feeding my Y-tang

So my yellow tang will only take a few bites out of the nori I give him. He swoops up all the mysiss I put in for the other fish, do I need to try to feed him nori first and then feed every one else? I'm worried that he can out wait me and the other fish if I try that. Is caulerpa just as good as nori? he seems to eat none stop, I know they eat more than a lot of fish, but how much should I let him eat?

 

I guess I'll be more direct with my questions. Is caulerpa as good as nori? how much macro algae should I be trying to get it to eat compared to meaty food? and is it normal for Y-tangs to like meaty food over nori?

 

how do you feed the nori? i have heard of some tangs not liking the clips so folks will attach the nori to rocks via rubberbands or other methods. you could also try rubbing some garlic on the nori or buying it pre-soaked. ocean nutrition sells some this way. I am not sure about the nutritional value of the dried seaweed verses caulerpa but i would assume it is comparable. My powder blue and desjardini sailfin love both. i just give them a fistful of the caulerpa once a week out of the fuge. They would finish it off in a couple of days if they could reach what i have in the fuge.

 

i said that i give them caulerpa once a week. this is in addition to daily feedings of the nori.

 

I personally would not feed caluerpa, it is toxic and eventually kills most things that eat it.

I think that is a pretty definitive answer.

 

Really? I was told it's a good thing to feed tangs. What about cheato or Gracilaria?

 

i have never heard this. i have been feeding my fish grape caulerpa for a long time. is it all caulerpa that is toxic?

 

Do u feedx nori on a clip? I feed 4 tangs a whole sheet once a day. Mysis, rods food herbivore blend, cyclopleeze, in rotation daily. With mysis being the least fed.

 

I have ether been tucking it into a rock or letting it hang from my hood. It's eating the nori pretty well right now, so I think I might just have been over feeding it other things, but now I need to figure out how to feed my rust angle without over feeding the tang. I'm thinking I'm going to try feeding the tang nori in the morning and feeding the angle in the evening.

 

I have heard it varies in toxicity by types, but I have never found any actual information on which is more toxic.

But yes caulerpa is pretty toxic, its part of the reason people call it the killer algae, it grows super fast and really nothing can eat it outside of its native environment.


actually just cutting or trimming it in your refugium is harmful to the tank inhabitants because when damaged it releases toxins.

the toxins are caulerpenyne (CYN), oxytoxins, taxifolials and other terpenes.

a page about caluerpa taxifolia.
caulerpa taxifolia fact sheet - part IV