large blueline angel in qt question should i remove his rock he hides in

[dominic]

I have cured him now he looks perfect , but I have 2 pieces of liverock he is always hiding in and I am sick of him sitting between them . I want him out swimming and learning to eat .its going on 15 days and he will come out and swim but dart back in and hide ,also will rip every piece off a clam on the half shell but only eat very small pieces of it the rest sit on the bottom.
he will not really eat anything else he will spit it out .
so would you make him stay out in the open or let him hide all day.
he is alone in a 55 gal.

 

[Allmost]

he is hidding for a reason.

removal of hidding spots will result in more stress.

 

[snorvich]

Are you trying other foods? I would not remove those rocks, by the way.

 

[dominic]

I have tried every food under the sun he will grab it in his mouth and spit it out I don't know why hiding nobody's bothering him .night and day from the other one I had the other one would eat out of my hand. I don't know if I should try medication I dipped him yet no flukes but should I still try Prazzi. I did two rounds of furan to

 

[hogfanreefer]

I'm convinced every fish is an individual. He may be inherently more shy than your previous fish.

15 days isn't long for a shy fish. Give him more time. Taking food in and spitting it out is common and often is the first step in them eating prepared foods. Just keep up what your doing with offering different foods and don't change anything in the tank. JMO.

 

[dominic]

would you do prazi just in case I see no signs and I dipped and did not see any come off

 

[HumbleFish]

would you do prazi just in case I see no signs and I dipped and did not see any come off

Wouldn't hurt. Prazi is a fairly gentle med to use.

 

[Allmost]

I have had fish that did the same, and after prazi they ate normally.

it could be that they just need time to learn how to eat the stuff we feed them ... or prazi did something ... either way wont hurt.

maybe you can also put some light over the QT, so it would grow some algae for him to eat as well ?

 

[leveldrummer]

Give him more spots to hide... add some large diameter PVC tubes all over the place, the more hiding places, the more secure he will feel, and the less he will be stressed.

 

[dominic]

ok so FINALLY got him eating a little . he will eat only small cut up pieces of frozen krill . and I mean nothing else except will rip the large meat out of a clam and eat the meat that sticks to the clam shell and eat it completely clean. I am happy with even this I never thought he would start to eat.
thanks to everyone that replied

 

[snorvich]

Keep us posted. Seems like he enjoys ripping food off the shell. Any way to simulate that?