How Often Should I Feed My Tang to Keep It From Eating Coral?

I had previously blamed my peppermint shrimp for the pecking at my acans, but I caught my sailfin tang in the act. I may eventually have to get rid of him but before I do, perhaps he isn't getting the food he wants/needs.

I was thinking I would target feed the sailfin, hippo, and yellow tangs to keep them from nipping at the coral. If so, how often should I do this? Daily? Weekly?

Or is it a lost cause? Perhaps once they get a taste for corals, they will always "supplement" their diet?

 

Typically you want to keep algae on mag clip for them to graze on. I try and keep some in there daily but will go a day or 2 with out.

 

Agree with the seaweed clip. Tangs are grazers. I'd try to feed the tank at least twice a day for them. They are active fish which, in my opinion, means they should be offered food more often. Hope this helps

 

I recently got a Kole Tang that I discovered the fish store was pretty much only feeding meaty foods, it made him picky. It took a long time for him to start grazing on seaweed on clips. he started out by picking at rocks, algae or not. I ended up having to take small pieces of algae and wedge it into nooks and crannies of LR to mimic natural picking. Maybe you can do something similar to ween it off of coral.

 

Great ideas guys. Thanks. I'm currently feeding pellets on an auto feeder twice per day but I think the tangs need more special dietary attention. I just bought some seaweed and will give them some mysis as well. Hopefully, they stay away from my beloved acans. The hippo and yellow tang are pretty mellow, but the sailfin has been downright aggressive recently. Must be hungry!

 

Personally I doubt that it is "eating the corals" but rather it is more likely to be picking at algae on them.

 

It is actually not uncommon for Zebromosa Tangs to eat corals. Being herbivores fish they require greens. I doubt feeding it more will stop this behavior as it usually worsens with time. IMO your tank is not big enough to comfortably house the Sailfin or the Blue tang so removing them would be my suggestion anyway.

 

Really? How much tank do they usually need?

 

Minimum of 180 gallons.

 

Wow, that's good to know. They are about 3 or 4 years old. Maybe it's time to sell them to someone with a bigger thank. Thanks for the advice.