• Why not take a moment to introduce yourself to our members?

da5speed

Advanced Reefer
Location
Huntington LI
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
On monday May 4th I got a Naso tang, orange shoulder tang, purple tang, and sailfin tang, copperband and a purple firefish. All at in QT right now. I have not really seen the naso and copperband eat yet. I been feeding them a mix of flakes, pellets, frozen shrimp. All the others are eating like pigs and while im feeding the naso and copperband move around a lot like they want eat but nothing. Anything I could do to trigger them to eat.
 

greggnyce

Advanced Reefer
Location
Bellport, NY
Rating - 100%
16   0   0
Some people have success with clams and mussels chopped up. I have never tried this however, I have clams and dont think it is a good idea to give them a taste for it.
 

da5speed

Advanced Reefer
Location
Huntington LI
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
have you tried any seaweed for the naso tang? have you soaked any of the foods in garlic to try and entice the fish to eat?

They ate all the seaweed on the clip but never saw the naso go for it. The QT is in my basement, so i only see them for a short time in the morning and a little in the afternoon. I did try give them food with garlic but i always find that it take a couple of feeding to get any fish to take to the garlic.

I even scraped a little anemone out of my display tank to see it the copperband would be interested.

Also i see a little white spot on the naso fin it has been there since i got home. So i dont think it is ick, cause usually it falls off and/or spreads after a couple of days.
 

da5speed

Advanced Reefer
Location
Huntington LI
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
Yes im using the seaweed select green with garlic. I got put a new sheet in ill try to keep my eye on the tank. Wish i had a comp cam that i could setup to record the tank. I always wanted to set up a live feed of my tank so i could watch it from my office lol
 

dacaptain78

Advanced Reefer
Location
Staten Island
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
I have had sucess getting stubborn tangs to eat by offering fresh clams. I have also tried squid and scallops with less sucess.

Also, I had a copperbanded BF at one time that would not eat. I bought live brine shrimp form my LFS (I know not nutricious) but they enticed the fish to eat. On the third day I mixed in some frozen brine and mysis shimp with the live brine shrimp and the fish started eating. Within a weeks time he was switched over to frozen brine and mysis shrimp exclusively.
 

da5speed

Advanced Reefer
Location
Huntington LI
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
So I saw the Naso eat finally. Just little small piece of flake that no one else was going for. The copperband doesnt look like has so i guess ill have to go some yummy clams for him. It just going to be tuff cause the shoulder tang is like a garbage truck and eats everything like its his last meal.
 

jhart

Advanced Reefer
Location
Yonkers
Rating - 100%
28   0   0
Sometime they just wont eat , no matter what you try to feed , Fish has been taken out of its natural enviroment and are in need of hiding spots to feel comfy and eat , Its allways a good thing to make sure you buy fish that are eating before you buy,Hopefully when you throw them into the reef they'll eat. Cooperband has a poor sucess rate , Good luck , hope they make it...
 

KathyC

Moderator
Location
Barnum Island
Rating - 100%
200   0   0
All of the suggestions above are excellent.

What size is the QT tank? It may be possible that the fish not actively eating are feeling intimidated by the other fish. Are they staying off to one side of the QT tank?
You can add some plastic plants (cable tie them to a small rock/pipe to weigh them down) in addition to some pieces of PCV piping to make the fish feel more secure.

Be sure to stay on top of your ammonia levels with all of the food you are feeding to those garbage trucks! :)
 
Last edited:

da5speed

Advanced Reefer
Location
Huntington LI
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
All off the suggestions above are excellent.

What size is the QT tank? It may be possible that the fish not actively eating are feeling intimidated by the other fish. Are they staying off to one side of the QT tank?
You can add some plastic plants (cable tie them to a small rock/pipe to weigh them down) in addition to some pieces of PCV piping to make the fish feel more secure.

Be sure to stay on top of your ammonia levels with all of the food you are feeding to those garbage trucks! :)

The purple tang is alone is a 25 gal, the rest are in a 40 gal that i have a hang on filter a powerhead, and a hang on skimmer close to the one you were selling months ago kathy. I did pull some rubble out of my sump and threw it in the 40 gal and a 8lbs rock from my extra rock stock that has been cycleing since november also some pvc but only 1inch. I did notice the ammonia come up to 1.0 which is getting me scared. Other then the one spot on the naso fin there is nothing else keeping me from putting the fish in the tank although i do like to QT them for a month and its only been 11 days. But if the water in my display tank is better quality i rather change them sooner.

As for feeding behavior they all do stay toward one side of the tank by the LR but when feeding they are all swing back and when im by the tank they dont try to hide they will come right to the front, even the naso and CB will tease my by looking at food and going toward it (either food at the bottom or floating) and then turn away at the last second

Should i be concerned with the one white spot on the naso's fin? It very small like how ick would look but has been there for 10 days and it has not spread to anyone and has not grow.
 

da5speed

Advanced Reefer
Location
Huntington LI
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
Does anyone think it a better idea just to put them in the display tank? I was think there are more places to hide better natural food for the copperband and better water conditions.
 

marrone

The All Powerful OZ
Staff member
Vendor
Location
The Big City
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
Does anyone think it a better idea just to put them in the display tank? I was think there are more places to hide better natural food for the copperband and better water conditions.

What happens if one of the fish has a diseases, you could infect all your fish and possibly lose them all. You would then have a disease in your display tank. Not a good idea.
 

isakofyork001

Experienced Reefer
Location
new jersey
Rating - 100%
8   0   0
if you can make sure you see them eat before you buy them, if you do have ick, in your tank, use "marine max" by trocipal science, i use it in all my tanks and it works, an is 100% reef safe, it really works.
 

marrone

The All Powerful OZ
Staff member
Vendor
Location
The Big City
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
Marine Max doesn't kill ich or any other disease, it does boost the immune system of the fish, similar to garlic supplements. As for being reef safe, I haven't seen any studies saying it truly is.

Also there are a lot of things worst then ich that you should be looking out for.
 

da5speed

Advanced Reefer
Location
Huntington LI
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
So the copperband didnt make it he was looking a little ratty the last 2 days and found him a float last night. Was trying the garlic and every food i have available. Never got a chance to try the shirmp
 

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top