Clown tang doesn't eat. Need help.

vincent201089

New member
I got a blue tang and a clown tang, they are all 1,5'. They are in my QT for a week and act really well. The blue tang eats everything I put in the tank but the clown tang doesn't. I try to feed them many kind of food: formula I, brine shrimp, misys shrimp, see weed (the one uses to make sushi), rods food. Like what I said, the blue tang is ok and eat all of them but the clown tang does not although eat acts really well. They are not scare when i feed them, just swim fast to their house when I do sth. suddenly.
Can you guys help me for this? I love all of them and the clown tang looks thinner now. Thanks a lot.
 
Clown tang is an expert only fish. Are you an expert? RC's minimum recommended tank size is 240 gallons. If you are not an expert and do not have an appropriate sized tank, the best for the fish is to take it back.
 
Clown tang is an expert only fish. Are you an expert? RC's minimum recommended tank size is 240 gallons. If you are not an expert and do not have an appropriate sized tank, the best for the fish is to take it back.
No, I am not an expert. If I knew this, I did not bring it home. I know that clown tang needs a big tank. I have a 70gallon tank and I think that this one is only 1,5', so a 70 is enough for this little guy.
Can I bring it back to the store where I got to get some store credit? In case I bring it there and it will die, so I will lose my fish and the store credit too? I just wanna ask because I havent heard about this before.
 
I would try to take it back. I wouldn't try that fish in anything less than 200g, it gets big, it is really fast and needs lots of open room. It is also very aggressive. Same goes for the other tang, except its not as aggressive as the clown and is generally easier to maintain but should still be left to a larger tank.

I will say this, they are hard to resist as they are both beautiful fish that I would love to have.
 
Vincent, return them both. I have a 3 inch juvenile clown tang in my 6 foot 150 but am upgrading to a 400 gallon tank in the Spring. They do tend to get mean, but not always. He is currently with one other tang, a Yellow, and my Yellow is the meanest SOB I've ever seen.

My Clown tang started eating brine in the LFS first, but would not take Mysis. It seems many fish will eat Bloodworms readily, so I gave him that and he started eating right away. Now he'll eat Bloodworms, Mysis, and Nori but never even looks at pellet food. In the long run, unless you are upgrading to a tank at least 4 times the volume it's no good to keep it. This fish has a hard time in qt and can wither away very fast. It's one of those fish that can look great and just drop dead. Mine seems to only eat food when it's moving in the current. You could try putting the food in front of the powerhead to see if he chases it.

Unless you keep perfect, unpolluted reef parameters with high ph, EXTREME flow, high salinity (1.026) and oxygen at saturation you're not ready to try this fish. If you don't know what these terms mean....you're definitely not ready. I'm not trying to be hard on you...just stating the facts. I waited a long time for my LFS to bring in a good one. I have a good relationship with the owner and asked that it be placed in their 125 gallon reef tank...not a small, copper medicated tank. I put a deposit on the fish and stopped by every other day for a few weeks to watch it eat and see what it was eating and picking at. These tangs in particular are known to have a specific bacteria in their gut that copper can destroy. Even if they're eating well, they'll always appear a bit thin and just die if this bacteria is killed. They're very touchy, and really not a fish for you right now.

Please take them back.
 
I don't think you should keep a fish because it is 1.5" and its small now. You shouldn't fool yourself thinking the fish will take years to outgrow your tank and you will upgrade then.
 
these are the threads that make me nod my head. why would you buy a blue tang and a clown tang in a 70g tank... i hope you know that clown tangs grow pretty quickly.
 
You tell them that after researching the fish you now realize that they are not suitable for your tank.
 
Oh, and thanks for listening to all the advice. Not always easy to adapt one's thinking when new information is received.
 
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