Quoyi parrotfish reef safe?
- Thread starter Dmorty217
- Start date
My Quoyi hit six weeks clear in QT so into the display system he goes. Though I was able to get it to eat most offered foods, he is not an aggressive feeder by any measure. I have him in my 120 refugium with other less aggressive fish, but I don't think he'd do well in the main display with multiple tangs that act like I've never fed them.
Excellent!
My "Princess" parrotfish turned out to be a "Striped" parrot, Scarus iseri - it's currently in a 75 gallon QT with Talbot's damsels and blackbar chromis, a smallish powderblue tang, a yellow longnose butterfly, and a 5-6" regal angelfish, all of whom know how to eat. The parrotfish easily holds her/his own, snarfing frozen, pellets, flake, whole clam - even a little bit of nori now and again.
S/he's also taken to slamming the front glass with open beak, as has been noted for Quoy's. She'll swim up to the glass, open wide, and just try to blast through, not snapping at the glass - not a fish for acrylic tanks, for sure!!
Coloring up to be a nice fish, though not nearly so brilliant as the Quoy's parrot.
~Bruce
My "Princess" parrotfish turned out to be a "Striped" parrot, Scarus iseri - it's currently in a 75 gallon QT with Talbot's damsels and blackbar chromis, a smallish powderblue tang, a yellow longnose butterfly, and a 5-6" regal angelfish, all of whom know how to eat. The parrotfish easily holds her/his own, snarfing frozen, pellets, flake, whole clam - even a little bit of nori now and again.
S/he's also taken to slamming the front glass with open beak, as has been noted for Quoy's. She'll swim up to the glass, open wide, and just try to blast through, not snapping at the glass - not a fish for acrylic tanks, for sure!!
Coloring up to be a nice fish, though not nearly so brilliant as the Quoy's parrot.
~Bruce
hogfanreefer
Active member
That's my concern with mine ca1ore. He's more deliberate in eating than my CBB every thought about being. Right now he's fat as a tick but I'm going to keep him in QT until I can get him actually chasing down food in the water column.
The one saving grace is he seems to seek out the very small pieces of LRS and my other frozen foods...the pieces that even my flasher wrasses ignore until the bigger stuff is gone.
Lmax8rn
New member
I have mine in my 180 mixed reef, (in the process of upgrading to a 240) and he does not bother anything except I have seen him nip at my purple sea whip. This particular species is NOT at queen parrot, and I not supposed to get very large. Mine is about 6-7 inches and I have had it for about 6 months. Does not seem to have grown and eats like a horse. Very docile and beautiful.
Lmax8rn
New member
hogfanreefer
Active member
Lmax, does yours eat from the water column? Mine seems to prefer picking food off of the bottom and has trouble picking water out of the water. Sometimes takes him several efforts to get a piece.
Lmax8rn
New member
He does, but he likes to pick off the bottom too. I devised a way to affix nori to a piece of PVC and hang it in the tank so he has that to munch on. I wrap it with a fishing line and secure it with a rubber band at the bottom. My fish go through a full sheet a day (not the one you buy at the pet store, I hit the Asian market). He does eat some of the meaty foods out of the water column. I think the trick is to offer a variety.
jimmy n
Active member
Awesome, congrats! You will have to keep us updated[/QUOT
Will do! This is my move from a powder blue for my show piece. I want little aggression in my 240.
Lmax8rn
New member
Awesome, congrats! You will have to keep us updated
Will do! This is my move from a powder blue for my show piece. I want little aggression in my 240.
You're going to love that fish. I am in the process of upgrading to a 240 as well! I'm super excited about it!
After a couple of days, my guy is out with the rest of the fish (all relatively docile though). It will pick food out of the water column, though not with particular efficiency - usually he's beaten by the leopard wrasses. Likes to graze the glass and goes for pellets on the sand that other fish ignore. An excellent addition I must say.
We will have to disagree on that. I feed a 4x8 sheet of nori (I do source it from the local Asian grocery store) to my main tank, but the Quoyi has shown absolutely no interest in it. I use the algae max NLS pellets. BTW, nutritionally, there's nothing in nori that isn't also in other foods. It's more 'willingless' to eat them then 'necessity' for nori.
hogfanreefer
Active member
I'm wondering if part of his shyness is that he's in the QT by himself and interprets the lack of other fish activity as a predator nearby?
He kills me when I sit in front of the tank. He sticks his head out and watches me like a hawk. After a couple of minutes to 5 or 6 minutes he will swim out peck on food and go back to his hiding place and watch me some more. LOL. It's hard to measure intelligence in fish (for me at least) but this guy just seems much more personable and intelligent than most.
Even though he will be the biggest fish in my tank I have no concern about aggression with this one.
Breakthecycle2
New member
He will eventually.
