Healthiest Diet For Powder Blue Tang?

[Coral Auroral]

I have an awesome Powder Blue in my tank. Mine is not as troublesome as it's reputation implies ( so far). It was one of the bigger ones at the pet store; probably older and more adapted to captivity, made it through all the stress of shipping, etc. Had him for 3 weeks and so far no ich!

Anyway, I had read that this species is more ready to eating red and blue-green filamentous algae in the wild. (just what I read, not sure how accurate that is). I wanted a few opinions on what this species should be eating to be healthiest since these fish are so prone to problems. So far I've been giving it Omega One Green Seaweed. It seems to accept it just fine. Should I switch it to a red dried seaweed?

Also, since before I bought the Tang, I've been battling some pesky green hair algae in my tank. I've read that letting SOME algae grow in tank can be beneficial to tangs since they can graze all day long as they please. I've seen the powder blue nip at the green hair here and there, but not voraciously like a yellow tang might. Is there any methods to shift to a dominant red or blue-green algae (assuming it would be beneficial)?

What do you all feed your powder blues?!!

 

[ReefPharmer]

best is nori imo, i get it from the asian store.

 

[o2manyfish]

The last time I kept a Powder Blue I kept it for 6 years till I sold the tank. I fed it Tetra pellets, romaine lettuce and occasionally Nori. Fish was nice and thick from top to bottom.

These days I feed my tangs more Nori and I haven't fed Romaine in awhile.

My current crew of tangs (14) get fed an assortment of pellet foods several times a day and nori 3-4x a week.

Dave B

 

[Coral Auroral]

Thanks for the replies. I'll look for the pellets and nori. I noticed you live in urban CA areas. I live in BFE, AZ and my nearest fish store is petco (worthless). I have to drive down to Phoenix to find any real resources. I've met like TWO other people in my area that have reefs lol. Guess it's time for another trip to Phoenix for me.

 

[o2manyfish]

You don't need a pet store. A big super market will have packages of Nori in the asian food section. It's the same seaweed used for rolling sushi. You will be looking for Sushi seaweed and just checked the package that the only content is Seaweed - No seasoning, salting, flavoring.

You can also find it if you town has any Asian markets.

And even in BFE, AZ you can order from any of the major pet supplier (pay about 15x more than the supermarket nori) or Amazon and have it in a couple of days.

Dave B