[Spick]

I went ahead on bought some Nori seaweed for my yellow tang to nib on whenever hes hungry. I was told to cut a 2 x 2 peice and feed it 2 to 3 times a week. efverytime i do this.... and clip on teh clip my cleaner shrimp jump all over it, and some of my margaritas eventually find it aswell and finish it of within i'd say 8 hours tops. Is this normal. if not, how can i avoid it?

[szwedo]

i don't feed seaweed much because the tangs just pick at it and it comes out of the clip and ends up just floating around and decomosing.

[Spick]

i Agree.... ,well i would of agreed if it hadnt been for me observing the clip for a mere good couple hours... i noticed that it wasn't the tang that destroyed and made it float around and decompose... it was the snails and cleaner shrimp that would chip away at it, thats what i want to prevent... and thats what i need an answer on... i need to know if this is common, or if i'm simply under feeding so they are hungry for anything?

[szwedo]

Yes it is pretty common for snails to eat seaweed. when the snails get to it you could move it away to the other side or something. but as for the shrimp i have no idea what to do and I've never heard of them eating seaweed .does the tank have enough algae for the snails?

[Spick]

Theres definitely enough food for the snails... only one or two snails max find their way over, it's prob by coincedence only. But teh cleaner shrimps are definteily an eye scratcher?

[zhenya]

What I usually do is to roll that 2x2 piece of Nori into a loose roll and wedge it between my magnet cleaner(magnavore1). The fish take its sweet time eating it but usually it is done in the 30 minutes to an hour. Try smaller pieces if you have just one tang. I don't think your cleaner shrimp would present a problem for your tang. Also, are you feeding it anything? Perhaps it is very hungry and just trying to get to any food it can? Just a thought.

BTW, all of my fish eat Nori and I usually give it to them at least three to four times a week since most of the algae had been picked clean already.

[szwedo]

Hey Gene good idea! Thanks I'm gonna try that now

[Puget Diver]

Originally Posted by zhenya

I don't think your cleaner shrimp would present a problem for your tang. Also, are you feeding it anything? Perhaps it is very hungry and just trying to get to any food it can? Just a thought.

Hi Zhenya,

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have a question about the cleaner shrimp. Do you feed them something different than the rest of the fish in the tank? Our cleaners come out and feed with the others during feeding time, but they don't eat the nori.

Thanks,

Brandon

[zhenya]

Brandon,

I don't have any shrimp at this time, in fact I haven't kept one in a couple of years but I was simply making an observation that perhaps Spick's shrimp is hungry and don't get enough food. I don't believe that you need to feed them separately if you feed your tank/fish enough, they should be able to pick stuff up from the sand bed or rock with no problems, plus, if tank is mature they have enough live food to forage for. Amphipods, copepods and small polychaete worms, for example. Some will pick a few plyps of your corals here and there as well
When I did kept shrimp none ate Nori so it is a bit unusual to read something like this, perhaps it was just checking on the Nori to see if some of the small crustaceans are hiding in there. I have no idea otherwise...

When I feed Nori to my fish and they chomp on it untill only tiny part is visible the snails usually find it and try to get to it but I don't see why this should be a surprize or a problem.

[scubadude]

Anyone else buy the generic Nori @ asian food stores, heck I have even heard of it being @ some of the grocery stores before. I Use a small piece of 1/2" PVC pipe about 2" long and a small enough hole in the end of the PVC and then wrap the nori around the PVC and put a rubber band holding it...I hate the nori clips...used to use my magnet but then it would always restrict me from cleaning the tank @ certain times .

[zhenya]

That is neat,Rocky. I used to tie it to a piece of LR that I had specially for that purpose but it also got old pretty fast on me. i don't mind living the magnet off duty for a spell... let the snails do their job

[scubadude]

Originally Posted by zhenya

let the snails do their job

I always try to train my snails to stick to certain areas by not cleaning them with the mag, they just dont seem to listen to me though

[Spick]

Thanks for all the replies...I already see how putting the nori in certain object or ideas on how to feed it can get old.... I don't realy like hte whole clip idea... i think i'll try rolling the nori up and attaching it to the magnet cleaner. i like the hanging pipe idea too, that will be a later expirement. I guess it's quite weird that the shrimp take to the nori, i'll keep an eye on this and and see what i can come up with. Cheers!

[Spick]

Originally Posted by scubadude

I always try to train my snails to stick to certain areas by not cleaning them with the mag, they just dont seem to listen to me though

and i'm with you... training snails just doesn't seem to work!

[coralph]

I just add some nori to my fish food when I am making it. Then everyone gets some.