wantanabei's not eating!!

[reefjunkie42]

hey guys I recently got a pair of wantanabei's and have not noticed them eat. They are in the Qt with 2 bellus females, a male wantan.,and a female wantan. as well as a few small assorted flasher wrasses. Is there anything i could possibly add to get them to feed? and if so what? I have been feeding PE mysis , selcon enriched brine, nutra mar ova, cyclopeze, and spectrum fish food(just bought yesterday) any advice / hints would be very helpful. thanks!!

 

[rnscross]

live brine are usually a hit, or live black worms but both are just to get them eating.

 

[sandwi54]

how big is your QT? watanabes are plankton eaters. maybe you can try to plankton food? try soaking your food in garlic.

 

[29reef]

Worms, garlic, rotifers, baby brine, rods foods, PE mysis cut up with a razor.

More importantly how big is the tank they are in? That's a lot of fish to QT at once.

 

[reefjunkie42]

its a 40b, hardly seems too small for a qt. i mean are we really expected to have a qt the size of our tanks or something?

 

[SDguy]

its a 40b, hardly seems too small for a qt. i mean are we really expected to have a qt the size of our tanks or something?

I don't think he was commenting on recommended tank size for certain fish, but more a concern about keeping water quality up (and no ammonia) in a QT tank, which is usually be definition not as established as a DT.

 

[reefjunkie42]

no your right, I did however use water from my DT. so it is seasoned water. hmm, Also I need to do 75% water changes every 7 days with prizipro as per directions, so i didn't think ammonia would be an issue. What do you guys think, don't get me wrong I am asking for help because I want your guys expert knowledge to keep these fish thriving in a beautiful ecosystem that is healthy, and parasite free. The reason why all the angels are together is to get them used to each other and socially acclimated between the 2 species(bellus and wanatanabei) so they can be added to the DT together to diffuse any aggression long term, as I was under the impression that if you are going to keep multiple different gencanthius species you should add them to the DT together, please correct me if im mistaken.

 

[SDguy]

Water quality can go down hill surprisingly fast in a QT, especially when dumping food in there trying to entice new fish to eat. Definitely check for ammonia, and always have a good amount of newly mixed water ready to go, just in case.

 

[reefjunkie42]

ok I always have 30 gal fresh RO/Di and 30 gal fresh salt mixed. Im going to just set up a small Qt for the small fish in a 20 L i have. Thanks guys. Ill keep you updated.

 

[29reef]

Adding water from a DT will do nothing to establish a tank. It will have the same perameters as the DT, but getting bacteria established takes time.

Your correct in thinking that the size doesn't matter too much, but as Peter commented you have to still maintain water quality. It can be very difficult when there isnt much surface area for bacterias to grow on.

How many fish are in the tank? The wrasses are easy to get eating, and will possibly pose a problem as they will outcompete the deep water angels. You've got the right idea by using the Qt tank I just don't think your using the methods properly.

 

[reefjunkie42]

so should I keep an eye on the ammonia?, maybe stick in an ammonia badge or something? I guess im at a loss here, not sure what to do next. they look fine there seems to be no problem with them swimming and aren't latrargic just seem to not want to eat much, esp the male. I will try adding some zooplankton to the tank other than that Im not sure what to do...

 

[reefjunkie42]

i just added zooplankton-L from brightwell aquatics and they reached very well to it. they are swimming around eating. It is kind of hard to see them eat because the mouth is so small and so is the food, but I do believe they will be ok. Im also going to try to feed mysis chopped up with a razor. Thanks I think the problem was the size of regular mysis is quite large atlas PE mysis is. thanks again 29reef and SDguy.

 

[Bret61081]

I never had luck with Watanabes in a 55g. I tried 2 and they never did well for what I think was lack of swimming space. Since I went up to a 95g Ive never had any issues. I think they are too stressed in a 40g....but thats my opinion....

 

[reefjunkie42]

I never had luck with Watanabes in a 55g. I tried 2 and they never did well for what I think was lack of swimming space. Since I went up to a 95g Ive never had any issues. I think they are too stressed in a 40g....but thats my opinion....

even as a QT?

 

[geaux xman]

try hikari mysis. it is a good margin smaller than PE mysis. also, some of the prepared angel frozens. i've had angels that didnt PE mysis at the start and ate other frozens first.

i think a 40g breeder is fine, but the one thing i dont like about having that many fish in a single QT tank, whenever a single fish isnt eating, that postpones treatment on all the other fish. But go ahead and keep it there if you can get all the fish to feed. Maybe try adding a couple of pieces of LR from your DT if you dont have any other forms of biofiltration.

You will likely have ammonia problems much quicker than 7 days. The LR pieces will help.

 

[Angel*Fish]

I've never understood putting these in an SPS dominated reef. All that lighting and possibly heat is not ideal.

 

[reefjunkie42]

No MH, LEDs so
I'm not not sure what heat ur referring to.

 

[Angel*Fish]

"Temp 78.1"

It's your tank, I'm not trying to tell you what to do. They may very well do ok. I just wouldn't make that choice. Lots of fish are considered sensitive or difficult, when if more attention was given to the type of environment they come from, they might have a reputation for hardiness.

 

[reefjunkie42]

thats my dt. they are in a qt of 76.

 

[Angel*Fish]

I don't know why I assumed you were planning to move them to the display tank. Lol - clearly this is going nowhere.