squareback anthias

Ingasar

New member
I just purchased a square back anthias. He looks healthy and is swimming all around but not eating yet. Its only been 2 days so I'm not that concerned yet. However, I am wondering what is best to feed him and when he should start eating. I read that they are usually slow to acclimate.
 
They are slow to acclimate to tank life, but as long as they dont come in with a swim bladder infection they usually do acclimate and prove to be quite hardy. Just make sure food is available multiple times a day.
 
Try frozen mysis shrimp if you haven't already. The Anthias I had wouldn't eat anything else.
 
I've kept squares many times (along with other large anthias like bimacs, bartletts and lyretails) and they generally took to aquarium fare pretty well - brine can be a good first food, but Mysis always became the staple. Mine current anthias all eat Larry's Reef Frenzy and some even eat pellets. HOWEVER, I always start anthias out in a QT tank so they can be fed many times per day in a non-competitive environment. By the time they get to the display they are fully weaned onto aquarium foods and plenty fat.
 
Thanks for the advice. He is in a QT with a few other fish and really not having any competition for the food. The food is floating right past his face. I have tried brine also. We will see if it is just going to take a few days.
 
One thing you can try that has worked well for me is to put a power head into the QT and pour food into it so that it gets moved quickly around the tank. This can elicit a good feeding response.
 
One thing you can try that has worked well for me is to put a power head into the QT and pour food into it so that it gets moved quickly around the tank. This can elicit a good feeding response.

:thumbsup: completely agree, especially with new anthias in captivity.

During quarantine I keep them in moderate flow, until I feed when the flow gets ramped up very high. This elicits a fast feeding response as WC anthias associate strong flow with incoming food.

:wave:
 
Actually just went through this about a month ago. Couldn't get him to eat anything but finally after day 7 he tried frozen mysis shrimp and has been a pig ever since. I actually just got him eating New Life Spectrum pellets. Give it a few days I bet he will come around quick once he gets settled.
 
I also agree with the power head to move the food around the QT tank. I have also improved my luck with garlic.
I buy a bag of shelled garlic then put the hole thing thru the meat grinder and freeze it in flat packs from sandwich bags. This will last for years and add some to all my fish frozen food. It seams to work better than the extract stuff.
Also recently I acquired 4 and 3 had white poops and not eating well and getting skinnier by the day. On the 2nd day after 1 dose of Prazi they started to eat better. Now they are doing great! Praziquantel is a very safe Quarantine treatment when administered properly. it seams to have no affect on non infected fish. I retreat until poop color becomes normal before adding to DT.
Cheers!
 
I had something weird happen, I have a quick question don't want to high jack your thread. I stated my square back was eating great, which he was. However he has all of a sudden stopped eating and it doesn't seem to matter what I try. Any suggestions?
 
lThe male square I added to my reef tank didn't eat at all. I was able to find live brine shrimp which enticed him to eat. Now eats like a pig frozen Mysis. pellets even algae sheets.
 
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