Lyretail anthias will not take dry

[Megatrev62]

Have had three lyretail anthias now for over a month. They only eat frozen brine and Mysis with an occasional feeding of frozen capelin roe. Have tried feeding flake and pellet, in which most of the fish eat (except bangaiis lol). Iv'e tried mixing the dry in with the frozen and reducing the frozen and all the supposed tricks but nothing.
Is there a sure fire way of getting them on dry or am I wasting my time? Any help would be appreciated big time. Thanks

 

[Meanmike]

I have had five Lyretail for a couple of months now and none of them will eat anything but frozen.

 

[ca1ore]

I have had some success getting lyretails to eat NLS pellets in the past, but it took a while, and only succeeded as a result of feeding competition.

 

[Megatrev62]

What if I cut off frozen all together? Would they starve?

I guess the bangaiis would too!

 

[ca1ore]

I wouldn't do that. Nothing wrong with feeding frozen, other than expense and inconvenience when away.

 

[EddieJ]

I wanted to get my Carberryi Anthias to eat NLS pellets so I could use an auto feeder to add more feedings per day. No luck to this point, they seem to be doing well on 2 feedings a day. They are definitely finicky little buggers!!

 

[ca1ore]

The only ones I have been able to quickly and reliably get onto pellets have been Bartletts.

 

[Jasanden]

Mine eat anything I throw in the tank. Give it time and your lyre tails will do the same. I find if you dump your food right into the path of a power head it drives them nuts. They can't resist something wizzing bye them.

 

[OrionN]

I am in the same boat. I read up and it seem that they are agressive eater and should be able to "...eat anthing throw into the tank..." I hope that I will find this to be true. I like to use a auto feeder since I cannot feed them more than once a day.

 

[Jasanden]

I have lyre tails, carberry, coopers, and resplendent. All eat flakes ,NLS pellets, and hikari pellets with vigor from a feeder twice a day.

 

[OrionN]

Per HCSIII in RK magazine

....
Food items for the Pseudanthias are definitely another area which I can discuss for the group as a whole. All of them are planktivores, and all of them are voracious eaters in the wild. A few species have difficulty converting to prepared foods in an aquarium, but as a whole, the genus adapts well to captive foods. Mysis species shrimp should be the staple of their diet, whether they are frozen/thawed or freeze-dried. That alone will keep your Pseudanthias healthy, but a highly varied diet will help keep the fishes' brilliant colors. Gut-loaded brine shrimp or bloodworms will be eagerly consumed, and over time the Pseudanthias will begin to accept as food most anything the aquarist drops into the aquarium, including dried vitamin-enriched pellet foods. ...

.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Try Cyclops-eeze. I've never has any anthias refuse this stuff.

 

[Megatrev62]

Try Cyclops-eeze. I've never has any anthias refuse this stuff.

They eat frozen Cyclops. I will see if I can get Cyclops-eeze.

 

[jroovers]

I had to train my lyretails to eat NLS pellets. I took a piece of frozen brine, and put it in a small container tipped on an angle with the pellets at the bottom, so the thawed water soaked the pellets. Don't let them get too soggy. The flavour of the brine entices them to hit the pellets, and when they are soft they are more likely to break a pellet up and actually eat it. If you do reduce your frozen feedings some what so they are hungrier, you are likely to have better success. It takes two or three weeks of persistence though to do this every day and then have them catch on. Mine (I had 7 and now have 4) all seemed to catch on at the same time. Once they start taking them reliably, you no longer need to soak em'.

 

[danimallaminad]

My Lyretail anthias eat pellets because they learned from other fish in the tank.

 

[dunc101]

Mine eat dry cyclopeeze very well. After a couple of weeks in the QT, they started eating Spirulina flake food for me even. I would try dry cyclopeeze as well like mrtuskfish suggested.

 

[fishNcars]

I also recommend the cyclopeeze as well, I put it right in the power head and they go nuts, plus they seem to like the smaller pieces.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I also recommend the cyclopeeze as well, I put it right in the power head and they go nuts, plus they seem to like the smaller pieces.

Yeah, there's something in this stuff that makes most fish go nuts. I don't really think the way to get most new fish eating is to just try everything ; most fish will eat their normal foods on their schedule. Of course, when a fish does finally eat, we assume that's what he needs. But cyclops-Eeze has an odor or something that almost all fish notice. Mixing other foods with the CE is a good way to get most fish on the proper diet.

 

[Jasanden]

Nutra Mar ova is another good choice to school to cyclones.