Feeding Issues w/ Mystery Wrasses

[gdubs97]

I have a 125 gallon tank and about 2 weeks ago made the following additions

2 juvenile (small) mystery wrasses
1 bluespot jawfish
1 semi platinum clownfish
5 peppermint shrimp

I already had the following established livestock
1 yellow tang
1 kole tang
1 blue hippo tang
3 cleaner shrimp (large)
1 semi platinum clownfish
1 anthias (lyrefish??)
6 blue green chromis

I feed the fish seaweed (tangs mostly just eat that), flake food (clownfish, chromis and anthias eat that), frozen spirulina brine shrimp and frozen mysis shrimp (everyone eats the frozen food)

So far, the wrasses haven't bothered any shrimp (im assuming when theyre big enough they will probably eat my shrimp from what everyone has been saying) I use the turkey baster to isolate the feeding for the jawfish..he's a pig. The wrasses eat (tentatively) but since it's competitive during feeding time, they always shy away from the other fish...any advice on how to make them eat more? any advice at all? I'm very new. here are a few pictures.

Pellets? Which type?

Thanks

 

[gdubs97]

I guess this post wasn't interesting enough?? or this board isn't too active? Either way..one of the mystery wrasses have become a mystery after I got back from a weekend trip. Fed them all Friday and basically jus skipped feeing them for one day. Haven't seen one of the mystery wrases all da today since I've been home. I doubt he's hiding as can see most spaces behind rocks, etc and I checked the sump in case he went through the overflow grates. That's an expensive fish to lose. Hopefully he/she will show up, but I doubt it. Any advice?

 

[tozzi]

lOOK ON THE FLOOR AROUND THE TANK, THEY ARE NOTORIOUS JUMPERS. i HAD ONE WRASSE OVER THE YEARS THAT ATE LIKE A PIG. aLSO A FEW THAT WERE SHY AND MOSTLY PICKED AT THE ROCKS AND SAND FOR PODS

 

[gdubs97]

lOOK ON THE FLOOR AROUND THE TANK, THEY ARE NOTORIOUS JUMPERS. i HAD ONE WRASSE OVER THE YEARS THAT ATE LIKE A PIG. aLSO A FEW THAT WERE SHY AND MOSTLY PICKED AT THE ROCKS AND SAND FOR PODS

I actually had a very nice mesh cover installed before I added them all.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=817485&highlight=clear+mesh&page=11
There's NO way they could get out of the top of the tank...I checked the floors anyways. :sad2:

 

[akma]

Hopefully he's ok. I had my mystery wrasse for about an year and half and last month he decided to jump.

 

[snorvich]

Is your mesh top 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch? 1/2 inch will not work to keep many fish in the tank.

 

[gdubs97]

Is your mesh top 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch? 1/2 inch will not work to keep many fish in the tank.

It's 1/4".

 

[gdubs97]

OK...so first off...the expensive mystery wrasse has long been officially GONE. The other one is still very timid when it comes to eating. Most of the time, he is lurking in a cave watching the food and about to eat it..then the anthias just comes by and eats what he was eyeing. Now...I have a bigger problem...the bluespot jawfish has not been eating for about a week. I feed him with a turkey baster and give him plenty of food (frozen mysis and spirulina brine) He is timid now and just watches half way out of his cave/hole. When he does go for the food..he just spits it back out. Now his feeding area is used by the anthias and tangs to get as much as they want. Any suggestions???? Somebody please help here. I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[chewdoggie]

Without knowing anything about your tank water parameters or setup, I can only offer up a few possibilities to try for the BSJ. 1) make sure he has plenty of small reef rubble and crushed coral to build an adequate burrow. 2) Until he is settled into a proper feeding pattern I would buy a 1" clear rigid tubing and send food down the tube to him. Your other aggressive fish may need to be fed on the other side of the tank by a helper until the BSJ "gets it."

Adding any shy fish after you have established tangs is going to lead to possible problems. Excuse the pun, but its no mystery that you lost a mystery wrasse...especially a juvenile. Most likely was being harassed or simply too stressed to acclimate in...died somewhere in the tank. Shrimps made lunch of him...not the other way around.

Add Selcon, Garlic Guard to their frozen...and consider OVA prawn roe or Cyclopeeze in addition to what you are feeding.

From your pictures it looks like you have very little live rock and the tank looks dirty. No offense...but these could also be environmental factors contributing to your situation. Three tangs put out a lot of waste even in a tank your size. Hope this helps..or you find a solution.

 

[noobtothereef]

the tank cant be that dirty.... im not seeing any cyano or hair algea growth which is a good sign.... i would say the wrasse was just too stressed and died and the clean up crew made short work of him, i had a yellow tang die and its complete body was consumed within 24 hours so it wouldnt be hard to consume that small wrasse and never see it again.

From the looks of the tank im guessing its somewhere in the 2-4 month old range, considering the lack of coraline algea growth, i would bet your still going though the new tank syndrome where stuff is still fluctuating, just slow down a little bit.

 

[inselaffe]

My mystery is at least 2 years old in my tank and almost 5 inches and has never touch my shrimp. He was very shy for the 1st 6 months though. Stunning fish and a great character.

Is your bluespot starting to look a little patchy? if so it could be the random bluespot jawfish diesease, mine got it and died. It was also eating like a pig up until one day when it just stopped.

 

[MikeandNicole]

My mystery wrasse eats live black worms like popcorn. I try and feed them LBW once a week, usually just mysis and rods food.

 

[gdubs97]

Thanks for the responses...I will try to respond to everyones comments in this one box.

-My tank is about 7 months old.
-My BSJF looks great. Not patchy at all. He was eating the frozen cubes like crazy for the first few weeks...He just doesn't like them any more. I noticed he LOVES the flake food...he swims all the way to the top for it if needed. I will be trying pellets soon as well as Kent Marine Zoe and/or garlic drops added to the frozen food. I hear that attracts them to eat.
-I don't know anywhere near where I live where I can get any live black worms or food. I will look into it and try it.
-I will look into cyclopeeze

Thanks for all the comments and help.