Oxymonacanthus longirostris pair enters a mixed reef environment

[small alien]

Thanks for the update. I know it's probably very pricey, but I'd encourage you to order that prawn roe NOW. From my experience and what I've read, that's your best bet at a prepared food to start. I would not wait to order it. Good luck.

 

[Monkeyfish]

Unfortunately they don't ship on Fridays so the earliest I'll get the roe is Tuesday. Picked up a couple of acro frags tonight so hopefully she'll have a snack tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Monkeyfish]

I think my fish is retarded.

So far she's ignoring the acropora, millipora, digitata and gel food encrusted acro frag skeleton. She keeps picking at the rock and the codium. Is she confused? Maybe thinking that the fuzz on the codium are acro polyps? I'm considering removing the codium, but am concerned that she might actually be eating something (pods, tiny bits of food, etc.) off of the macro.

The Ova won't come until Tuesday.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Monkeyfish]

Wahooo!. He has discovered the acro frags. At least he's getting a little to eat.

 

[small alien]

That's a start! :beer:

 

[uhuru]

Monkeyfish mine picks at everything, and definitely likes to pick at pods.

The thing I have found is that persistence and patience really pays off. If she doesn't eat something the first time keep trying. They are very bold and curious fish. Eventually they will take a pick at it, and if they like it they will remember it. The only thing mine took a liking to right away was nutramar ova. Everything else required multiple attempts. I started mixing cyclopeeze in with the ova and thats the only way I got him to start eating cyclopeeze. With pellets I had to mix it with mysis. Now he will eat cyclopeeze alone or pellets alone. Keep with it and your efforts will eventually be rewarded. Having a QT tank helps for this because its easier to keep it clean. Good water quality also seems to play a big role in their appetite.

I don't know if you guys saw this but there is an article about an aquarist that has been able to keep obligate corallivores long term. It is discussed here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1922830

Copps' opinion carries a lot of weight so its worth reading!

And I will link the original article too: http://glassbox-design.com/2010/obligate-corallivore-captivity/

 

[Monkeyfish]

The Nutramar Ova is on its way!

When I left yesterday she was picking at the milli and acro frags, but still ignored the gel food, mysis, cyclopeeze, brine shrimp and flake. I left the codium in the tank since she may actually be eating something from the macro if not the macro itself. In addition to the Ova I think I'm going to try a few small clams and switch the gel food (Instant Ocean Marine blend to Ocean Nutriton Angel food).

As for water quality - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate are all reading at "0," the temp is about 81 degrees, SG 1.025 and I've been doing water changes every other day.

 

[small alien]

Those butterflies are sooooooooooooooo pretty.

 

[Thales]

Try some crushed up flake food and some micro pellets. I think the most important thing is to get them eating, so if he hasn't been eating much lately, try some live brine.
The 5 I have on display at work started eating flake/pellets within 2 days of arrival. Good luck!

 

[Monkeyfish]

She's shown no interest in flake or NLS pellets.

 

[small alien]

What kind of flake did you try? Try Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef Flakes. And crush then up pretty fine. Try softening the pellets in frozen food juice and then smoosh them into a paste so the particles are very small.

 

[small alien]

And turn off the flow so they can pick if you are not doing that already.

 

[Thales]

She's shown no interest in flake or NLS pellets.

Is the tank bare bottom? They seemed to like picking it off the bottom. I would leave it in all day so they could experiment. Also, NLS may be too big to get them to start- Hikari micro pellets worked really well.

 

[uhuru]

I put a Seriatopora coral in my tank the other day and my osff has yet to touch it. Whats up with that?? Maybe he's more picky about his sps corals than his other foods

 

[seahorsedreams]

I use the Prime Reef flakes along with the Formula Two flakes. I use to crush them small, but now they suck them up whole when then soften up. I also use the New Life Spectrum for small fish.... they really love those pellets. I'm going to use a feeder to feed them several times throughout the day of this stuff and then feed them frozen at night.

Last night they had squid, scallop, table shrimp, mysis and brine.

 

[Monkeyfish]

RIP osff

 

[uhuru]

That is very sad

 

[small alien]

I'm very sorry to hear that.

Was the fish emaciated? Was it very thin behind the head? Any other signs of disease or injury?

Bummer.

 

[Monkeyfish]

The fish was thin. She had been at the LFS for about 10 days before I bought her. She wsan't completely skeletal, but obviously on the thin side. There were no obvious signs of injury or illness.

 

[seahorsedreams]

I still feel those at the fish store should be left where they are unless it is a planned special purchase.