Suggestions for feeding a kole tang?

[evoi19]

I picked up a yellow eye kole tang last week at my LFS. I also picked up some Two Little Fishes Green Seaweed to help feed him. Initially i bought him to help contain a algae breakout i'm battling and I like his coloration.

So far he's been good at grazing the rocks and glasses. His color looks good (hasn't lost any). Doesn't look skinny nor fat. Overall he's healthy, but I'm having a hard time in getting him to eat the seaweed. Do you think it's because he's concentrating on the algae? There is enough for him in there, but I also wanted to supplement him with seaweed once in awhile so that he gets used to both. I currently wrap a piece around a pvc pipe and and wedge it into my sand. I leave half of the seaweed free so it's suspended in the water and easy for him to pick at.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[CueMusic]

Mine was picky also we tried the three different colors to get one she finally liked. In addition what we did was to soak the seaweed in garlic before hand then just let it go in the tank. Once we noticed which one she was eating we then clipped it to out seaweed clip on the front of the tank. Did wonders. All fish are not created equal so you need to experiment.

 

[evoi19]

Thanks for the tip! Never heard of the garlic trick, but I'm definitely going to try that!

 

[KSzegi]

When I first added mine there was quite a bit of macro-algae on the live rock (gulf) and he did not eat much other seaweed I offered at all. A few months later when there were minimal pickings in the tank ..... he began eating more seaweed from a clip along with meaty bits and seaweed in my homemade fish food mix. You might have enough 'natural' food in the tank yet that he just isn't as interested in anything else yet since he's not hungry.

I've found that mine prefers the purple seaweed of the julian sprung seaweed sheets - as does the yellow tang. Really seems to enjoy the wakame in my mix too. But he very much enjoys his seafood also .... even though I thought they were primarily vegetarian, he likes his meat too.... and a dessert of cyclopeeze.

I'm betting that if you are seeing him forage naturally in the tank and looking healthy he will start showing more interest in your offerings as the tank gets cleaned of the other algaes. Just keep experimenting and offering.

 

[lilalove]

Kole tangs have little bristles for teeth, and as such they don't generally consume nori or seaweed sheets with the gusto of other tangs. They feed a lot on detritus, so a non-sterile tank will help. Good luck. I had one before my tank got wiped out from velvet, and this guy barely ate anything prepared. Was just munching the rocks and sand the few months I had it. And it also loved fish poop. No joke. It would wait for the other fish to poop, and then eat it. :hmm3:

 

[evoi19]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yea he's just roaming around eating off of the rocks so I'm not too worried..just as long as he's eating i'm happy. I have to order a few things and I think i'm going to experiment with a variety of seaweed. So far the tank is clearing up nicely so maybe he is full.

I haven't seen him eat fish poop yet, but hey if that's what they like by all means go for it! haha

 

[rezaktp]

MIne eats regulat Marine flake food as well as Spirulina, and brine.