Oxymonacanthus longirostris pair enters a mixed reef environment

[namxas]

It's not just about feeding the fish a lot...converting/weaning this fish is pretty challenging. This probably sounds WAY easier than it is:

If you're going to "self wean" OSFF, it's a long, hard road. You'll likely have to begin with live SPS (browned out Acro's are good for this). Once they begin picking at the SPS, you'll need to smear different foods into a coral skeleton and see what they will start picking at (each small nibble is a huge success). Once the fish are accepting this food readily, you try removing the skeleton and feeding from the water column. At this point, you're simply experimenting to see what the fish will eat (the key is to get them eating a variety of meaty foods to get some weight on them).

I've never seen Renee work so hard to wean a fish, and we kind of "specialize" in hard-to-keep/oddball fish. I used to find her asleep with her head under the covers where she had been hiding and peeking out of a small opening so she could observe the fish without being a distraction.

We've had our OSFF well over a year now, close to two IIRC. We started them off in a 20 gal for training, then moved them to a 24 gal, and will be moving them to a 35 gal cube soon.

 

[small alien]

I wouldn't count on them taking the brine. As Greg said, you've got a much better shot at success getting them already weened. And they're not that expensive on DD if you've got fast enough fingers to get a pair.

I think Nutramar Ova prawn roe is by far your best bet for a first food if you get them weened. Even though it will say "eating mysis and brine with vigor" or similar on the DD site, those are the 2 foods mine have NEVER eaten. You've got to be observant, flexible and determined to get this fish going in your tank even if they're already weened. Once they're eating well, I think they are a wonderful and fairly trouble free aquarium fish.

From my experience, all fish love eggs. Every one of my 19 fish takes prawn roe and that's the only food I can say that about. Also, the Formula One flake just seems irresistible to them.

 

[namxas]

That's funny SA...our OSFF have no interest in NM Ova whatsoever. They do like shaved salmon flesh tho. This is where the "not everyone's fish is the same" statement comes in.

Our OSFF's like Hikari mysis, BS+, NLS pellets, flake, shaved salmon, and a few other goodies Renee gives them which are shaved/chopped pieces of foods our lions and scorps get.

 

[twiggyb]

Mine never took roe again after the first feeding. He likes to eat mysis and blood worms. Occasionally he'll eat some plankton. I also weened mine. I bought some acro just for him in case he never got weened. I even dedicated a couple of colonies to him just to get him through the day since I'm not here often enough to feed as much as they need in the beginning.

 

[small alien]

That's funny SA...our OSFF have no interest in NM Ova whatsoever. They do like shaved salmon flesh tho. This is where the "not everyone's fish is the same" statement comes in.

Our OSFF's like Hikari mysis, BS+, NLS pellets, flake, shaved salmon, and a few other goodies Renee gives them which are shaved/chopped pieces of foods our lions and scorps get.

Huh? I'm frankly a bit shocked at that. Did you try it very many times?

Well, there you go. I'm very pro roe but I guess it does have limits. Even I have trouble resisting the roe when I feed. :spin3:

 

[logo89]

Sorry re-reading my post it sounds like I mean all OSFF. I was talking about the ones from DD what I meant to ask is the hard part of these fish after DD weaned them fattening them up and giving them steady supply of food? And I feed my tanks minimum 2 times a day so that would suffice? And I wont be trying to wean these guys myself I dont feel that confident yet. Thank you for the replies!

 

[60G]

where can i get some prawn roe?

 

[small alien]

I get it from my LFS. You can order it online but the overnight shipping is a chunk of change. The brand is Nutramar Ova Prawn Roe.

 

[teemee]

New OSFF!

New OSFF!

I was hoping I could get some suggestions.
I picked up a ~2 1/2" OSFF the other day - I've wanted one for ages. and I'm not sure its eaten anything yet Its in an sps dominated tank, and there was a couple of bites off some digitata, some jerky moves when I put food in (kind of like how my pipe fish eat), and some scrounging seemingly for stuff on the bottom... But as far as I could tell, it didn't really look like he ate anything.
I feed a mixture of pe mysis, spirulina & brine, ground up angel food, selcon and cyclopeeze. As well as veggie flakes. I've seen all of small alien's promotions of the shrimp roe, but I can't seem to find nutramar ova in Canada... Someone on another link posted a retailer here that supposedly had it, but its not on their site. In fact, it kind of seems like the retailer has gone out of business I've sent nutramar an email. I have a baby brine breeder - should I set it up? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance...

 

[small alien]

Since you're trying to wean, not just feed, probably a frozen gel food pressed into acro skeletons along with some acro frags perhaps to help get it through? This is going to be a question for namxas and seahorsedreams and the other "weaners".

 

[twiggyb]

There's no sure recipe for weening these fish from what I've learned and read. It's really whether or not the fish is going to accept the food. Also, you said you're not entirely sure if it's eating at all even in an sps dominated tank, it might just be too far gone to bring it back to health. The hardest part is to try and find a healthy one from the beginning. I saw promise in the one I purchased when he ate a few roe from the LFS tank. He only ate it a few more times then denied it all together once he started trying other things. Try crushing up some flake food to a real fine grain then mix it in with other foods. Mine was really small when I got it so it had to be really small foods.

 

[teemee]

Thanks for the suggestions. I wouldn't say he's too far gone. He's not by any means skinny. I just want to keep it that way.
It seems like he's picking food off the bottom today, and I've found a supplier with nutramar roe in Canada finally, so fingers crossed!

 

[Monkeyfish]

I was lucky enough to purchase a pair of OSFF last night and would like to know if other people who have bought them from diver's den put them right in the display tank or QT'd them first.

 

[small alien]

QT'd in a 10.

 

[small alien]

You'll need to make sure they're eating. I qt'd for about one month. There's a link to my qt thread on the first page of this thread.

 

[small alien]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1879315

 

[Monkeyfish]

Thanks. I'll put them in QT.

 

[small alien]

If you're still there, Monkeyfish, did they come? How are they doing?

 

[Monkeyfish]

They're arriving Wed. I'll keep you posted.

 

[wayne in norway]

I've had one in a glorified QT for 2 1/2 weeks now. I have a long list of stuff it won't eat (so far) but it will eat brine and small pieces of mysis out of the water column. There are a couple of acros in there, but it's ignoring them (?).

I've been feeding it at least 4 times a day - this fsh has a tiny mouth (to my eyes), and is also rather slow. It's always willing to eat tho', but I'd like to get it onto something dry and nutritionally denser.