Tang turned to splasher

[ddrew78]

Ok, so this is my first post on here, so a little about my setup first. I have a 46G tank, about 5 inches of sand at the bottom, about 50lbs of live rock. I use a CPR bakpak for filtration and a 9W Submariner UV Sterilizer, as well as an extra powerhead for added current/surface agitation. Current inhabitants are two Clowns, Flame Angle, Neon Spot Wrasse, Red Coris Wrasse, 2 Fiji Blue Devils, one Pacific Blue Tang, one Skunk shrimp one emerald crab, one Haitian pink tip anemone and three (used to be one until a few weeks ago) bubble tip anemones, as well as a few snails. The tank has been setup for about 3 years, so it's well established, so I hope.

 

Now to my problem, if one even exists. My fish usually get fed three times a day, Mysis shrimp in the morning, and then I have a feeder that feeds them twice (once early afternoon and once in the evening, about 45 minutes before they go to sleep. Over the past week or so, my Tang has started to splash water all over the place with his tail, right in the corner where the food usually comes in. Is he just hungry and I need to reduce the amount of food, but increase it from twice a day to three? Or is he just being a brat and wanting to play? He seems fine, still swims around all happy, but I don't like having to dry up my floor every day, plus of course I don't want the splashing water to damage anything else.

 

Any ideas?

[surf&turf]

3 times a day is way to much food, cut back to once a day. He is probably just trying to chase the other fish away from the food.

 

Mine attacks the algae scrapper when I clean the glass.

[ddrew78]

I would agree with too much food, except that the amount that goes in only lasts about 2 minutes. Also, he mostly splashes in the hour before they get fed (I was actually able to sort of time it this weekend), so I was wondering if he's just hungry and knows food's coming soon.

 

I haven't had anyone attack the algae scraper when I'm using it, but if I leave the magfloat in there, my neon spot wrasse will do circles around it like a circus clown :-)

Edited April 30, 2012 by ddrew78

[surf&turf]

Maybe he thinks he can get the feeder to drop food if he splashes hard enough. Who knows tangs are weird.

 

Mine poops in the same corner all the time, go figure.

[MBVette]

Maybe he is telling you the tank is not big enough for him

[Jim]

I feed at least 4 times a day via auto feeder and usually 2-3 times a day with mysis and cyclopeeze (I carbon dose with vinegar through my ato). My guess is that your tang is letting you know it's time for a bigger home. I'd suggest upgrading or selling to somebody with a bigger tank.

[zygote2k]

tang police gonna getcha!

[steveoutlaw]

How big is the tang?

[Sharkey18]

The Tang has learned where and approximately when the food is released. He is either trying to get it to release or simply expressing his frustration that it not arriving sooner.

 

You basically have Pavlov's fish but instead of drooling, you have splashing. Pretty cool.

 

Also the NUMBER of times a day you feed is irrelevant. What matters is how MUCH you feed over the course of the day. Frequent small feedings are a very good thing.

 

Laura

[Origami]

Try feeding from a different corner - just to keep him guessing!