Problem with feeding.

[ATP123]

Hi,

I just got a naso tang along with a bluejaw triggerfish last thursday for one of my tanks. The trigger was a bit shy on the first day, but he was pretty active the next day and eats a ton. The naso on the other hand wouldn't eat. He's really active and probably the most active naso I've ever had, but he just wouldn't eat.

I'ver tried Mysis, Arcti-pods, freeze dried plankton, bloodworms, and krill, nori stuck on clip, rock, and free float, Hikari pellets, formula one flakes, formula two, spirulina flakes, and life spectrum pellets. I've tried soaking all of them in garlic, but he still wouldn' eat.

I might try feeding him live brine of ghost shrimp soon to get him to eat. Is anything I should do or should I just continue what I'm doing and get the live food?

 

[slim_jim989]

When you put the nori on the rock how long did you leave it there and is he staying in one spot or moving around the tank?

 

[ac7av]

Took mine nearly a week before I was sure they were eating. I actually had to get some really live algae from the beach and put that on a clip. I grabbed several different kinds until I found the one they liked and then started attaching it to a clip with the freeze dried stuff. After the second week they were eating only dry stuff and every thing was good. It can be hard to get a wild caught fish to eat some times.

 

[ATP123]

When you put the nori on the rock how long did you leave it there and is he staying in one spot or moving around the tank?

I'm not sure how long, but probably about 5 min. No fish touches it so I tossed it into my 120. The naso is pretty active. He always swims around the tank (island overflow)

Took mine nearly a week before I was sure they were eating. I actually had to get some really live algae from the beach and put that on a clip. I grabbed several different kinds until I found the one they liked and then started attaching it to a clip with the freeze dried stuff. After the second week they were eating only dry stuff and every thing was good. It can be hard to get a wild caught fish to eat some times.

I'll try puting some macro algae from my fuge to see if he eats them or not.

 

[slim_jim989]

One tip would be to take a piece or two and tie it to the rock and let it sit over night, and if you see in the morning that nothing has been eaten just move it to a new spot, basically see where he stays at night and put it there. Hell smelll it and it will be like the dog comercial Beggin strips

 

[ATP123]

One tip would be to take a piece or two and tie it to the rock and let it sit over night, and if you see in the morning that nothing has been eaten just move it to a new spot, basically see where he stays at night and put it there. Hell smelll it and it will be like the dog comercial Beggin strips

I'll try that tonight. I could smell thet garlic from pretty far away and he still ignored it. Soaked that mysis for like 15 min. one time.

 

[slim_jim989]

I was at one of our local meets when we had lots of speakers but one i really remember was talking about reef myths. One being garlic, how do we know that soaking our food in garlic works. or that they smell and are attracked to the garlic. just a food for thought lol

 

[ATP123]

I was at one of our local meets when we had lots of speakers but one i really remember was talking about reef myths. One being garlic, how do we know that soaking our food in garlic works. or that they smell and are attracked to the garlic. just a food for thought lol

lol. I just tried it becuase hey, you never know. I've also tried this product called angelixir on an idol and he ate, but thats probably becuase its sponge which is natural for idols.

I still wonder how garlic got involved in this hobby

 

[ATP123]

A little good news


he ignored the nori, but he ate a few caulerpa today. So what I'll do is get a few of the caulerpa and rubberband them along with a few nori on a piece of rock and make a few of those. Put them on each corner of the tank so while he eats the caulerpa, he might touch the nori.

Hope it works.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

I was at one of our local meets when we had lots of speakers but one i really remember was talking about reef myths. One being garlic, how do we know that soaking our food in garlic works. or that they smell and are attracked to the garlic. just a food for thought lol

how do we know sharks are attracted to blood lol, which came first the chicken or the egg. this can go on forever. lol I wonder the same things how can you tell how a fly looks at you. with all those eyes

 

[lvsuckerfish]

good even you need more I have some more for you atp not alot but I have some.

 

[ATP123]

good even you need more I have some more for you atp not alot but I have some.

thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I still have a lot overgrowing in my refugim so its fine as of now

 

[lvsuckerfish]

ok cool just let me know it's not going anywhere lol been there for a few months my tang laughs at it lol

 

[Lateral72]

Any updates?

Naso tangs seem to be one of the slowest to adapt tangs. Our Naso took two weeks before she'd eat anything other than Caulerpa & Chaeto off the clip.

 

[ac7av]

Ya my naso was the last to really get going out of 5 I put in at that time. Ill bet its a good update report. Sounds like ATP123 was on a good start.

 

[ATP123]

He's getting really weak last week and couldn't swim infront of the powerhead without maintaining balance. My trigger took advantage of that and started to stress out the naso a bit by blocking his way sometimes.

After a while, I decided to put him in my refugim where he could have unlimited amounts of caulerpa and pods. He's not getting any weaker since, but I'm not sure if he is getting any better as well. I'm still trying to get him to eat.

Honestly, I've had pretty bad luck with naso's in the past. 1st one was inherited from the previous owner when I started and I didn't know what to do and it passed, 2nd was killed by overdosing (I was still new), 3rd was a blonde naso that refused to eat, 4th was blonde naso that got ich and didnt make it. I couldnt get to treat it because I was wearing a cast on one of my arm so couldnt really set a QT at the time. This is the 5th and probably will be the last one in a while if he doesnt make it. I've seen him ate nori and flakes, but he spat it out the second he took a bite out of it. I just got a different kind of nori so hopefully he'll like that one better.

I do still have hope. I'm moving my tank this weekend to a better location (also because it blocks some speakers and I have a firefish in my refugim and in my overflow that I couldnt catch) I'll seperate the naso into another tank using the same water and rocks to leave him by himself so I could have a better chance to maybe train him to eat. what do you guys think of this?

 

[Lateral72]

Depending on the fish size, and your refugium size. I'd leave him be.

Constantly moving him around is hurting your chances of success with the fish. Every time you move him, you put him in a new tank and everything "resets" back to square-one. If your refugium is big enough that he has a legitimate space to roam, leave him.

 

[ac7av]

Depending on the fish size, and your refugium size. I'd leave him be.

Constantly moving him around is hurting your chances of success with the fish. Every time you move him, you put him in a new tank and everything "resets" back to square-one. If your refugium is big enough that he has a legitimate space to roam, leave him.

2nd that statement.

 

[ATP123]

it passed away after a few months. I don't see any signs of stress that I know. It did try nori again, but spat it out once he ate it.

 

[ac7av]

I’m really sorry to here about the naso. It sounds like you did what you could. Some times you can get a fish that was just not going to eat. My brother had the same thing happen. I tried to help but still his yellow eye just would not eat anything. I think it took at least a couple of months to die slowly. The thing is you just don’t know what the fish went threw before you got it. It may have been abused or damaged or caught in a way that is not common practice today. Any of these things could end in an undesirable fashion. Try not to let it get you down too much. Next time before you get another one, make sure its eating and what it’s eating before you buy. That could hopefully help in the acclimating process into your tank.