Kole Tang not eating algae off the clip

I have had a Kole in my tank for about a month. I also have a Blue Hippo. Was wondering if anyone is having trouble with them not eating off the algae clip. He is eating off the rocks scavenging for algae like they should do. But my concern is that I have never seen him eat off the clip. There is not much algae in my tank for him to get off the rocks. So im wondering what I could do to get him to eat off the clip. I have tried dipping the algae in garlic does not seem to get him interested.

Figured I would post on here too see if anyone else had this problem. Right now im feeding sea veggies purple seaweed. Maybe this kind is not something they eat in the wild? I feed spectrum also with mysis every other day. He will not touch any of it.

If there is a good read somewhere on this or if Im doing something wrong pls post foods ect to try with him. He is not thin but im sure he will get there due to the lack of stuff for him to eat and the lawnmower taking it out just as fast as him.

 

My powder blue prefers green nori to the red and purple stuff.

Not sure why, but he readily takes it more than the others. Garlic nori doesn't seem to attract him any more either.

Some things you might want to try:

1. Experiment with different types of nori.
2. Place more than one clip at a time and make sure he can get to it; ie, it's not being guarded by another fish.
3. Rubberband a piece to a rock in his usual eating pattern and see if you can "train" him to eat nori this way. Once he realizes it's food, maybe he will go to the clip.
4. Maybe he is getting enough algae right now and has no interest in nori because he doesn't need it.
5. Try some live macro algae like Agardiella or Gracilaria.

 

Ill some of that a try and see what happens my hippo is not picky she will eat anything so maybe Ill get some diffrent color stuff to try and see how that goes. Dont think anyone is guarding it but maybe she just does not get it. So might just be a training thing

 

+1 to the rubber band a rock method. My friend was in the same situation, his was super skittish of the clip, went that route & keeps a very happily eating tang now.

 

Im having the same trouble with mine. I've tried on the clip and on the rock. I've been mixing frozen with mashed garlic too. I haven't had much luck however, he's not wasting away and seems to be healthy but extremely shy. He's been in there about 2 weeks. Even in qt, I couldn't really get him to eat.. Good luck and I'll post back if I have better luck with mine

 

kole tangs naturally eat film algae and dirty gunk buildup in the wild... so the transition to a nori clip is probably odd for them.

If you are worried then let some film algae build up and let them scrape it off your glass. Otherwise, you just have to wait until they start to watch and learn how the other fish eat.

On a side note, my friend has a kole tang that is a few years old and only eats pellets now. This kole tang has a stomach the size of a baseball! I think it is because they have a harder time digesting pellets and other foods like that lol

 

my kole eats off the clip no problem, but to get it to start eating seaweed, i had to wedge some in the rocks, after it realized what it was, it slowly started picking at the clip, now i cant even put my hand in the tank to put the seaweed on the clip before he is waiting for it, picking at still in my hand as its going on the clip..

a month seems a little long for it not to have noticed what it is.. +1 to trying some different colors.. mine likes the green and red, never tried any others..

 

Id try what others suggested about rubber banding it to a rock. my tomini tang wont touch it if it is on a clip but when I rubber band it to a piece of rubble he picks at it all day

 

might just give that a shot cuz he is not interested in it at all. Also picked up some green today too so gonna put both kinds in there to see if he is just not picky lol. Will see

 

That's awesome! After losing my Powder Blue tang last year, I swore I would never get one again...

but I recently picked up a new one...

It was eating lettuce tied to a rock in the store. Being that it was voraciously eating in the store was a good sign to me. He looked very healthy so I picked him up, and this was just a few weeks ago. He eats nori and algae off my tank's rocks all day. He doesn't like garlic nori though, for some reason.

BUT, today I was feeding my fish some pellets for the first time, and the Powder Blue, to my surprise GOBBLED THEM UP!

I think it goes to show that it's important to look for a fish that is eating and healthy in the store.

I wish you the best of luck with yours!