Need help getting my Chevron tang to eat

[REEF-DADDY]

My wife picked him up for me. He is about 2 inches. The LFS owner says he was eating brine shrimp and nori. I've seen him sample good size pieces of each and spit them out. I understand these guys are detrivores. Could it be he is only eating the smaller pieces that I cannot see? He is always picking at the rocks and seems interested in food, but I have yet to see him really eat anything. He is in my 280g display so I can't get him out. I've tried soaking the nori in garlic to no avail. I am going to toss some cyclopeeze in there later. Any other ideas or tricks?


Thanks in advance Steve

 

[zens]

try some formula two or spirulina formula. never had a problem getting mine to eat. he eats the algae like a madman and anything I throw in the tank.

 

[REEF-DADDY]

He was not thrilled with the formula 2 flakes either.

 

[NoSchwag]

Want some blender mush to see if he'll eat it?

 

[Weatherman]

Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ve always shied away from getting any of the ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œBristle-Toothââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ Tangs for the following reason:

As stated elsewhere, these fishes are grazers that do well only in under crowded, less-than tidy tanks, with plenty of rock and detritus to pick over. Randall (1955) recorded up to 90% inorganic sediment in analysis of gut content of C. strigosus from the wild.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ctenocha.htm


They are an excellent choice if you have a dirty sand bed. Not so good in clean, bare-bottom tanks.

 

[REEF-DADDY]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6559820#post6559820 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NoSchwag
Want some blender mush to see if he'll eat it?

Can't hurt.

 

[Tyrosinase]

My tangs will tear the nori that I place in the tank and then eat the smaller pieces. However, the pieces that they eat are still visible. Have you tried soaking the brine shrimp in garlic?

Does the chevron pick at the rocks? If so, you can try to rubberband some macro algea to a rock and hope that it picks at the algea.

 

[Amphiprion]

As weatherman said, sediment-based detritus is very important to the bristletooth tangs, in addition to their usual diet of diatoms. What many don't realize is that they NEED these food sources to survive in the long term.

 

[buldog]

New Life Spectrum Pellets

New Life Spectrum Pellets

You can try New Life Spectrum Pellets. Even Morish Idols love them.

 

[REEF-DADDY]

Well I think there is hope. I've let detrius build up an he is pecking at it. Maybe he'll make my vacuum obsolete. New life spectrum, where do you get them?