Day 15 Majestic Angel Still Not Eating

Ploppers

Ploppers

Premium Member
I purchased a majestic angel from a reputable online dealer 15 days ago. I have tried everything I can think of to get it to eat. I've tried garlic soaked nori, angel formula, formula 1 pellets, formula 1 frozen, prime reef flake, formula 2 flake, enriched brine shrimp, and mysis shrimp. It doesn't have any interest in any thing but the nori clip which it seems threatened by. :rolleyes:

The fish is very skittish and hides in a piece of PVC pipe anytime it sees me. I have a web cam set up so I can observe it from the other room. :D So I know it's not sneaking food when I'm out of the room. ;) It's still quite active when I'm not around.

When the fish arrived it had some damage on it's mouth. The lips were white most of the way around. Within a few days the lips were no longer white, but the tissue was still receded back quite a ways. Two weeks later and it looks as though it's healing, but it still refuses to eat.

The fish is being held in a 29 gallon QT tank with an established sponge filter. I've been changing out 5-10 gallons of water every other day.

How long can this fish go without eating? Any suggestions on getting it to eat?
 
live clams from the grocery store did it for my angel. just bust them open. also roll the nori up and attach it to a small rock with a rubber band.
 
I'll try that with the nori. I'm not sure if I can find live clams around here, but I'll look.

Maybe I'll try a rock covered in xenia. :D
 
any seafood section of a grocery store might have the clams. manilla or some others. it works good and people have had great luck with it. after an angel gets a taste of something it ussually keeps eating it. My Regal has solved my aptasia problem in my tank.
 
My E navarchus started eating at day 80!

My E navarchus started eating at day 80!

Was the biggest fish in 90gal tank
6"
but was afraid of a 3" queen
Showed minor interest in food but always swims away once queen approaches.
Just intrioduced a 5" Koran, and amazingly enough the majestic started copying the Koran's behavior and is now eating all offerings.
These are indeed social animals.
 
He must have eaten something, it just wasn't noticed. Very few fish can go that long without eating and those are usually large predators.
 
After not eating for 10 weeks that fish must have been just skin and bones. If not, then he has eaten something.
Very few fish can get that long without food, and those are usually predators that rather wait for prey to swim near their mouth than go on a hunt for food.
An active fish like an angel needs to eat at least a little every day. That you don't see him eat doesn't mean he isn't eating something.
 
If you pick up one of your rocks would you find a mess of sponges attached to it? I had something similar with jawfish, added them to my tank and never seen them until 4 weeks later. The tank had a bunch of mysid/Mysis shrimp which come alive at night so the jawfish became nocturnal and fed at night. Hopefully everything will work out.
 
didn't even seem him nip at anything like angels and tangs normally do.
I am impressed too.
Yes it was a bit emaciated.
But the way it started feeding once it saw the Koran was something I have never seen before.
 
johnsonlwu said:
didn't even seem him nip at anything like angels and tangs normally do.
I am impressed too.
Yes it was a bit emaciated.
But the way it started feeding once it saw the Koran was something I have never seen before.
Click to expand...

the metabolism of that fish would result in certain death at 10 weeks of no food. it had to of ate something here and there i doubt you watched it 24/7 for 10 weeks to draw up the conclusion it did not eat.
 
I think during the 10 weeks that fish was cleaning up a lot of things that had grown the rock structure. He may also picked up leftovers there. When all the stuff on the rocks was gone he started taking the offered food.

15 days is a different story. They can go without or with only little food for a week or two without loosing too much substance.
Though I think even in this case the fish was picking on something.
 
Anyway my point of the post was the interesting social behavior which I think is no coincidence. It has been watching the small queen go at all sorts of prepared food. No mimicry.
Not until the Koran appeared. It followed right away.
 
Nothing new. I've always used other fish to show picky eaters how it's done.
Food envy is always a good tool to get fish too eat.
 
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