Purple Won't Eat Prepared Food

[Aquat]

Trying to get my Purple tang to eat prepare'd food but he rather graze on algae all day. That's a problem since I don't have enough algae for him to consume on a daily basis. I tried seaweed, frozen veggie mix, frozen brine shrimp, and frozen blood worms all dipped in garlic. He only put in some interest with the seaweed, taking a few tear at it then proceed to look for more algae. Can anyone give any recommendations?

[woodnaquanut]

How long have you had the fish? In QT or main tank?

[Aquat]

It was in my buddy's frag tank for about a week. He said he offered some seaweed but mainly let it graze. Now it's currently in my 36g QT (day 2)

I was afraid this was might happen, so I hoped it would come in as a juvenile but you can't always have what you want. It's about 3.5"

[woodnaquanut]

Give it time. Moves seem to rattle some fish. Is the QT in a quiet place?

You could try all three colors of nori. It might take a few days for him to recognize it as food. Then watch out!

[snorvich]

Give it time. Moves seem to rattle some fish. Is the QT in a quiet place?

You could try all three colors of nori. It might take a few days for him to recognize it as food. Then watch out!

This. Most likely just upset at change of scenery.

[Aquat]

Thanks for the reassurance guys! I'll try out the different type of nori. I was also thinking offering him so macro algae? I heard Reefnutrition carry a product called "MacroFeast", basically macro algae in a can. Not sure what they use to keep that stuff alive without light and inside a fridge for up to a month.

[Rea17]

I would continue trying nori, and remove uneaten food at the end of the day. It takes them a while to figure out the clip, so don't give up because he didn't go for it right away. GL

[Macimage]

I fold up the nori into approximately a 1" square, use a rubber band to secure it to a piece of rubble rock and then tuck it into my rockwork. This has worked for me to get many tangs eating.

Eventually they will eat it from the piece of rubble rock with the nori just dropped into the tank (not carefully tucked into the rockwork), then they all graduated to the clip and finally to flake food.