20140902- Chevron tang feeding

I have long coveted this jewel of the sea- Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis, the Chevron Tang. And I admit, part of the reason I want it is because of the "Hawaii" part in its name. I have always known this is not only an expensive fish, but also can be quite challenging to keep as well. And now that I am finally at a place to own it, and am accepting the challenge.

Challenge 1: Breaking the barrier with current tank mates- check! Fortunately I don't have any tang in this tank (yet). The only other fish that I currently up can size up to this 3" tang is the orange spotted rabbitfish- which until this tang arrived, is constantly hiding in the rocks.

I have had this rabbitfish for a month now. The rabbitfish eat well but stays low. Ever since the arrival of this chevron, I have seen it more in one day than I have in the last month. So the rumor is right- you do need an open water swimmer to calm the nerves of a nervous fish.

The only aggressive episode since Chevron's arrival was the flame back angel sizing it up and flipping tail. But that soon subsided. The second day I see this tang swimming side by side with the rabbitfish a lot.

Challenge 2: Feeding- check (sort of)! As with any thing in the Tang & Angels family feeding can always be a hit or miss. Prior to purchasing this guy I followed my normal protocol: a. How long has the store have it (over two months), b. Is it active (very), c. Is the fish in good shape/health (no visible sign of infection nor parasites, body is plump and full with no missing chances of fin anywhere. d. how's it eating (it nibbles on algae wafer and grazes constantly). The fish did not actively accept any feed the first night I brought it home. It does graze the rock from time to time throughout the next two days but does not accept frozen food- yet. 

I then noticed she eats flake-very selectively. The tang only eats a very specific size while spits out anything too large. So my next approach is to only feed small, crushed chunks. The tang still eats sparingly. Upon closer observation I noticed the tang only begins to accept chunks not by size, but by the length of time it has been floating in the tank. So my theory is this fish is picky on how "soft" the flakes are after the water softens it. My next experiment was to pre-soak the flakes briefly to achieve the "softness" to the tang's liking then disperse. The result was a jack-pot, the tang began to accept all flakes in different sizes and shapes immediately!