My yellow tang eats crap...literally!!!

[joecon]

OK, my yellow tang is well fed (I do not overfeed though). I feed him macro algae, marine flakes, formula 1 and 2, brine with spirulina, etc... I also notice it eats the poo of the other fish in the tank. He doesn't mouth it then spit it out, he actually eats it. Is it OK for the fish to eat poo? Isn't it going to cause some problems later on? If it is a cause for concern, what can I do to stop it from doing that?

Thanks

[Reefland]

I am not sure of the reasoning but it is quite common to see tangs eating their own feces, and I'm not surprised to hear others. Nothing to worry about.

[joecon]

OK, cool. Weird that the other fish would mouth it then spit it out, but the tang totally eats it. I was just afraid it might screw up something internally. Good to hear this is common, strange, but good to hear.

[John Hamilton]

Now that you mention it, one of my little dogs likes to eat cat turds.