Ventralis Anthias Order

Great news, the Ventralis Anthias are no longer scared of me! I freak them out at first, but then they come out of their hiding places and are very bold. They don't care that I have a camera on them either. If I make really sudden movements they'll slowly glide under their cave, but I think they're improving a lot! I can move around in front of the tank, halides full blast, and they'll be ok with it.

I saw one of the anthias gulp down at least 5 mysis shrimp! The other is still going after phantom food, lol.

Well, because I was so excited, I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.


Click on the link below to see them:

http://flickr.com/photos/kinetic/tags/22808/show/


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Here's the pair, they look hungry huh?





And here's a picture of one of my Trimma Cana's. I have two of these. They're so fat because they get fed 4 times a day like the anthias.

 
Kinetic,

What great pictures! We are happy to hear that the Anthias are doing so well and are feeding eagerly after the acclimation to the aquarium. Please continue to keep us updated on the progress of the fish.

Joyce F.
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster & Smith
 
i looked at them really closely in the morning, one is definitely "fat", the other looks like she's starving!! I saw the starving one try to eat food, but then right away spits it back out.

I tried brine shrimp and mysis (both from hikari) but no luck. I hope she eats at least a little bit.

Today I'll feed just brine in one feeding, then just mysis in the next, rather than mixing them together, to see if that helps any.
 
Alright, I've been playing around with different ways to feed, but I think one of the Ventralis is going to starve.

Out of the two, one eats everything, and doesn't have a pinched stomach. She's eating brine and mysis. I tried tossing in a few crumbles of flake but she ignored it. At least she's eating brine and mysis.

The other one comes out all the time, but seems to dash towards phantom food, and always misses the real food. She's gotten a few, but spits them right back out. It's almost 2 weeks, so I think she would've starved to death by now... so perhaps the phantom food is actually REALLY TINY pieces of food that I can't see readily?

Would blending the mysis and brine a bit work better? I mean, they're already so tiny, but maybe they eat even smaller bits?

I'm happy that the ventralis are always out and about, I was afraid they'd only come out for food... or perhaps they're always looking for food =)


One other thing, they're in my display now, so the flow is REALLY strong (3600gph in a 48"x20"x20" display), but they seem to chase food (phantom or not) without much difficulty. Would the flow be too much for them? I know anthias in general love high flow, but not sure about ventralis specifically.
 
Kinetic,

We are sorry to hear that the other Anthias does not seem to be accepting food. You may wish to try mixing the mysis and brine shrimp together; however, this will not guarantee that fish will accept it. Your current flow rating is suitable for your setup, and should not have any effect on the eating habits of this specimen. We have extended the warranty on your Anthias for another two weeks to March 17th. If it still does not seem to improve by this date, please contact us.

Mike S.
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith
 
Hey Mike,

Wow! That's incredible service, thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

I've tried both mixing the brine and mysis, and feeding individually.

I've noticed the "starving" anthias get more excited about the feedings now, so his behavior is changing a bit. He may just need a bit longer to acclimate. I'll keep posting updates =)

Thanks so much

- Art
 
Art, have you tried frozen cyclopeeze? try putting in a small pinch and see if your other anthias takes some in.
 
I haven't gotten a hold of frozen cyclopeez yet, but I got a hold of the ELOS Svc food, but still nobody touched it... the corals seem happy with it though.

One of the anthias is doing great... chasing food and eating right away, and she never hides.

But the anthias that I'm having problem with, she is behaving a bit strange:

Over the weekend she became very aggressive, coming out right when the food hit the water, and started chasing after the food. She tries to eat, but everytime she spits the food right back out. Then yesterday she stopped going as crazy, and hides a lot more, only comes out a little bit, then hides again.

I'm thinking she was making a last ditch effort to eat? But now is totally out of energy and slowly dying?

The tips of her bottom fins have something white lining them... not exactly ich, but something similar? Her colors look healthy, but her stomach is still pinched and her fin tips are developing this non translucent white..

The eating anthias has totally translucent fins on the bottom (those bottom two, I don't know the scientific word) without any white.

Oh man, I think this weekend I'm definitely going for cyclopeez.
 
Kinetic,

Your anthias that is not eating may have a fungal infection if the white line on the fins seems to be uniform and not ragged. We would recommend quarantining this fish and treating it with Maracyn , Maracyn Plus, or a similar product. The time in quarantine would also help ensure that no other fish is preventing it from eating.

