Christmas Wrasse not eating

[EvMiBo]

Halichoeres Ornatissimus

Got him 1 week ago. Gorgeous fish, 4.5". I've been feeding daily, garlic soaks. Tried PE mysis, ocean nutrition prime reef flakes, frozen ocean nutrition formula 2 cubes and live brine. He was pretty stressed the first couple days (clumsy, hiding a lot, playing dead) but it seems that he's getting more comfortable each day. The lfs recommended ImmunoVital and I've been adding that each night for the past 3-4 days.. It's my first time using it and it is also one of the few Marc Weiss products I've heard positive things about, who knows - I'm desperate to get him comfortable and eating. :hmm4:

Also, I do weekly waterchanges (10%), no NH3, NO3 <10, Calcium 400-450, Alk 8-9 dKh, Mg 1350, 1.026sg, pH 8.1.

This picture doesn't do justice to his colors, still a cool shot though.

 

[betamed]

Mine didn't eat well at first. Really only eating live brine for the first few weeks, He then took to the mysis and now eats everything.

 

[CorkPullerPHL]

Beautiful fish.

Good Luck

 

[EvMiBo]

So does anyone recommend I try anything different? Still didn't eat today (live brine) even though he's acting pretty comfortable.

 

[SDguy]

Try smaller mysis (PE is HUGE!), and finely minced raw shrimp or scallop from the grocery store. Live foods msay also work: brine shrimp, or blackworms.

 

[edwing206]

I'd try some Rod's food. I fed it to my tank 3 days straight and when I tried feeding mysis they wouldn't go for it. Looks like they either have to start eating other stuff instead of Rod's or not eat at all, :lol:. Rod's food is expensive.

 

[kzickovich]

x2 on rod's

 

[EvMiBo]

Okay, thanks for the advice everyone. I'll get back to you.

 

[Korrine]

Beautiful fish. Chances are he could be eating something in the tank. Does it prowl the rocks at all or just swim? I have a close cousin the Melanurus wrasse and he spends a decent amount of prowling over the rocks picking at odds and ends.

 

[EvMiBo]

Beautiful fish. Chances are he could be eating something in the tank. Does it prowl the rocks at all or just swim? I have a close cousin the Melanurus wrasse and he spends a decent amount of prowling over the rocks picking at odds and ends.

I've seen him prowl a couple times but not much, but whenever he's out and about he's mainly just swimming around. In my old tank I had a halichoeres chrysus (yellow wrasse) that prowled for flatworms, etc - I don't think this fish is quite comfortable enough to be doing it on a regular basis. I plan on getting smaller mysis and rods food today, I picked up a new batch of live brine yesterday - still no luck.

 

[Korrine]

Good luck It's a beautiful fish. At least he is out and about a bit.

 

[SDguy]

Did you QT this fish? He may be sick.... a halichoeres that doesn't eat prepared foods OR even hunt for food within the rock is not normal, IME.

 

[EvMiBo]

Nope I didn't QT the fish. He was drip acclimated though. I've been adding ImmunoVital, not sure if it's doing anything or not. He has checked out a couple rocks but very briefly.

 

[EvMiBo]

Live brine and rod's food today with garlic. Same results. I'm in the works of acquiring some live grass/glass shrimp...

 

[EvMiBo]

I'm sad to say that after about 4 weeks the fish didn't make it.. I tried just about every food I could get my hands out with no positive results. He didn't eat at the store (had been shipped in 24hrs prior) and I still picked him up anyways, I should have waited to see him eat but i "had to have him" then and there. I've learned a lesson here... There's a couple factors that I think could have attributed to him not eating:

-The way he was captured from the wild, apparently the LFS I purchased him from said that in Hawaii (where this fish was caught) it's not necessary to get MAC certified fish, and that many wholesalers don't use methods like cyanide there anyway. I'm not sure how to take that other than the fish may have been caught using a method like cyanide..

-Salinity difference, I don't know the salinity on reefs in Hawaii but mine is kept at 1.025 - 1.026, apparently the waters there are/could be less salty (according to the LFS).

-Stress from tank mates, I have a white striped maroon clown that is kind of a b*tch but she really didn't seem to bother the wrasse much at all - I think it's something to consider though.

Of course, after receiving the fish I read that they can be very shy sometimes and hard to adjust from the wild to a captive environment - even though I've seen several people on here with success stories. In the end, whenever I decide to get a fish locally I'll wait to see it eat + give a couple more days to recouperate from being shipped in..

 

[Korrine]

sorry to hear of your loss