Powder Blue SPS Muncher

[HerbieK]

I have a Powder Blue Tang in my 180 that seems to be developing a taste for a blue tipped stag and a teal acro. Has anyone ever experienced this type of behavior in a powder blue? He is a really beautiful fish, and I would hate to boot him out of the reef.

I am wondering what could be the cause of this sudden attraction to coral munching.

Any help would be appreciated.

Herb

 

[Phyl]

How often do you hang Nori in the tank? They are grazers and really need to pick all day long. In the absence of any algae in the tank there's almost no telling what they'd resort to...

 

[HerbieK]

I usually give my tangs a 1/2 sheet of "nori" a day. I have a Naso and a Sailfin besides the Powder blue. Do you think this is enough grazing? I also see the tangs picking around on the rock occasionally.

 

[Phyl]

Maybe one of the other tangs is dominating the clip. You could try adding a second 1/2 on another clip on the other side of the tank and see if the behavior diminishes?

 

[MikeNapoli]

Don't forget that fish learn behaviors too so if your Powder Blue is eating or picking at coral then there is a good chance that the other two will be right behind him.

Try feeding more times per day but less food each time. This way your not over feeding but they'll have less time to think about chewing on coral between feedings.

 

[jazzsam]

I had a couple tangs do that and I could not get them to stop so I pulled them.