Blue Tang - vegitarian?

[andyaz]

I have a nice Blue Tang (Dory) to go along with a couple of clowns (Marlin and Nemo to the kids) and a blennie. When I got Dory, she was a vegitarian, I thought. At least, she would graze at seaweed and algae sheets, and eat veggie parts of the frozen food I'd put in (Emerald Entree). She'd eat the veggie parts, and the clowns would eat the meaty parts that would float out. I guess, somewhere along the way, Dory got the taste of meat and began to prefer that. I caught her the other morning with half a hermit crab in her mouth. I suspect now that she might have been behind the mysterious case of the vanishing cleaner shrimp about six months ago, as well as my dwindling hermit crab population.
It's not like I don't feed them, and I try not to overfeed the tank. Why would she start eating the crabs, and is there any way (short of adopting her off to another family) to stop this behavior in my tank?
Andy

 

[sepulatian]

Blue hippo tangs are omnivores that lean more toward the herbivore side. How long have you had this tank? What size is it? How much LR do you have?

 

[anonome]

Actually hippo's are and need an omnivorous diet to be healthy. Mine likes the nori, but relishes the squid, mysis shrimp, and clams that I feed to my carnivores.

 

[andyaz]

This particular iteration of tank is about one year old now. I started with a 29G and had the two clowns and a coral beauty. From there I got tank-itis and got a taller 40G and added the hippo tang. I know, small tank for a hippo, which leads to the hippo tank in a 55G w/10gal sump. Added a lawnmower blennie with that tank as well. The coral beauty has left us, so now we're down to the two false-percula clowns, hippo tang, and blennie. I have about 65-75 lbs of live rock, I forget exactly as I've added over time and with the tank size upgrades. 60-70lbs of live sand, hard to judge from moving the sand between tanks as well. 458W MH/T5 lighting (2x150w MH, 2x54w T5) supporting a healthy colony of green mushroom polyps, yellow polyps (forget the genus) and green star polyps.
Glad to know the tang is an omnivore, but she is definitely leaning more towards the carnivore side with the hermit crab snack. I think the larger of the two clowns might have had a part in it as well, as I saw her take a nibble off the crab too when the tang dropped it. The smaller of the two clowns, he didn't seem to have a say in it, he just hung off to the side watching.
I just hesitate to get a whole new cleaning crew (snails, crabs, cleaner shrimp, etc) when I know they are just going to be lunch. Writing that, I remember seeing the tang nipping at a snail's foot before too. Any suggestions?
*edit - and before I forget, the Emerald Entree frozen cubes seem to be a good food that everyone digs in on. Have much less cyano problems since I switched over from pellet/flake to the frozen stuff. I'd be curious to hear others opinions on that food or other alternatives.
Andy

 

[anonome]

I have never seen mine eat hermits, but will play dodge ball persay with any snail that gets on the glass. Seems to be a game with mine. Actually will aim for the snail and purposely ram it to make it loose its footing on the glass. I have never seen it try to eat them. It really is comical.
Maybe increase feedings? Small multiple feedings might help this.
This behavior seems quite unusual though.

 

[m0nk]

Sounds like it might not be getting enough of the herbivore diet that it needs and is probably straining for something to fill the gap. You should be feeding some algea/seaweed sheets once ever other day or so. You can either strap it to a rock or get a veggie clip to hold it. You'll definitely need to do that for a hippo, otherwise it won't get the diet it needs to stay healthy. Hope that helps.

 

[andyaz]

I usually do a half cube of the entree around 6pm, think they need more of a breakfast? Maybe I'll try a quarter of a Emerald Entree cube before I leave for work in the morning (no lights in the tank, think they'll mind eating in the dark?

) and clip in a bit of seaweed sheet too, leave the sheet in during the day and take it out when I get home (or should I just leave it in the tank 'till it gets finished?) and give them the other quarter cube at 6pm before lights out, making a half-cube daily meal for the two clowns, blue tang, and blennie (though he tends to eat off the glass anyway). I usually supplement with a little 1/4 teaspoon of plankton for the coral and filter feeders too.

 

[stanlalee]

most tangs in captivity will eat anything you throw in the tank. Hippo tangs are one of the few that are almost exclusive zooplankton carnivores prior to adulthood where they are mostly herbivores like other tangs. the hermit must have been off its game or half past dead anyway to allow itself to be caught by a tang before retreating into its shell.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by AndyAZ
I usually do a half cube of the entree around 6pm, think they need more of a breakfast? Maybe I'll try a quarter of a Emerald Entree cube before I leave for work in the morning (no lights in the tank, think they'll mind eating in the dark?

) and clip in a bit of seaweed sheet too, leave the sheet in during the day and take it out when I get home (or should I just leave it in the tank 'till it gets finished?) and give them the other quarter cube at 6pm before lights out, making a half-cube daily meal for the two clowns, blue tang, and blennie (though he tends to eat off the glass anyway). I usually supplement with a little 1/4 teaspoon of plankton for the coral and filter feeders too.
There shouldn't be any need to add a morning feeding if everything else is going fine. With that size tank you probably don't want to add anymore load (extra food means extra detritus too). I would just suggest adding the algea/seaweed sheet into the mix.