What to feed baby Blue Tang

[jarhed]

Hey folks.

Just added a baby Blue Tang to my little QT tank. Got filtration running and a heater. Started the QT with some tank water from a water change yesterday (about 5 gallons), some of the water the fish came in, and new water (OceanPure and IO mix - switching to OP slowly).

It was a slow start and of course the stress of being brought home and added to QT showed the usual ich spots. The SG is now at 1.026 and I will be taking it to hypo over the next week, then holding him there for five weeks before bringing it back up.

I put a little bit of flake in the QT and clipped on a small chunk of algae food for him to graze. It did occur to me though that his mouth may be too small for that.

What would you recommend for a baby Blue Tang to feed and make him stronger? He is currently about the size of a quarter.

 

[SAT]

Try some frozen mysis shrimp or sweetwater zooplankton. Unlike many tangs, blue tangs are at least partly planktivores. Good luck with him... I've found they are quite fragile at that size.

 

[jarhed]

Kewl.

Thanks SAT. Yeah, I know they are very fragile. Problem is, I cant seem to find any decent sized healthy ones anywhere. The only store in Fontucky has them usually, but they are also always very sick. I just dont buy fish there anymore.

Saw a nice medium sized one yesterday at Jan's in Montclaire, but it too was scratching quite a bit.

I grabbed one of their three babies that they had just brought in last Wednesday in the hopes that I could keep it alive in QT and grow it a little before adding to the main tank.

I have some frozen baby brine shrimp that are way too small for anything in my main tank. Do you think he'll go for that too? Also, will DT's and/or Cyclopeeze powder be good for him?

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[jarhed]

Never mind, he's already dead. One friggin day!

 

[SAT]

Bummer