Antisocial Blueface Angel

[JVJordan]

I've had a blueface angel, full adult coloration, for about 4 months. He is in a reef tank with a mix of lps, sps, xenia, etc. Nothing too fancy. So far he has only picked on the xenia which I couldn't care less about.

He comes out to eat flake food and nori, but aside from that he hides in the rock work 90% of the time. If he is out when you enter the room he will see you and immediately hide.

Any ideas on how to encourage him to be more social? Are there any particular species of other fish that would encourage him?

Other fish in the tank are:

Yellow Tang
Tomini Tang
Coral Beauty
Rusty (dwarf) angel
green chromis
royal gramma
green dragonette
oceleris clownfish
& mollies


Thanks for any advice!

 

[geaux xman]

my 4" adult colored BF, for the most part, acts this way too. add a fish and he is all over it though.

 

[Jerry W]

I kept a blueface a few years back and he was quite shy much of the time, particularly when someone was near the tank. Active during feeding but other than that he would stick close to the rock work.

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Give him time and he will become much bolder. Mine was very shy in the beginning but got to the point where he would come out and beg for food every time I came near the tank.

 

[geaux xman]

did you guys treat the BF with copper and did it develop HLLE? mine has it pretty severely and 3 months out of QT and it has not gotten any better.

 

[snorvich]

When young, they are shy, when larger they get bolder.

 

[blface]

did you guys treat the BF with copper and did it develop HLLE? mine has it pretty severely and 3 months out of QT and it has not gotten any better.

Mines been treated with copper at least a 4-5 times and has never shown any signs of HLLE. I would bet its a nutrition thing.

 

[blface]

Give him time and he will become much bolder. Mine was very shy in the beginning but got to the point where he would come out and beg for food every time I came near the tank.

X2 mine begs for food like a puppy dog now. Just give it somemore time to adjust to its new home.

 

[Federer]

do you feed it nori? there was nothing like seaweed to get my blue face acclimated to the front of the tank in a hurry. it will pick at a sheet all day long and beg for more when it's gone.

 

[jhentr]

Mines was timid at first too, but adjusted after about half a year. Got bolder esp. since adding more large angels. Begs like a puppy dog with the rest of my other fishes. Also treated with Cupramine for a month and never had an appetite/HLLE issue.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Mines been treated with copper at least a 4-5 times and has never shown any signs of HLLE. I would bet its a nutrition thing.

I treat all my fish with copper, including a BF and other large Angels. I don't think there is any relationship between copper and HLLE; maybe a couple of anecdotal reports. Everything under the sun has been blamed for HLLE; the latest "suspect' is activated carbon. I don't buy that either. IMO, its a water quality and/or diet problem---but I don't think anyone knows for sure.

 

[extreme5450]

did you guys treat the BF with copper and did it develop HLLE? mine has it pretty severely and 3 months out of QT and it has not gotten any better.

I would suspect poor water quality

 

[MrTuskfish]

did you guys treat the BF with copper and did it develop HLLE? mine has it pretty severely and 3 months out of QT and it has not gotten any better.

Just a little drivel to clarify my post #11 above. Because I haven't seen, or heard much, relating HLLE to copper; doesn't mean I would be surprised if copper did result in a case of HLLE. (In rare cases.) There seems to be so little fact; but lots of rumor & anecdotal accounts about this stuff, that anything is possible. Perhaps HLLE is just a pre-existing condition that can be triggered in many different ways? Who knows?

 

[jjk_reef00]

Perhaps HLLE is just a pre-existing condition that can be triggered in many different ways? Who knows?

That makes sense to me. A while back I had a 6bar angel who was treated with copper, and developed HLLE about a week after copper was dosed. Very similar to geaux xmans experience. The 6bar did infact have internal paracites. I was doing 70% water changes twice a week so I don't think it was water quality. I've never heard of copper causing HLLE other than my own experience, but perhaps the internal paracites caused the pre-existing condition and the copper just triggered the reaction.

I've treated many fish (several large angels) with copper without seeing any problems with HLLE. My 6bar never recovered but grew from 5" to a fat 8 or 9" in two years before my tank crashed.