Yellow Tang not eating

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Hi Guys

Hope you can help me here. The yellow tang I bought on friday hasn't eaten yet,although he is nibbling at the LR so that makes me think that I'm not feeding anything that he fancy's! What can I feed that he can't resist?
Is it normal for fish not to eat when introduced to a new tank & how long should it take before they start eating?

Also he gets a brown mark almost like a bruise on his body when the lights are off.
Is this normal with yellow tangs?

Thanks in advance:)
 
Hey from what I know it does take some time, depending on how the fish are bred and stuff but normally does take some time to get comfy and eat, unless you are feeding something totally different I think, not sure about the bruise thing tho.
As long as he/she is swimming and going about normal you shouldnt worry about anything.
 
Hi Keeganp

Thanks for replying. His behaviour seems normal,swims nicely & nibbles at the rock. He is a bit shy & goes into hiding when we come near the tank but from what I've read that is normal too. The brown mark on his body disappears when I put the lights on. I've read elsewhere that they like Nori so I will see if I can get some from woolworths & try that.:) Hope it works!
 
Give him a day or two. With my purple tang, I got him eating in my quarantine tank first. Strangely he never really like nori (red and green) but he loves pellets, flakes and mysis. In the DT he used to go crazy for flakes and mysis, the pellets just get blown around and the fish rarely notices it. With the flakes you have to mix it in some water first so it sinks. If it floats they dont eat it. Try some mysis also
 
Hi Guys

Hope you can help me here. The yellow tang I bought on friday hasn't eaten yet,although he is nibbling at the LR so that makes me think that I'm not feeding anything that he fancy's! What can I feed that he can't resist?
Is it normal for fish not to eat when introduced to a new tank & how long should it take before they start eating?

Also he gets a brown mark almost like a bruise on his body when the lights are off.
Is this normal with yellow tangs?

Thanks in advance:)
Ok, hopefully it'll start to accept other kind of food looking at his other tank mates eating as-well!

Just one personal advice, when you buy a fish from a LFS, ensure yourself if he's already eating there..i.e if he's completely acclimatised to it's new environment, showing no sign of disease etc.... :thumbup:You've got this right;)

The brown mark, is normal for sail-fin family tangs.

Oh, mayB you could also offer seaweeds/nori as propsed by some of the guys above.
 
Try to get Nori from either a LFS or a Chinese shop, as the one from Woolies is toasted or roasted, which is not good, better than nothing, but the plainer the better.
 
but seriously mate, you should set up a little quarantine tank. I just use a cheap plastic container with a heater and air pump. It helps to get them eating prior to moving them to the DT :) .. You can use the bucket method to remove white spot. Easy and pretty quick quarantine. Worked wonders for my tang :)
 
Goodmorning Guys

Thanks for all the advice. The tang had come in with a shipment only 24 hrs before I bought him so they hadn't really been eating yet. It's risky I know but I've been waiting a while for a yellow tang & I was so anxious to take one before they were all gone! I bought him from one of the sponsers. I'm glad to hear they are tough fish! I just love this fish, he looked very happy yesterday & he has cleared all the algae off the rocks. He just nibbles them right down to the roots:thumbup:

I went to Woolies yesterday & noticed the Nori is roasted & I wasn't sure about that so I didn't take it,just as well! I will try the fish store.

I'm so glad to hear the brown mark is normal,it definately only appears when I turn off the lights at night.:)

I will definately look into getting a small quarintine setup ASAP,it's just not worth risking so much when adding new LS & I think it would have helped his confidence during feeding because I notice he hides when the other fish go crazy for food!(especially the clowns,real pigs at feeding time!)

Otherwise he looks happy & such a graceful swimmer, just shy! I have to sneak up to the tank slowly like a thief so that he doesn't go into hiding!:whistling:

Thanks again for all the advice!
MASA is great!
 
Hi there,
My yellow tang goes bos when I give him nori (green and from checkers oh and not roasted :thumbup:). He also loves flakes, pallets, mysis & my self made stuff. when he gets bored he cleans any algae off the 2 big turbo snails.... awesome fish.!!
 
I give him nori (green and from checkers oh and not roasted

Thanks for the tip.
Yeah they are great fish,so bright & lively! Everything else in the tank now looks dull & boring!LOL
Just hope I can get him to start eating something soon.
 
I use a Veggie clip, but like i said he goes bos with the stuff and 4 leaves of ±3x5 cm's only lasts about an hour :) his a real nut case when it comes to nori :lol:
 
Thanks for the tip.
Yeah they are great fish,so bright & lively! Everything else in the tank now looks dull & boring!LOL
Just hope I can get him to start eating something soon.

Hi winegums....you already know why your yellow tang is not eating yet lol think about it.....

He is getting all the food he needs fresh of your rocks:thumbup:

My yellow tang(now over six years old) did not even touch a single pellet or flake for around six months in my tank as there was enough growing on the rocks to sustain him,look at its stomach,does it look like its thinner than the rest of the body or filled out?If its filled out and not thinner than the rest of the body he will be fine as he is eating the algae of the rocks before you even see it growing!If you look closely you may even be able to see the food(green tint or brown tint).

As long as he is swimming fine/appearance is fine and belly looks filled out a bit don't worry yellow tangs are very hardy fish from my experience with them.
 
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Goodmorning guys. Great news,my tang ate mysis shrimp last night! Had 2 feed extra 2 satisfy him. I'm so stoked! Thanks again 4 all the advice! Cheers:thumbup:
 
Very cool, but you must try get him onto greens even if it is the roasted nori. Try taking a small rock out of the display and attach a piece of nori using an elastic band and drop the rock back into the display near to the back where he hides.
 
Very cool, but you must try get him onto greens even if it is the roasted nori. Try taking a small rock out of the display and attach a piece of nori using an elastic band and drop the rock back into the display near to the back where he hides.

Will do thanks Alan. At the moment he is eating everything but the Nori!
 
Goodmorning guys. Great news,my tang ate mysis shrimp last night! Had 2 feed extra 2 satisfy him. I'm so stoked! Thanks again 4 all the advice! Cheers:thumbup:

That is great news - getting my first Yellow Tang next week (from one of the sponsors) and cant wait
 
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