Psionicdragon
New member
For those that have this angel, what did you do to get it to eat?
Mine took about 1-2 weeks to eat. Went on several hunger strikes after that. Now it will eat just about anything including pellets & flake. I've had it since May.
I have had many Bandits over the years, none of which gave me any significant issues eating after a couple of days of settling in. My fish never went weeks before it ate. I got my Bandits direct from diver Matthew Ross, and he made sure to properly decompress them. With my most current specimen, I cheated a bit, and let Kevin Kohen do the heavy lifting
With the past Bandits, I offered clams and muscles on the half shell, PE Mysis and the finicky eater blend of NLS pellets.
Be patient, but be very diligent and check the fish for decompression issues and/or infection if the fish you have has been needled during the decompression process.
Definitely let it get settled before you go the medication route. Prazi will shut down the feeding response. Once you see it consistently nibbling on any of the food you are offering, then you can chance a medication regime. If you start to notice bloat or discoloration/bruising near stomach or anal area, the fish may have an infection of the swim bladder. I have also dealt with bacterial infections near the top of the fish's head (not on any of the Bandits sent from Matt). I treated with Maracyn 2 and it went away in 2-3weeks. BTW, how big is the Bandit you have, and how long have you had it? IME, Bandits are easier to get to eat than Regals.
The seller told me it was 3 1/2 but....from eyeballing it, it looks close to 4-5 inches which ticked me off.
I had the fish for almost a week now.
The larger ones don't adjust to captive life as well as the small ones
Does it pick ? if so take a small rock, and a algae based formula push it into the rock let him pick more natural most angel have to learn to eat food that floats most pick