Need help with my new Venustus

ironwill723

Active member
I ordered a Venustus angel from BZ which arrived this past Tuesday. So far he is pretty shy but still active. I haven't had any luck getting him to eat anything though. I saw him pick lightly on some live rock but not enough to feel confident. I have tried so far frozen mysis soaked in garlic, frozen brine shrimp, frozen dwarf angel mix, nori, spectrum pellets, Formula flakes, and finally the BZ mix they said he was eating before shipment. I went to the LFS for live brine but they didnt have any. I know Venustus are hard to get eating. Any suggestions? I plan to go to another LFS for some live brine shrimp tomorrow. Thanks in advance.
 
You could try Arcti Pods by Reef Nutrition, I have used them to get many hard to eat fish started, I use them on my Regal Angelfish and Flavo Anthias.

I had a Venustus along time ago and he did very well for about a 1 1/2 years then I lost him to Ich.

Good Luck!
 
Shy and not eating prepared food for couple of weeks is normal so I hope you have it in a QT with plenty of live rocks and dim lighting (with time it will acclimate to brighter light). It's hard enough to get them to eat in QT and I think it's almost impossible to train to to compete with more aggressive fish. It would be fine as long as you have live rocks for it to nip. My suggestion is continue to feed small amount (so it doesn't foul up your water parameter) of mixed food till the fish start eating. I would also try Arcti pods as Brian suggested.

I got one back in the middle of September and for 6 weeks in QT it only nipped couple of times on food and one day I found it stuck on the powerhead. Got another one in middle of October and it took two weeks to start on eating mysis and then on to pellets and flakes. Through out the day it still graze on rocks and nip on pods off the glass. As for BZ Mix I never had any luck with delicate fishes...I spoke to Mark about their food and he said the smell of the food that draws the fish to eat but I simply didn't have any luck. This is just my personal experience.

Here's a link to the threat I posted on my Venustus
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16030244#post16030244
 
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