New Bandit Angel Will Not Eat

[nuxx]

Hey Everyone,

Our new Bandit Angel went into quarantine Thursday night. He's just over 3 inches.

So far I haven't been able to get him to eat.

I've offered a mix I made of 3 types of Rod's food, 2 types of Larrys, mysis and brine.

Also offered 3 types of spectrum pellets and 3 types of formula flakes along with spirulina and some nori on a piece of pvc.

Nothing seems to make him eat. All had added selcon as well.

In this round of qt picky eaters like a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse, tiny Potters Angel and CBB with damaged mouth are eating like pigs.

I'm going by a LFS to look for live foods today.

What live foods and prepared foods should I try? Should I look for sponges as well?

Thanks... guy's starting to worry me

 

[elFloyd]

Sponges are their natural diet.

 

[alton]

I have had angels go 3+ weeks before eating

 

[Dmorty217]

Live brine or other live food. Clams on the half shell, oysters, scallop finely chopped are all thinks to try. Is the Bandit by itself? If so you might want to add a fish that's eating to the tank and hope for the fish to get a feeding response

 

[twon8]

Try live blackworms

 

[BlueMac92]

Live Littleneck clams from our local grocery store works almost everytime for me. Pry open, try to keep both halves connected, and drop them in.

That, and pellets worked on the two finicky bandits I took care of....

 

[nuxx]

Couldn't find any live brine...

Ended up getting some ghost shrimp, sponges, mega marine angel frozen food and live mussels and clams.

Ghost shrimp were a total failure. No interest and they died right away.

The bandit showed interest in the sponges, might have picked at them, but I stayed a decent distance away and couldn't say for sure. He was in an eating posture, but still nothing concrete.

Seemed interested in both the mussel and clam, but nothing concrete there either.

One question, how long should I leave the mussel and clams in the tank if they aren't eaten?

How long can the hunger strike go on before I need to worry?

 

[Giovanni]

A couple of my angels, love thawed raw shrimp. I put it on a bamboo stick and jam it in a crack to hold it in place.

Take the mussel and clam out after a couple hours so they do not start to die and foul the water.

Seems you are already worried. Keep trying and it will eat when it does or doesn't.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I can usually get difficult fish to eat by feeding them ROE or red seaweed. It seems to work every time.

 

[ryanrid]

Couldn't find any live brine...

Ended up getting some ghost shrimp, sponges, mega marine angel frozen food and live mussels and clams.

Ghost shrimp were a total failure. No interest and they died right away.

The bandit showed interest in the sponges, might have picked at them, but I stayed a decent distance away and couldn't say for sure. He was in an eating posture, but still nothing concrete.

Seemed interested in both the mussel and clam, but nothing concrete there either.

One question, how long should I leave the mussel and clams in the tank if they aren't eaten?

How long can the hunger strike go on before I need to worry?

take the muscles out after an hour, if you are able to get some quality live rock for it to peck at from an established tank is perfect.

When i QT a picky eater like a regal, bandit or multibar I have a QT set up with LR so they can peck.

HTH

 

[Dmorty217]

I would worry after a week or two or if you see the stomach start to pinch. I have faith it will start to eat. Try live black worms and dose with garlic that seems to help with feeding response but not much else

 

[Giovanni]

Almost forgot. Docs Eco Eggs

 

[nuxx]

Thanks guys

Ordered some Docs Eco Eggs as well.

Not sure what's up with this guy!

 

[Dmorty217]

I have faith the bandit will start eating

 

[nuxx]

I have faith the bandit will start eating

Thanks

Looks like the clam might have been moved from this morning... I'll examine it when I take it out to see if any bite marks lol

 

[nuxx]

Also water temp is 76... should I lower it?

 

[ThRoewer]

Live brine or other live food. Clams on the half shell, oysters, scallop finely chopped are all thinks to try. Is the Bandit by itself? If so you might want to add a fish that's eating to the tank and hope for the fish to get a feeding response

+1 on adding an eating fish. Worked for me most of the time, especially if they were the same species.

I also don't put sensitive fish in a standard QT but rather in an otherwise fishless tank with lots of live rock and macro algae. Some fish need to feel secure before they start eating and I've never seen a fish feeling very secure in a naked tank with just some PVC pipes.

 

[nuxx]

+1 on adding an eating fish. Worked for me most of the time, especially if they were the same species.

I also don't put sensitive fish in a standard QT but rather in an otherwise fishless tank with lots of live rock and macro algae. Some fish need to feel secure before they start eating and I've never seen a fish feeling very secure in a naked tank with just some PVC pipes.

Little nervous to add a fish that's at a different position in it's QT procedure.

Have the following in QT:
Small Crescent Tail Fairy Wrasse, Large CBB, Small Potters Angel, Large Midas Blenny and a Large Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse.

Would it be good to pull out a decent sized chunk of Chaeto out of my sump and put it in the 40 gallon breeder? Will the Bandit nip at Chaeto, or maybe the pods in it?

Anything bad about having some Chaeto floating around the tank?

 

[ThRoewer]

Chaeto is too hard for fish, snail or even urchins. It may also have something in it herbivores don't like - they all just leave it alone.

The best feeder algae are usually red macro algae. Hairy green algae are also good - I've even had clownfish graze on them.

You also may not need to add an eating fish directly into the tank, adding one to a neighboring tank may work too as long as the fish you want to train can see it.

 

[nuxx]

Yeah was thinking he'd pick out pods :/

Just ordered 1/8 lb of live black worms. I'll see if that gets him excited.

Maybe if all of this doesn't work, I'll try to move the crescent tail wrasse over to the Bandit's tank. The Crescent Tail has a strong eating drive, but is reclusive.