How to get a Blonde Naso tang to eat?

[nbd13]

Hey guys,

I picked up a nice 5-6" Blonde Naso tang, now i know my tank is too small, but i wanted it to keep my dicyota at bay.

So here is my question,

so far he is eating the dicyota real well, BUT he will not eat any of the frozen foods i throw in there.

I mean he picks at the rocks all day long, but when i feed (2x a day) he will now eat the stuff. I mean anything from mysis to my own home-made mix...

He is also real scared of me, ever time i go near the tank he gets freaked out.

Now i did pick him up at the LFS right when the shipment got in so he never was in there tanks, just mine.

I have had him 2 days now.

Is it just too early, should i just keep trying?

i mean food will float right by him, but he doesnt even seem intrested...

what do you guys think here? i mean he does eat the dicyota, but is that enough for him?

atleast he is taking care of my dicyota for me

let me know guys.

thanks

Nick

[Travis]

Hi Nick,
Glad to hear he is eating the dictyota. I've had mine for several months and it will not touch frozen food. But it does eat nori like there is no tomorrow. I also got an achilles at the same time I got the naso and it also has never touched anything but nori. I would just be sure you are keeping a steady supply of nori in there for him to eat and he should be ok. If he decides he want's to eat frozen food he will, if not he may never touch it. In the wild, naso tangs' diets consist of nothing but brown macroalgae. I've also heard reports of them not accepting anything except algae in captivity. And I've heard reports of them accepting prepared foods as well. It could also be that he is keeping himself full on the dictyota right now and will start testing out other foods as the dictyota supply gets more scarce.

[nbd13]

Thanks Travis,

Good to hear that others are having the same experience as I am.

All my other tangs (chevron and hippo) and angels eat the nori like no tomorrow so i am hoping the naso picks it up from them...

I would like to see him pick at the rocks alittle more, but i guess there is food for him all the time (dicyota), so i guess he must be full....

I try to keep nori in there all the time for the other fish, so hopefully he picks up on it.

they are a nice looking fish though....

thanks for the help. I guess if he wants to eat frozen foods he will, if not thats ok.

Nick

[tanglovers]

Our blonde naso loves nori as well and also eats frozen, pretty much everything. He took a little time to eat after we got him maybe a couple days to be a real pig but he was also in the QT tank then too. We soak our frozen mixed food in garlic Xtreme, Zoe and Zoecon as well.

Hope he turns around, we love ours has an awesome personality and I love his streamers on his tail.

Scott

[Travis]

Nick, I forgot to mention that my naso is also a very timid fish. It reminds me of the foxface that I had previously. He likes to hang out under my rock structure most of the time and is only out and about about 1/2 of the time during the day.

[Orion76]

I have a similar case but with a Powder Brown tang. Had it in QT for 3 weeks, I tried to feed it everything and it wouldn't accept anything but sea veggies and nori.

He's been in my display for a while now and will not touch any sort of fish food, just spends the whole day picking at rocks. Even eats the red turf algae that nothing else will touch. When I hit the food timer instead of taking the fish food he darts to the nozzles of my Tunzes to get the algae that he can't get when the current is too strong.

He's gotten real fat, is super healthy, super active and keeps my tank spotless.

Be happy, you got yourself a good algae exterminator and algae is good for him

[Spur2]

I have been looking for a small blonde naso tang but no luck. All i can find is 5-6". My tank is 150gals with almost 300lbs of LR. How big of the tank for me to be able to keep the blonde naso and the sohal tang. That is my two favorite fish.

[nbd13]

reefrookie- probably 400-500 gallons for the sohal tang. they need alot and i eman alot of room. I mean look at 64Ivy over on RC he has a 500 gallon tank and his sohal tang is out growing it... they need big tanks.

thanks everyone for all the help. I will just continue to put nori on the clip and hope he continues to eat the algae off the rocks.

thanks

Nick

[Ruth]

I have had my Blonde Naso for about 3 months now. He was big when I got him - probably 8-10". He will not eat any meaty foods - and I have tried them all from frozen mysis, prepared homemade mash with garlic and selcon to fresh and cyclopeeze. He wants nothing to do with it. He eats Nori like there is no tomorrow and will eat chaeto and grape calerpa (his favorite) that I unfortunately have growing in a Nano tank. He is fat and has a great personality. He is not shy at all and in fact it is a challenge when I put the Nori in the tank as he is right there trying to grab it out of my hand and does not even care if I touch him or not he stays right there.

[nbd13]

Thanks guys,

one more question while i have your attention....

what's the best way to get him to eat the nori?

i mean all my other fish eat the stuff, so you think he would learn, but that is not the case.

He picks at the rocks and is still deficating, which is a good sign.

anyway let me know guys,

thanks

Nick

[Ruth]

With mine, I rubber banded some to a piece of rock and put it in the live rock "pile". It only took once and then he went right after it on the clip.

[nbd13]

maybe i will try to rubberband it, he goes by the clip and watches the other tangs and angels eat it, but he doesnt even look at it.

thanks

Nick