Tina
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith
 
Kinetic,

Please continue with the recommendations we have given you and keep us updated as to the health of the fish. Given the time frame, we do believe the fish is eating. You may want to try to observe these fish a further distance away from the aquarium or at night.

Tina
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith
 
Please listen to EZ's advice and get em Cyclopeeze. Even the freeze dried ones. All the Anthias I have gotten from LA have responded very well to it. It would be a shame to loose another one of those beauties.
 
The two ventralis used to always hang out in the open, but starting last Thursday or so, one of them hides almost exclusively, only coming out once or twice a day, and after the food is all gone.

The tank has amazing flow, which will push food evenly throughout the entire tank, under rocks, between them, and so on. perhaps the ventralis is eating in it's hiding spot since she feels most comfortable there.

The other one is always out looking for food in the water column. That one is doing great.

The strange white on the fins isn't there anymore though, so that's a good sign.

I've noticed that I can tell how much the fishes eat by a dark area in their stomach. Poop? Who knows, but the one that's always eating doesn't have too much dark in the stomach area in the mornings, but after 4 feedings it's very dark in the area. The other one doesn't look to be as full when I can take a look at her, but it's not empty either. She's eating something at least. Probably just spooked recently, I hope she'll come out more often.

Given that they're both doing pretty well now, I went ahead and ordered a few more since I believe I'm ready for them. This will complete my stocking. I'm also getting a chunk of cyclopeez mailed to me now so they will get a ton of different foods. I'm also getting an order of 200 live mysis shrimp as well, hopefully this will also be great for their diet.

I was hoping to get all my ventralis relatively close together, since I don't want one of the pair I have now turning male and pestering the new ones so they don't eat.

I'll just have to turn off my lights again for awhile for these new guys =) No problem, my corals will do fine.

Thanks again for everyone's help.
 
Hi LiveAquaria,

I have a quick update. I ordered three more ventralis, they came in very good shape, these were much larger than the first three I received. One of the new three is extremely bold and always eating, but I have some bad news. One of the new ones died a couple days ago, not sure why, maybe stress? And the old pair, the one that I have been trying to get eat died today. At this point, however, I have two that are extremely bold and eating up a storm! They're always out and about, one hides in the rocks but comes out to eat often.

It looks like I'm semi-lucky with one or two out of the batches that is very happy and will feed well.

I tried feeding live mysis which helped the new ones start eating, after putting in the live mysis, they readily take the frozen kind now.

I mix frozen mysis with frozen brine, and sometimes try to get them to eat pellet and flake. One of them tried the pellet but spit it out in disgust =)

I'm currently feeding 4 - 5 times a day (crazy, but doable). I feed once when I wakeup, then again before leaving to work, when I get back to work, and then sparingly throughout the night until bed time. Each time feeding enough for them to eat for 2 - 4 minutes.

It seems like out of every 3, there's 1 that will be extremely successful in the tank.

I am very impressed with the health of these guys, when they come in they're not starving at all. The stress and new environment might get to them a bit though, but I think the remaining three are going to do well. I'll eventually try to get two more to get a total of 5 for a species tank.

I dont' think I'd try getting ventralis from any other source at this point =) Even though I did lose three of them, the ones that remain are incredible.

I'll post pix of the group soon.
 
Kinetic,

Thank you for your reply. We apologize for the loss of these two Anthias. We have placed a credit on file for both of the specimens lost. Please keep us informed should any of the remaining Anthias not survive.

Nate M.
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster & Smith
 
Hey Nate,

Thanks for checking in on this thread. I appreciate the credit.

I think the remainder will be awesome. There's two that are readily eating, one is a bit hesitant but definitely swimming out to eat. I will keep you and the rest updated.

Thanks again

- Art
 
Another update, the remaining three are eating readily, and almost always swimming out in the open and not so afraid of people looking into the tank now.

They're all pretty fat now, it's great. The largest of the now trio chases the other two a bit, I think she will turn into a male eventually, since she's the most dominant. It's great that they're showing this "pecking order" behavior now, they must feel more at home.


LiveAquaria: any idea when you'll get more ventralis in stock? I'd like to have at least 4 - 5.
 
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