Blue Tang Starting to Eat my Corals?

[AetherealKnight]

Noticed that my blue tang was nipping on my Anthelia, I had to cut down feeding to reduce phosphate which may have led him to try and eat corals. But now he has a taste for Anthelia corals. He hasn't shown any interest in other corals yet. But is there anything I can do to dissuade?

Should I up feeding a little more? I feed them every other day with a sheet of nori and some large algae max pellets. Occasionally they get some flakes and sometimes some mysis.

 

[208reef]

Blue hippo tang or a Caribbean tang?

 

[AetherealKnight]

Blue hippo tang or a Caribbean tang?

It's a Blue Hippo Tang

 

[Purpletang92]

Tangs are know to eat corals once they start it’s nearly impossible for them to stop. Pull the fish or pull the corals they are eating , the choice will be yours, it’s an unfortunate situation.

 

[GeoSquid]

Feed the fish, dang the torpedoes... I mean phosphate.

 

[GeoSquid]

Give it fresh sucked clams or oysters

 

[AetherealKnight]

Well at least it's anthelia, that stuff grows everywhere in my tank. Just hope he doesn't go for my expensive corals.

 

[Purpletang92]

Tangs need to graze constantly, you can try sheets of seaweed on a clip.

 

[crazyfishmom]

My hippo likes scolys, acans, acanthos… you get the theme here… meaty LPS beware. I moved all of those to a different tank and she hasn’t gone after anything else.

 

[Tamberav]

I feel like I see this enough that it should be a reef safe with caution fish

 

[vetteguy53081]

Noticed that my blue tang was nipping on my Anthelia, I had to cut down feeding to reduce phosphate which may have led him to try and eat corals. But now he has a taste for Anthelia corals. He hasn't shown any interest in other corals yet. But is there anything I can do to dissuade?

Should I up feeding a little more? I feed them every other day with a sheet of nori and some large algae max pellets. Occasionally they get some flakes and sometimes some mysis.

Unusual for this type of fish but assure its getting proper diet. Cutting up scallops and even shrimp into bit size pieces will keep it full

 

[AetherealKnight]

Tangs need to graze constantly, you can try sheets of seaweed on a clip.

Like as in multiple sheets of seaweed on a clip? I basically just fold up nori seaweed and put it on a clip.

 

[AetherealKnight]

Unusual for this type of fish but assure its getting proper diet. Cutting up scallops and even shrimp into bit size pieces will keep it full

I feel like that would raise my phosphates in the long term. I was under the impression that my blue tang always needed an algae based diet, at least that's what I've been feeding him for the past 7 years. It was only till recently he started to nip on anthelia after I drastically cut feeding.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I feel like that would raise my phosphates in the long term. I was under the impression that my blue tang always needed an algae based diet, at least that's what I've been feeding him for the past 7 years. It was only till recently he started to nip on anthelia after I drastically cut feeding.

This is some of what I feed my hepatus and with 25 other tangs, I dont have a phosphate issue. Overfeeding will be a reason which I control

 

[codycolina707]

Noticed that my blue tang was nipping on my Anthelia, I had to cut down feeding to reduce phosphate which may have led him to try and eat corals. But now he has a taste for Anthelia corals. He hasn't shown any interest in other corals yet. But is there anything I can do to dissuade?

Should I up feeding a little more? I feed them every other day with a sheet of nori and some large algae max pellets. Occasionally they get some flakes and sometimes some mysis.

Wish my hippo tang would eat anthelia tbh it might be worst than aiptasia

 

[angelsandtangs]

Only tang I’ve had that took a liking to lps’s

 

[Purpletang92]

Like as in multiple sheets of seaweed on a clip? I basically just fold up nori seaweed and put it on a clip.

You can use seaweed, spinach , kale , just fold it really tight so the fish can’t pull off big chunks at a time something to keep it occupied kinda like a chew toy with a treat in it for a dog.

 

[AetherealKnight]

Wish my hippo tang would eat anthelia tbh it might be worst than aiptasia

I kinda like my Anthelia though it did take at least 4 years for me to get them on a separate island rock. I originally just let them grow on my main rock but they started to take over a lot of stuff.

It's still kinda big but it's far enough from any rock so it won't jump.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

there are ways to reduce phosphate, IMO feeding less is not the correct way.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I was under the impression that my blue tang always needed an algae based diet,

The wild diet and broodstock diet - the diet used to get them healthy enough to breed in aquariums - of Blue Hippo Tangs:

For the blue hippo tang (Paracanthurus hepatus), A.K.A. the pacific blue tang;

"Feed on zooplankton and occasionally on algae (Ref. 9710, 48637, 27115, 83665)."***

"Pacific blue tang broodstock were fed a varied diet to apparent satiation three to five times daily. The diet consisted of a mixture of a commercially prepared seafood blend (LRS Fertility Frenzy, Larry's Reef Services, Advance, NC, USA); fish eggs (LRS Fish Eggs, Larry's Reef Services); frozen mysis shrimp, Mysis diluviana (Piscine Energetics, Inc., Vernon, BC, Canada); and a commercially available 1.7-mm extruded pellet ([EP1 – 46% crude protein, 16% crude fat, and 2% crude fiber], TDO Chroma Boost, Reed Mariculture, Inc., Campbell, CA, USA)."****

***Source:

Paracanthurus hepatus summary page

www.fishbase.de

****Source:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/oidcStart?redirectUri=/doi/10.1111/jwas.12426