Kole Tang Diet

[awestruck]

Besides nori seaweed and romaine lettuce, which I'm feeding my rescued tang, what else, specifically, do they like/need?

 

[awestruck]

anyone?

 

[pktech]

my kole doesn't eat nori, but kills the frozen mysis & formula one defrosted cubes & alge off the glass & rocks ... & flakes - Good luck

 

[Eric the half-bee]

Mine will eat frozen seafood, live shrimp, flake and pellets.

 

[doggydoc]

I dont have a kole tang--the tang police will catch me!!!!!-- but i got my candy basslet to eat roggers reef food. IMO you should try it.

 

[Cidcaltrop]

Mine likes to graze on cucumber slices I put in.

 

[awestruck]

Your responses have been very helpful--thanks much!

 

[huig]

besides nori; broccoli, banana, oatmeal, beans, cucumber, zucchini, potatoes, but also eat everything else I feed my other fish: squid, mussles, shrimp, mysis, krill, daphnia.

 

[klepto]

How big is your fish?

I had great results feeding finely chopping untoasted Nori (Porphyra yezoensis) to a juvenile Kole. I would chop it up into small strips- a few mm wide by 2 cm. I couldn't get my fish to graze on nori sheets like most other tangs. For my situation, chopping the nori to a small size was key.

Based off of what Fishbase has for the diet of C. strigosus (detritus and benthic algae/weeds), I would base your fish's diet on marine algae. I don't see the need to feed terrestrial greens. They rarely will contain the balanced mineral content that wild seaweeds will. Nori is an easy option and it is nutritionally sound. Purchasing the unroasted/untoasted is worthwhile in my opinion. For an enrichment and to help your rescued fish recover, I would recommend soaking the nori in a vitamin, such as Selcon or Vitachem.

Ideally your fish will have plenty of mature live rock to graze on too.

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/speciessummary.php?id=6015