Surgeonfish (Tangs) -- misclassfied?

[rgmcloud]

Why are surgeonfish (tangs) classified as herbivores -- when mine love mysis and brine shrimp every bit as much as nori

It seems they should be classified as omnivores -- eating veggies and meats

I know -- who cares -- as long as they eat and stay healthy

 

[cornraker]

My yellow tang loves brine more than he does nori. When I put seaweed in the clip, he angrily tears it off and then ignores it. Doesn't even eat it. Just rips it off and leaves it. When I drop the brine in though, he goes around as fast as he can and nabs every bit before my clown and firefish get to it.

 

[greenbean36191]

Mostly because the ecological importance of most species is as grazers.

 

[TampaReefer79]

Depends on what tang you're talking about also. Some are more herbivore than carnivore and vice versa...while some feed on diatoms, detritus and brown algae. In an aquarium though, I think most will accept most foods. I've had hippo tangs in the past, and while it's a zooplankton feeder in the wild, it ate pretty much anything I'd dump in my tank.

 

[khaosinc]

my hippos will actually challenge the triggers for chunks of raw shrimp..

 

[Sk8r]

Most fish who eat meat at all love shrimp as you may love chocolate cake. As a steady diet, it lacks.

 

[mgoblue]

Maybe your tang is like my kids - they don't know what's good for them! LOL

 

[danel]

My tangs; a yellow, sailfin desdarjin and a powder blue, all go crazy for purple nori and pay little attention to meats

 

[rgmcloud]

Those were some pretty cool responses. Especially regarding purple Nori -- never heard of it -- Brown and Green are all I've seen. I know, I lead a sheltered life ....

I have a Naso, Yellow Tang and Sailfin Tang that eat the Nori I give them as well as the mysis/brine at night.

They also get some pellets and flakes -- all of which have the veggie formula (Formula II -- think).

I also use a little Selcon and Vitamin mix from Brightwell -- just to help with their overall health. After about 2 and half years these guys look strong and healthy.

-geno

 

[agreeive?fish]

i have a puffer that will go after a chunk of green hair algae before he will shrimp, all 4 of my tangs eat anything i throw in the tank, dont think i really matters if its a community tank and your feeding food to encoumpas all diets in you tank and your fish are thriving,growing,fat,healthy ect.

 

[noahm]

i have a puffer that will go after a chunk of green hair algae before he will shrimp,

I need to borrow your puffer...

 

[reefgeezer]

Tangs are not herbevoirs (sp?) as we think of it. They graze on one form of algae or another in the wild. They don't however eat plantsas they can't digest the plant's cell structure. The thing to realize is that they are specialists. Some eat only mat algae, some macroalgaes, others eat hair algae. That makes the type of food they are fed important. While most will eat just about anything, they need the algae to thrive. Unfortunately a lot of them will only eat the algae similar to what they eat in the wild.

There is a line of Nori sheets marketed with Julian Sprung's name on it that seems to work great for me. FWIW, I recommend them. I keep the green, red, ad purple around. I've never found a Tang that wouldn't eat one of them. IME, most will eat the purple better than the others. I have a friend who has a Shoal Tang that won't touch the purple but pigs out on another color. I can't remember which one.

I think the bottom line is that if you want to keep tangs, you should find an algae based food they will eat and make it a big part of their diet.