Tominiensis tang

[Coralz]

Im haveing a problem getting my Tominiensis tang to eat . I just got the tang last week. I put seaweed selects, spectrum pelents, and flake food into my tank, but he will hide once I put the spectrum pelents and flake food in my tank. Why wont he atleast eat the seaweed selects, he won't even bother to look at it....

( im useing the green seaweed selects.)

 

[sirbooks]

What was it eating at the store? Chances are that it was getting live brine or some kind of frozen food(s). If you can find out what it was being fed in the shop, you can duplicate the diet and start out from there.

As for the seaweed, just keep at it. Try putting it in spots where the tang seems to hang out most, and it will eventually give it a try. Once it finds out that the seaweed tastes good, it will learn to search it out anywhere you place it.

 

[Amphiprion]

He may not be eating it because that sort of algae is rather unnatural for this tang. They typically consume diatoms and associated detritus on the sediments, as well as some infauna. I know that people get them to eat seaweed later on, which will help, but you need to make sure you have plenty of sand surface area and diatom growth to support it in the meantime. They will have to have plenty of the aforementioned food items or they probably will not do too well.

 

[Coralz]

It was eating spectrum spectrum thera+a at the store which I have. The tang is in great shape. But when I put food in the tank he will go hide in the lr, thats why I bought seaweed selects.

 

[Amphiprion]

Keep trying. It is not something the fish is used to. How long do you wait before taking the clip out or stop feeding? You may just want to leave it in there a while longer (taking it out before it decays) and replacing as necessary. Also, what other fish do you have in the tank? Expect this species to be a bit tougher than some others and just give it some time.

 

[1package]

Mine is very shy, more so than any tang I have ever had. It does not like food from clips so well but will take anything frozen and nori if broken up, always grazing on rocks.

He is much less shy than a few months ago, but still very shy. Normally the best help is seeing others eating. I would go with the seaweed.

 

[waterfaller1]

Mine eats from my fingers.

 

[copps]

I've owned many tangs, and this species by far took the longest to take prepared foods... Feeding from the water column (and from a clip for that matter) is foreign to most fish in the trade, so it takes time. Hopefully you have sufficient things to graze on in your system. If not, try taking the nori or seaweed selects and wrapping it around a small piece of live rock suspended with a rubber band placed on the bottom of the system. It's natural for these fish to "hug the reef", especially in an atmosphere it doesn't know, and it will take a much longer time for it to feed on nori if it is clipped where they usually are, far from the liverock and up high on the glass...

It may take quite a bit longer, but don't worry as long as the fish is healthy. Once it does settle in over the course of months and years it will become very tame... I've had mine since 2003 and he is possibly the most aggresive and bold feeder when it comes to feeding from the turkey baster, and there is plenty of stiff competition in the system... This fish is excellent though, and it's great to see it in the trade more often now... and excellent and welcome change from the standard kole if you want a bristletooth Ctenochaetus genus tang... Here's a shot of my guy jockeying for position to get to the turkey baster, taken with flash under actinics... anyway... relax... this is normal behavior

Copps

 

[waterfaller1]

Hi John:wavehand: I forgot..mine eats from the baster too. Yesterday I was just blowing rocks off with it and he was trying to see if there was food in it. Here is a tip about the clip...use your mag-float to hold the nori/seaweed instead. They are used to seeing that, and are'nt afraid. It also holds better.

 

[thor32766]

great idea with mag float

 

[copps]

Hello Carole! That Magnet idea I first read before I was a premium member trying to do a search on RC... the suggestions that pop up as you're banging on the search button... The search function alone is worth $2 a month! I remember first seeing tominis like 15 years ago listed as "butterscotch tangs"... anyone ever seen them referred to as these recently?

 

[sirbooks]

Not me, either just as the "Tomini" or the "flamefin" tang.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Try turning off the pumps for a little while and letting the pellets settle to the bottom. The bristlemouth tangs often "suck" food debris off the bottom, so if he is used to eating the pellet, leave it in, turn off the pumps, and watch from a distance.