Sohal Tang nipping at my SPS corals

[disaster999]

I recently bought a small ~2" sohal tang for around a month. I had it inside a separation box for around a week on the advise of my LFS with some grape algae and it kept munching on the algae throughout the week. I tried getting it to eat pellets or frozen food for the entire week but it didnt really show much interest.

After a week, I set it free inside my tank and it started roaming around the tank and instantly went picking at my rocks and glass for any algae and I thought all was well. I kept feeding the rest of my fish pellets and other foods but never really seen the sohal tang really go for any foods except just grazing on the rocks and glass.

Last night while looking at my tank, I noticed one of my SPS coral looking kind of weird. It kind of looked like when SPS grows, the tips are white since the flesh havent really fully developed, but in my case the white part is down one side of the branch. Looking at it closely I noticed the flesh is missing on it instead of growing. Then the culprit showed up and saw my sohal tang nipping at it so I pull that sps out and put it inside my separation box hoping it would heal.

This is the first time Ive seen a tang nipping at my sps, yet alone hearing about it. Im sure it wasnt getting enough food inside my tank and it developed a taste for coral. I have various kinds of foods I add to my tank on rotation but he doesnt seem to be interested in any of them, different kinds of pellets, frozen mysis shrimp, frozen plankton, this donut food from aquaforest you stick to the side of the tank with a suction cup for fish to nip at...he just doesnt interested in anything. I feed nori sheets too, but its at the front of the tank which he doesnt roam around in so I moved it to the back corner of the tank where he hangs out and hopefully he eats that instead. Any other idea what to feed him?

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I recently bought a small ~2" sohal tang for around a month. I had it inside a separation box for around a week on the advise of my LFS with some grape algae and it kept munching on the algae throughout the week. I tried getting it to eat pellets or frozen food for the entire week but it didnt really show much interest.

After a week, I set it free inside my tank and it started roaming around the tank and instantly went picking at my rocks and glass for any algae and I thought all was well. I kept feeding the rest of my fish pellets and other foods but never really seen the sohal tang really go for any foods except just grazing on the rocks and glass.

Last night while looking at my tank, I noticed one of my SPS coral looking kind of weird. It kind of looked like when SPS grows, the tips are white since the flesh havent really fully developed, but in my case the white part is down one side of the branch. Looking at it closely I noticed the flesh is missing on it instead of growing. Then the culprit showed up and saw my sohal tang nipping at it so I pull that sps out and put it inside my separation box hoping it would heal.

This is the first time Ive seen a tang nipping at my sps, yet alone hearing about it. Im sure it wasnt getting enough food inside my tank and it developed a taste for coral. I have various kinds of foods I add to my tank on rotation but he doesnt seem to be interested in any of them, different kinds of pellets, frozen mysis shrimp, frozen plankton, this donut food from aquaforest you stick to the side of the tank with a suction cup for fish to nip at...he just doesnt interested in anything. I feed nori sheets too, but its at the front of the tank which he doesnt roam around in so I moved it to the back corner of the tank where he hangs out and hopefully he eats that instead. Any other idea what to feed him?

I've heard of larger tangs eating coral, but not usually when they're young. It's hard to stop them once they begin unless they've only developed a taste for one variety. Honestly, I wouldn't have let him out of the box until he was eating something reliably, as now it would probably be very hard to give him targeted food attempts/catch him.

That being said, if he has a penchant for nipping at things like rocks and coral, sometimes getting food that sticks to the things they nip at make the most sense. Things like repashy and masstick are like gels that can be smeared on hard surfaces, or pinning those nori sheets flat to the surfaces he likes to graze on can do the trick.

If you'd rather try throwing something on the ground in the tank, usually opened bivalves are very attractive to any benthic feeders; things like clams, fresh mussels, etc. are usually enticing. If you can get him to eat out of a bivalve shell, that can make things even easier as you can use smearable foods in the empty shells, like the repashy/masstick I mentioned or even P.E. mysis with how greasy it is.

 

[littlefoxx]

I had a powder blue who ate my leather corals. I re homed her because of aggression but she killed all my leathers. Sorry to hear

 

[disaster999]

I've heard of larger tangs eating coral, but not usually when they're young. It's hard to stop them once they begin unless they've only developed a taste for one variety. Honestly, I wouldn't have let him out of the box until he was eating something reliably, as now it would probably be very hard to give him targeted food attempts/catch him.

That being said, if he has a penchant for nipping at things like rocks and coral, sometimes getting food that sticks to the things they nip at make the most sense. Things like repashy and masstick are like gels that can be smeared on hard surfaces, or pinning those nori sheets flat to the surfaces he likes to graze on can do the trick.

If you'd rather try throwing something on the ground in the tank, usually opened bivalves are very attractive to any benthic feeders; things like clams, fresh mussels, etc. are usually enticing. If you can get him to eat out of a bivalve shell, that can make things even easier as you can use smearable foods in the empty shells, like the repashy/masstick I mentioned or even P.E. mysis with how greasy it is.

I could see him pretty stressed inside the box as he was constantly swimming up and down the side and freaking out every time I step close to the tank thats why I thought he would be better off swimming in the tank than cramped up inside a small box.

I tried target feeding or placing food near where he swims, but other fish would pretty much just follow the scent and go for the food. Nori clips seem to last longer but my other tangs would be all over it at first. Ill try it for a few days hopefully he gets his chance at it after the big fish are done.