Transitioning sensitive fish off of live food.

[Wrench]

I have a choati wrasse in QT right now. It's ready to go into the display but it will only eat live brine or blackworms at the moment. Are there any tricks I can use to get it to take more prepared foods? It will show interest in frozen enriched brine but immediately spits them out. It will also occasionally eat a piece of PE mysis.

 

[usingthejohn]

A trick told to me was something like

Assume you feed 100 pieces of live food (just to illustrate). Next feeding provide 90 piece of live and 10 piece frozen. Feed for a couple days, then do 80/20 so on and so forth.

 

[snorvich]

A trick told to me was something like

Assume you feed 100 pieces of live food (just to illustrate). Next feeding provide 90 piece of live and 10 piece frozen. Feed for a couple days, then do 80/20 so on and so forth.

A good idea. Choati leopards should readily eat PE mysis.

 

[Wrench]

Thanks for the tip, I will try that. The fish shows a feeding response to everything I put into the tank and occasionally eats some mysis but not enough to be able to compete in the display.

 

[Marshall O]

A good idea. Choati leopards should readily eat PE mysis.

I agree. Mine has ate it with gusto since day 1. Pellets took a few weeks, but it now loves them too (NLS 0.5mm). The only prepared food mine won't touch is nori.

I have a suspicion that once you add it to the DT, it will quickly learn that the prepared foods you are eating are food from the other fish. As long as your pod population is sufficient, I would not be overly concerned right now as long as it is showing interest.

 

[usingthejohn]

I agree. Mine has ate it with gusto since day 1. Pellets took a few weeks, but it now loves them too (NLS 0.5mm). The only prepared food mine won't touch is nori.

I have a suspicion that once you add it to the DT, it will quickly learn that the prepared foods you are eating are food from the other fish. As long as your pod population is sufficient, I would not be overly concerned right now as long as it is showing interest.

And this is true; coincidentally I witnessed this with all my wrasses.

although all readily took frozen upon introduction into my dt, it took close to 2 months for them to accept pellets and flakes. I had a foxface that ate frozen and prepared. The fish learned it was food and as such, now eat anything that hits the water.

 

[woodnaquanut]

I've had the experience of fish being 'fussy' in QT then becoming total pigs once they get into the DT where there IS competition.

I 100% use QT but I do think it is not a natural situation for a fish to be in solitary. I'm raising up a couple of black Mollies to be my QT dither fish.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Probably the most difficult wrasse to keep in my opinion. Post a picture of yours when you get a chance. Might want to mix in some stuff like nutramar Ova and see if the fish will accept that. As many varied foods as you can get the fish in the better in my experience. PE Mysis would be the end ultimate goal as stated above.

 

[Wrench]

I have a suspicion that once you add it to the DT, it will quickly learn that the prepared foods you are eating are food from the other fish. As long as your pod population is sufficient, I would not be overly concerned right now as long as it is showing interest.

I have the same suspicion, but it's not a risk I'm willing to take just yet with a sensitive fish. It has been my experience in the past that a little competition "teaches" the fish what to eat as well.

 

[Wrench]

Probably the most difficult wrasse to keep in my opinion. Post a picture of yours when you get a chance. Might want to mix in some stuff like nutramar Ova and see if the fish will accept that. As many varied foods as you can get the fish in the better in my experience. PE Mysis would be the end ultimate goal as stated above.

Thank you for the advice, I will try those things. I will try to upload and post a video this evening.

 

[Wrench]

Last night I mixed up some frozen brine and mysis. You can see in the video below that it takes some brine but spits it out. Towards the end you can see it eat some mysis. After this video was taken, I fed more mysis and the fish ate much better. I think I'm going to feed strictly frozen mysis for a bit of time. Considering it's the only food source I think the fish will accept it more readily. Perhaps I was overreacting prematurely.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8reaCL83bU8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[small alien]

Have you got a tub of sand in the QT for the wrasse to sleep in? Fish looks great.

 

[Wrench]

Yes. There's a pile of sand on the left side of the tank.

 

[jda]

Sometimes it helps for a fish to see other fish eating something. All of my leopards ate NLS pellets once they got into the display and saw the other fish crushing them.

 

[ca1ore]

How long has it been in QT? I'm inclined to view any fish that is not yet eating at least frozen as not ready for the DT. Also success depends a bit on what else is in the DT.