it matters what they eat as long as they eat. Mine never took to nori all that well, but most ate frozen.

 

[jbvdhp]

Bristles are slime/film algae and detritivores yes, but protein is protein, so I don't think it matters what they eat as long as they eat. Mine never took to nori all that well, but most ate frozen.

Agreed.

My stupid chevron tang seems to eat anything (including acans!!!) so I would think eating the prepared foods is better than any detritus they would be getting in the wild.

 

[scooter31707]

Before I got rid of mines he would eat anything from detritus to Nori.

 

[Darth_Tater]

Bristles are slime/film algae and detritivores yes, but protein is protein, so I don't think it matters what they eat as long as they eat. Mine never took to nori all that well, but most ate frozen.

This is what I figured, but I wasn't sure long term if they'd be able to digest the frozen properly since it IS different from detritus in that it hasn't already been digested before.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I just wanted to make sure my limited knowledge assumptions weren't going to kill off a fishy friend!

 

[saf1]

Don't scrape / clean the any one of your least viewed tank walls. I had a Kole in my 100 gallon and that is what I ended up doing. More than enough for him/her with the run of the mill food (nori, pellet, Mysis) that I was already feeding but this glass corner was his goto place that I'd leave alone. It would already pick over rocks, sand, and other bits of the tank but this one area I left alone so something was always there

 

[happyhourhero]

I have a Kole that eats all the detritus off the bottom of my bare bottom tank. When it first happened, I came home to a clean tank and asked my wife if she did a water change. She certainly did not so it was the tang for sure. My tank is much cleaner now with this guy. Cool fish.

 

[ca1ore]

Bristles are awesome and I'd not run a reef tank without one. I prefer the chevron as I like the coloration better (even as an adult) and find them less aggressive - expensive though. I don't clean my back glass so my chevron, and potters angel, spend a lot of the day scouring it.