do tangs eat caulerpa?

unleashed

unleashed

Active Member
normally yes tangs love the stuff like the feather and the grape types these make great foods for all herbivores.
 
salix

salix

Member
normally must be the key word. I put some caulerpa in with my 6 tangs and they only nip at it a bit. they prefer to scrape at the rocks and eat the hair algea. and of course the nori.
I have 1 pbt and 5 yellow tangs.
 
tim_12

tim_12

Member
If you have a big enough tank, there are some fish you can get that will munch on it. Coincidently, I'm just in the middle of a break from ripping my whole tank apart to get rid of the stuff. Trust me, I know your pain. I had to pull tons of the stuff out every week, but it keeps growing back thicker. If you have a lot of it already, IMO a fish wouldnt be able to keep up with its growth. I've asked the same question you're asking right now and never really got a good answer, other than to pull every rock out one by one and pull it off manually. If you're willing to do that I can give you a few pointers.
 
salix

salix

Member
Originally Posted by unleashed
this may help shed some light on your problem of fish not eating it and why they are not
http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/seagrant/cautax2.html
http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/hcd/caulerpa/factsheet203.htm

it seems to me that you are correct. I will definatly not be getting anymore of this type of caulerpa. For the longest time i couldn't figure out why my tangs wouldn't touch it. they eat everything else green or red that i put in there, but wont touch taxifolia.this is why "Outside of the tropics where Caulerpa occurs naturally, there is no known marine life that eats C. taxifolia in any significant quantities. C. taxifolia contains toxins that are distasteful to species that might feed on it."
They also say its illegal in california.
I think i will be getting rid of mine. thanks for your insight unleashed
 
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