Convict Tang

[ca1ore]

Acquired my first convict, well, other than most of my family members .....

Have had it in QT for the last 12 weeks, now in my 90 FOWLR 'grow out' tank. Fish eats continuously, poops regularly, but remains quite thin .... not emaciated, but quite thin. It is working its way through the hair algae in the tank and enthusiastically eats Mysis (though not brine, go figure). Any suggestions from you folks with convict experience?

 

[Daniel62]

Did you treat for parasites?

 

[anbosu]

I have tried a few over the years, and I've never been able to get one to thrive. They usually come in emaciated, so that's part of the problem, but I think there is more to it than that.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

They usually come in emaciated, so that's part of the problem, but I think there is more to it than that.

Which is really sad because I saw large schools of them in Hawaii and it's a very bold fish. Never scared to pick at algae even when people are snorkeling right near it.

 

[ca1ore]

Did you treat for parasites?

Always, two rounds of prazi.

 

[ca1ore]

I have tried a few over the years, and I've never been able to get one to thrive. They usually come in emaciated, so that's part of the problem, but I think there is more to it than that.

OK, that's very helpful. Fish is not emaciated, but thinner than I'd like - though it eats almost continuously. Current tank has a decent growth of algae (whereas the QT had no algae) so I'm thinking that might put some weight on.

 

[pinnatus]

There is video somewhere of two Powder Blue Tangs keeping guard over a patch of algae. Out of nowhere, a large school of Convicts descend on them, and while the Powder Blues do their best to chase them away, there are too many Convicts, and the entire algae patch is consumed. Then the Convicts just swim away.

Those were two dejected Powder Blues, I tell ya!

 

[anbosu]

OK, that's very helpful. Fish is not emaciated, but thinner than I'd like - though it eats almost continuously. Current tank has a decent growth of algae (whereas the QT had no algae) so I'm thinking that might put some weight on.

Will it eat nls?

 

[Moort82]

Can I ask where it came from? Over here we only see the Indo's and Fujian. I would only even contemplate one from Fuji as those out of places like Bali have a well deserved rep for being hard to acclimate.
I have a 3" Fujian myself and it was a little skinny to begin with. I treated with prazi and got it browsing live rock straight away. Its a real chubber now.

I have heard that these can suffer from shipping more than other species as they have a particular bacteria in their intestines which helps them digest their food. This can be killed off with particular medicines, that they may go through in the chain, and its this that actually prevents them from getting the nutrition from food. Not sure if that's 100% true or accurate but I did hear something along those lines years ago. I have however witnessed Convicts out of Bali that were definitely caught using cyanide which probably caused a majority of the rumours.

Out of interest if your was from Hawaii, how big was it as I know they have catch sizes and wondered if this was part of the problem. From what I have seen larger ones have a harder time acclimating.

 

[Daniel62]

So are you feeding other types of alga besides what he is getting off the rock? While I do not have this tang, my other tangs go thru a lot of nori every day. Also, when I set up my new tank I will grow out certain types of alga for them as well

 

[ca1ore]

So are you feeding other types of alga besides what he is getting off the rock? While I do not have this tang, my other tangs go thru a lot of nori every day. Also, when I set up my new tank I will grow out certain types of alga for them as well

I hear you. The five Tangs in my main 265 will go through two sheets of nori in less than 5 minutes. But there is quite a lot of hair algae in my grow out tank so I do not believe supplementing with nori is necessary - but we shall see.

 

[caribfan]

There is video somewhere of two Powder Blue Tangs keeping guard over a patch of algae. Out of nowhere, a large school of Convicts descend on them, and while the Powder Blues do their best to chase them away, there are too many Convicts, and the entire algae patch is consumed. Then the Convicts just swim away.

Those were two dejected Powder Blues, I tell ya!

I've seen that video, it's great.

I'm assuming its PE mysis? Do you have the ability to feed a meaty food, like a LRS? It sounds like it's getting enough greens, I'd be trying to get a lot of protein in the diet as well. I'm amazed at how much protein my Achilles eats.

 

[Spartan]

Mine does very well on formula 2 and nls. Have had him well over a year.

 

[ca1ore]

I will have to try NLS. Good news is that it's eating well (and is a GHA eating machine) and looks a tad plumper than it did.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

If I had to bet money, I would guess it's just internal parasites. Often times a single course of Prazipro is not sufficient and needs to be repeated after the first one. I would give it a try. I am sure it will help. Good luck!

 

[Spartan]

I will have to try NLS.

Thats' fine, but if I had to choose I'd go with formula 2. I mix 80% formula 2, 10% nls - the other 10% is hikai marine A, but that's for some of my other fish. Good luck!

 

[ca1ore]

Already been feeding Formula 2.

 

[eatbreakfast]

If it does eat pellets the NLS has the thera a line that is supposed to help against internal parasites. The times I have kept convicts I was feeding these pettets 2x's a day.

 

[John Dawe]

I have a Hawaiian Convict Tang, aquired it back in 2000. It is fat and eats very well and all day long. They have to be 5 inches to collect in Hawaii because it is considered a food fish (I was told). That makes the fish 20-25 yrs old if you look at growth rates in John Randall's books. I think they are great fish, very active which means they require a lot of food.
When you see them in stores they are always skinny because they are never fed enough.

 

[RadReefer]

I have a small convict. I've had him about a year now. They are notoriously bad shippers apparently. Mine was very thin and had some type of wound that took a while to heal. These fish are constantly grazing and have a crazy fast metabolism. I feed him nori every day and I feed fresh live clams several times a week which really bulks all my fish up. I feed the clams primarily for my Copperband because he loves them, but everyone benefits. They are not a tang you can get away with feeding nori only a few times a week. They really need to graze every day. I never treated my convict with any meds because he was so fragile when he came in. He is incredibly bold as others have stated and really thriving in my tank. Convicts are a highly underrated tang. Not aggressive at all and very good looking.