How to get a Yellow Tang to eat????

tonym10

Premium Member
I have had a Yellow Tang in qt for about 4 weeks. She would not eat in there. Now she is in the dt for about 2 weeks and she still will not eat food. She pics all day at the rocks , but there is only microscopic hair algae on the rock. So she really has nothing to eat.
I have fed flake food, pellet food, green seawood sheet. Foods soaked in garlic and selecon. All the other fish eat like pigs and I thought she would learn from them but she isnt.
I even attached the seaweed sheet to a rock via rubberband and she pics at the rocks around the rock with the algae sheet but she avoids it. She acts very healthy and is very active, but I need to find something she will eat. She is about 4-5".
Do they maybe like a different color algae sheet like red or brown?
The brand I am using is Julien Springs sea veggies.
Thanks
 
Re: How to get a Yellow Tang to eat????

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14793452#post14793452 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tonym10
I have had a Yellow Tang in qt for about 4 weeks. She would not eat in there. Now she is in the dt for about 2 weeks and she still will not eat food. She pics all day at the rocks , but there is only microscopic hair algae on the rock. So she really has nothing to eat.
I have fed flake food, pellet food, green seawood sheet. Foods soaked in garlic and selecon. All the other fish eat like pigs and I thought she would learn from them but she isnt.
I even attached the seaweed sheet to a rock via rubberband and she pics at the rocks around the rock with the algae sheet but she avoids it. She acts very healthy and is very active, but I need to find something she will eat. She is about 4-5".
Do they maybe like a different color algae sheet like red or brown?
The brand I am using is Julien Springs sea veggies.
Thanks

Don't know what else to tell you but I will say mine is very picky about new foods. Ours favorite food is mysiss shrimp. Sounds like you just brought her so why don't you try asking the pet shop what they were feeding her. Worth a shot. Since she is not skinny she must have been eating something.
 
Actually I feed frozen misis too.
The lfs where I got her just got her in the day before I purchased her.
She is not skin and bones but I would say she is skinny.
 
I've had that problem before in the past. I've always found that if you get some sort of garlic supplement, my preference is garlic guard, and soak the food in it overnight it typically entices them to eat. Just my oppinion.
 
Our yellow tang ate nothing for 4 weeks and 1 day when we first bought it. Didn't even pick at the rocks. One day it just started eating and now, 18 months later, is fat and happy. ...so don't lose hope.

Our tang really likes mysis shrimp which I know you've already tried. It also goes absolutely crazy for frozen Formula 2. You may want to give that a try.

Good luck
 
Like said above if she's not dwindling to nothing, than she's must be eating something. It may take a while before it actually eats what you put in the tank. It might have just came from the ocean to the LFS to you so give it time.

My yellow ate very little for about 4-6 weeks and then all of a sudden started eating like a pig. Maybe she still needs to acclimate to captivity.
 
Thanks for the replies. I just wanted to be sure I wasnt missing something she might like.
I will give her more time
 
I agree with the above, as long as you don't see the fish getting skinny or any other side effects, it has to be eating something. Seeing as how it just came from the ocean I imagine it would require some time to acclimate properly to captivity.

Good luck.
 
Might just be a lost cause. Nobody wants to tell you about the departed.

Been there, done that. Learn from everything you see.

This fish might have been better off in the ocean...

GL.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14797520#post14797520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by R_atwal
Sorry to hijack your post tonym10. I have a question how do you guys feed frozen formula 2?

I let a cube and a half thaw out in a dish (no water added), and then cut into smaller cubes/pieces. Sometimes I'll add some drops of Selcon after thawing which soaks in quite well. Then dump the pieces into the tank and let them drift around in the water column while the fish go into feeding frenzy mode. Most of the pieces get eaten before making it to the bottom the tank. The food that does end up on the bottom gets found a bit later by a couple of the more inquisitive fish in the tank.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14797520#post14797520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by R_atwal
Sorry to hijack your post tonym10. I have a question how do you guys feed frozen formula 2?
Thaw it out and put it in your tank at intervals to make sure very little falls to the substrate. I also would turn off all pumps in the tank during feeding. My fish know its feeding time when the pumps go off.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14800060#post14800060 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tonym10
She must have been reading this thread. Today she ate three frozen (defrosted) misis shrimp.

cool, it can read....that's one smart fish. Mine still attacks her own reflection in the glass....
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14797617#post14797617 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cloak
Might just be a lost cause. Nobody wants to tell you about the departed.

Been there, done that. Learn from everything you see.

This fish might have been better off in the ocean...

GL.

:rolleye1:

If it can read maybe it got scared into eating. :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14800060#post14800060 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tonym10
She must have been reading this thread. Today she ate three frozen (defrosted) misis shrimp.

Hahaha, tell all her relatives to check this thread too.
 
You might think this is funny, but both my Tangs, and my Foxface eat broccoli flowerettes that I put on the seaweed clip. They eat it down tho the stem every day. Kinda funny to watch. Much cheaper then seaweed.

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