new princess anthias in QT not eating

[airtime23]

Hi all,

I added a pair of clownfish and a trio of princess anthias to my QT yesterday. The clowns are out and about, eating mysis (but not small pellets).

The anthias, however, are huddle around a piece of PVC pipe. They poke their heads out every now and then, but for the most part, are motionless. I've tried to entice them out with the mysis and small pellets. No luck. I added a little garlic oil to the mysis and they actually swam out for a while, looked around, and then just went back to the PVC.

Any advice? Should I just give them another day? What alternative food can I try?

Thanks.

 

[Kidd Reef]

Hunger strike isnt unusual the first day or so. Have you tried live brine mixed with mysis? My citron clowns were the same way when first introduced to QT so i added a bit of live brine and they finally started eating, Next day i did a mix of brine and mysis(they never took the mysis, they would bite but spit it out, Ended up using frozen enriched brine.) and slowly did less and less brine untill it was all frozen.

 

[nivram]

new princess anthias in QT not eating

Try live baby brine. I've also had luck with Nutramar Ova.

 

[airtime23]

I'll get some live baby brine tomorrow.

Thanks.

 

[suta4242]

Newly caught anthias usually equate high flow with food. So in a qt constant low flow is unhelpful.
When you want to feed turn the powerheads on high , feed and walk away.

Assuming they are healthy this tactic works every time.

HTH
:wave:

 

[JoelA7]

Cyclopeez might entice them to feed too.

 

[ca1ore]

Other thing to consider is dimming down the light a bit if you can. I use a dimmable led over my QT and bring the light levels up gradually over the course of a week. Cyclopeese is a good first food for anthias, though it appears to be hard to find lately. I've also had good luck with the SanFrancisco brand reef plankton.

 

[alex gonzales]

In my experience, one of the toughest fish to get to eat, good luck.

 

[ca1ore]

Spoke with a friend of mine, not on RC, who knows more about anthias than anyone I know. He said to treat princess anthias like ventralis - lower temperature and dim lighting. Feed small stuff like cyclopeeze, ocean plankton, nutramar ova, and even brine.

 

[Lmax8rn]

I had the same problem with my male lyretail. I bought roe, he gobbled it up, then after about a week he was eating brine like a hog.

 

[airtime23]

Welp.

So far, I've tried small pellets (with garlic), frozen mysis, frozen and live brine, and rotifers.

Still not eating.

How long can they go without eating??

 

[suta4242]

Depends on when they were collected and how big they are...did you try adjusting the flow when you feed and walk away?

Fwiw mine ate frozen mysis straight away (but they were locally collected, well handled etc) but I have used live baby brine with small species that are fussy as a starter.

Only other times anthias won't eat is when

1. they don't recognise the cue for food (high flow)
2. you're offering the wrong food (with the exception of pellets above, your food is ok)
3. swim bladder problems
4. parasites
5. temperature too high for deepwater fish

HTH and GL!
:wave:

 

[Kidd Reef]

Welp.

So far, I've tried small pellets (with garlic), frozen mysis, frozen and live brine, and rotifers.

Still not eating.

How long can they go without eating??

Not sure an exact number but im pretty sure a decent amount less than your average fish seeing as they require frequent feedings daily due to their metabolism.

 

[ca1ore]

Not sure if OP still has any alive, but I recently ordered a bunch of resplendents and a princess came along for the ride ..... hmmn, that didn't come out quite right . Anyhow, resplendents typically aren't difficult to get to feed, but interestingly their aggressiveness to the food has the princess eating too. Particularly the frozen SFBay ocean plankton

 

[airtime23]

They never ate. One died and I took the remaining two back to the LFS. They gave me an exchange. I got three Lyretails and they've been eating like pigs since day one (been in QT for three weeks now).

 

[snorvich]

Try live baby brine. I've also had luck with Nutramar Ova.

This. Nutramar Ova is fish crack and is nearly irresistible.

 

[snorvich]

In my experience, one of the toughest fish to get to eat, good luck.

I agree with this too.