tangs eating zoanthids

mfinn

Active member
I think it has been pretty well documented here that given the opportunity tangs will eat zoanthids.
What I want to ask now is, What are the common names of the zoanthids did your tangs eat? Which ones did you lose?
The hippo tangs I had seemed to really go after the eagle eyes and dragon eyes.
I have a lot of protopalythoas and palythoas that they ignored. Is it just because of the color? The ones they ignored were fairly plain.
 
On reefcast.com Marc mentions that his blue tang was eating his Mean Green zoas.

So check one off for green color!
 
My yellow tang ate some eagle eyes and some pink zoa's . But this happened when I first put them in and they hadn't opened yet.
 
I also had a purple tang that went after some pink zoanthids.
But if I remember correctly, none of the eaten polyps were of the bigger palythoa types.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8164241#post8164241 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 55semireef
Won't the tangs die of toxins within the zoas?

I wished they would have.:uzi:
 
i think that tangs will only eat dead/ dying/ decaying zoas. i dont think that tangs go out on patrol looking to devastate peoples healthy colonies. i just recently got an order (2 day shipping) with 3 zoa frags. of the 3 frags, 1 frag arrived a bit ragged compared to the others. my tang kept picking at it removing visibly damaged polyps from the piece. after a few days of pruning, my yellow tang left it alone.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8167943#post8167943 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jasonj90
i think that tangs will only eat dead/ dying/ decaying zoas. i dont think that tangs go out on patrol looking to devastate peoples healthy colonies. i just recently got an order (2 day shipping) with 3 zoa frags. of the 3 frags, 1 frag arrived a bit ragged compared to the others. my tang kept picking at it removing visibly damaged polyps from the piece. after a few days of pruning, my yellow tang left it alone.

Nope. Saw my tangs going after good healthy zoanthid colonies.
This subject has come up many times and there are many people that say the same thing. Tangs will eat zoanthids if they think they are a food source.
 
I agree, my tang was popping off nice healthy polyps even with a full clip of Nori not even 6" away.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8169494#post8169494 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by heartbreak7
I had a hippo that once ate a colony of about 50 alien eyes, good times...:rolleyes:
WOW. Man, I know they don't do that in the wild. But being in a fish tank can make fish do strange things.
 
Has anyone ever had a problem with Chevron, Tomini, or Kole tangs? I think I'm going to get a small Tomini or Chevron soon but I'll skip it if people have had problems. My guess is they're less likely to bother zoas just from the shape of their mouth.

Just an FYI. I had a Purple and Dejardini tang for several years with two large colonies of zoas and never had them touch em. This was long before the naming craze but if I had to say, they were green and orange skirts with green and orange centers.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8174376#post8174376 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Peter Eichler


Just an FYI. I had a Purple and Dejardini tang for several years with two large colonies of zoas and never had them touch em. This was long before the naming craze but if I had to say, they were green and orange skirts with green and orange centers.


I had 3 hippo tangs for 3-4 years that never bothered them either, untill one day a colony of eagle eyes I had that was about 7-8 inches in dia. was suddenly gone almost overnight.:mad:
 
I think if your feeding your tangs well and always keeping algae leafs clipped in your tank then you shouldn't have to many problems.... If they are going after your aoas they are obviously hungry and there's nothing else appatizing to eat. my 2 cents...
 
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