My Convict Tang needs to gain some weight (pics)

[RedClay]

Hi everyone,

I have had my convict tang for about six months, and he has been this thin the whole time! He is fed a piece of nori (probably about 3 or 4 square inches) every day and eats the whole thing, but he is still so skinny. He doesn't show any signs of disease besides his thinness. There are no other herbivores in the tank, so he's not competing for food or anything. Any advice on how to fatten him up?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36849482@N06/3393567794/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36849482@N06/3392755301/

Thanks!

 

[LisaD]

nice tang, but yes, awfully thin. has it gotten worse over time, or stayed the same?

have you treated for internal parasites? consider PraziPro treatment. check whether you need to isolate or if you can treat display tank.

do you feed anything other than nori? try meaty foods in addition to plant based food - various Ocean Nutrition frozen cubes, mysis (esp Piscine Energetics brand to fatten), soak nori and other algae sheets in Selcon...

 

[RedClay]

I think he's stayed about the same, but if anything, he's gotten thinner over time.

Internal parasites, hmm yeah I think I'll check out some treatment options, it seems plausible. I have other fish in the tank that are fed Ocean Nutrition pellets (formula 1) and freeze dried mysis, but maybe I'll cehck out some frozen cubes. How would I feed those? I definitely think I'm going to get some Selcon, I've thought about getting some before but haven't gotten around to it.

Thanks a lot for your advice!

 

[fender4string]

The frozen cubes you pretty much just thaw in a cup using some tank water and then dump the thawed contents in the tank. Depending on the amount of fish, you might want to break the cube in half-just use your judgment. Frozen mysis would probably be better than the freeze dried as far as nutrition goes.

Another thing you should be feeding your tang is some kind of algae. You can buy this at your LFS or much cheaper at an Asian market. The algae is called nori. The kind at the LFS (at least the kind I've bought before I knew that algae is cheaper at Asian markets ) is called Seaweed Selects.

Another nutritious food is New Life Spectrum pellets. These were recommended to me by a lot of people. My fish also seem to really like them.

 

[NuTom]

I had the same problem with my convict tang before too. He was real skinny like in your pictures but just keep feeding him nori and also NLS pellets everyday and he'll fatten up in no time.

I've had mine close to 2 years now. Sometimes i forget that i even have this fish LOL. BTW mine seems to grow very slow.

I'll take a picture tomorrow to show you how fat he looks now.

 

[RedClay]

Thanks you guys! I think I'll look into New Life Spectrum Pellets as well.

Thanks for the reassuring story NuTom. I'd love to see a picture of your convict!

 

[Chibils]

I'd definitely consider a praziquantel treatment. NLS pellets and lots of algae, alone with frozen foods (I like PE Mysis, Ocean Nutrition Super Shrimp, and San Fransisco Bay Brand Enmerald Entree) will do wonders. Consider an auto feeder. I've heard lots of stories like this and wonder if they simply have a very fast metabolism.

 

[NuTom]

I wouldn't treat him. I believe you just need to feed him something else other than nori only. Most convict tangs i see come in very skinny.


As promised here is a picture of him about 1 year ago. I was feeding very heavy with nori and NLS pellets nothing else for the first 3 months.

Here he is today. Still only feeding Nori and NLS pellets and once every week i feed mysid shrimp as a treat.

 

[ssavader]

For some reason, Convicts always seem thin and emaciated when I see them in the LFS- sometimes very painfully so. I agree, treat for internal parasites and keep in quarantine so that there is no competition for food and he gets the entire meal. By the way, Nutom, your Convict looks great!

 

[RedClay]

Yeah, your convict is looking nice and healthy NuTom. hopefully i can get mine looking like that one day!

I do feed formula one pellets to my other fish but the tang seems uninterested and Ive never seen him eat any. Does he just need to get used to eating pellets?

 

[NuTom]

Hey Redclay, Did you manage to get him on pellets yet?

I finally found an older picture of the convict when i first got it. As you can see it was real skinny until it learned to feed on pellets.

 

[snorvich]

Tangs have a fast metabolism; also, they don't process food as well as some other fish. I personally would recommend nori being available 12 hours per day (they are grazers); coupled with PE mysis and good pellets, you should be fine.

 

[RedClay]

I got some NLS pellets and he is starting to eat them! Sometimes he just kind of gums them and spits them back out but he never showed interest in eating other pellets so I think this is good sign. Also, I am trying to give him more nori every day and folding it up a bit so he can't tear off big pieces. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[RedClay]

He is now officially addicted to NLS pellets! Hopefully he will begin to fatten up in the next couple of weeks/months
Thanks again everyone for all the help!

 

[fender4string]

You're very welcome! I'm glad to hear he's eating better. Congrats man and make sure you post a picture of him once he's all fattened up.

 

[block head]

local reefer just went threw similiar problem. she treated w/prazipro, and some crazy worms came out of her tennetti tang.

 

[RedClay]

yeah hopefully I'll post some fat convict pictures in the near future!
I'm hoping I won't have to treat for worms and just changing his diet will do the trick, but we'll see...

 

[Moort82]

Digging up a very old thread but I picked up a convict yesterday from a Fuji shipment. It is in the best health I've seen one come in with no pinching in at all. I have read a theory that believes the infauna within their gut may have been destroyed by some shipping methods that may implement antibiotics. Destroying this bacteria then means they can't process their food properly, so they gradually fade. It is also a good idea to deworm these fish.