Naso Tang Not eating?

[clownfish4]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a Naso Tang (about 5 days ago) He has been doing well except for the fact that he doesn't eat.

I have tried feeding him Mysis shrimp, live kelp/algae, lettuce, red algae sheets, algae flakes, algae pellets, and even tried soaking all of the above in Seachem's Enticer chemical.

He did eat lettuce but I know that doesn't provide any nutrition, he did nibble at some of the red algae sheets, but wont eat anything else, and wont even touch the Mysis shrimp.

What else can I try, everyone else eats like pigs and he just kinda observes, follows my Yellow tang around and doesn't bother!

Any ideas?

 

[DaveK]

Please tell us a little more about your system and livestock. That may have some influence upon the tang.

For starters, 5 days is not yet reason to panic, especially if you have an extablished tank and the tang is out picking at the LR. Take a look at the belly and back of the fish, and if they are convex, you likely don't have a problem. Just give the fish a chance to get use to his new home.

Keep trying different foods. Sometimes live brine shrimp helps with getting a new fish to feed.

 

[clownfish4]

Hi,

Thanks for responding,

My tank is a 70 gallon custom show tank which I upgraded to about 3 months ago from a 46g bow front, 100lbs of LR 40lbs of LS,
Stock:
Adult Yellow tang -- 2 years
Juvenile Niger Trigger -- 5 days
Adult False Percula Clownfish -- 1 year
Mandarine Goby -- 5 days

I have soft corals aswell.

Temp: 80 degrees
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0
PH: 8
Phosphate: 5

Also, he isn't picking at the rocks like you said he should be doing but his belly is convex, could he not be hungry?
I will try live brine, but I hear it doesn't have any nutrients in it?

 

[DaveK]

I see two possible problems here.

First, your introducing a tang into a system that already has a tang in it. This can be really intimidating to the new fish, even if the old fish is not aggressive to it. It's kind og like being the new kid on the block, and looking out the window and seeing all the other kids much bigger than you. Even if they don't pick on you, you may not want to go out to play.

Second, your tank is really too small for two tangs. They really need space, even if they are still small. For now, if they are small you might get away with this, but long term I'd be looking for something a lot larger, or a way to get back to one tang.

The phosphate reading is high. Usually not a big problem for tangs, but it wouldn't hurt to get this down.

You are correct. From a nutritional standpoint, brine shrimp, even live brine shrimp, is considered a lousy food. The reason you feed it is to get a fish eating. It like giving them candy as a bribe. Once they start feeding, problems are usually limited to making sure they get enough to eat.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Umm...I really think you are adding too many fish at once. From what you've posted, it looks like you have added a trigger, goby, and a tang to the tank all in the span of a week. That might be placing strain on the system. You aren't giving the tank time to adjust to the added bioload. Also, the tank is not large enough for two tangs, especially a naso tang which is rated for an aquarium well above the size that you have. I would take back the new tang and possibly the trigger for store credit. Let the system get used to one fish before adding more. If you keep both the trigger and mandarin, really keep up on water changes and keep an eye on ammonia too.