Fishkeeping - Pain in the Anthias

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Pain in the Anthias

I just rec'd a Dispar Anthias last Thursday. After hours of hiding out, she
finally comes out from time to time to swim around. My problem is with
feeding her.

I've tried mysis (which the pet store said she was eating there), seaweed,
"Frozen Emerald Entree" which is zooplankton and a bunch of greens mixed up
and I've tried flake food. She doesn't seem to care for any of them. I do
see a dip inward in her belly but I can't help to think that maybe she's
eating a little when I'm not looking because she is alive and acting
"normal" after 4 days. I'd feel better if I could see her eat though.

I've done some reading about this fish and understand that they can be a
challenge to coax them to eat. Any of you have any luck or knowledge in
this? Any ideas?

My other fish don't bother the anthias at all. She swims around them
peacefully. She is still a little skittish when I walk by the tank and
hides for a good while after stick my hand in it. She seems to love being
cleaned by my cleaner shrimp. In fact, after they did clean her initially,
she pushes herself on them at all times to the point where they just ignore
her and try to walk away after a while.. It's rather comical.

I see her move around quickly like the other fish when I feed him. I see
him swim up to a piece like she's going to bite, but doesn't. Overall, it
seems like the Anthias is wanting to eat.... but just doesn't.

I appreciate the time.

B

Pain in the Anthias

Bryan wrote:

I've tried mysis (which the pet store said she was eating there), seaweed,
"Frozen Emerald Entree" which is zooplankton and a bunch of greens mixed up
and I've tried flake food.

Forget the flake food. Fenner states that these guys eat fine, meaty foods. In
the wild, they take crustaceans, fish eggs, and larvae. He says that you may
have to use live foods like live brine shrimp to get the fish started eating.
They don't eat greens. Fenner says that brine shrimp isn't sufficient as a
steady diet.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

Pain in the Anthias

I dropped in some newly hatched brine this morning. Hard to tell if she was
eating or not since those critters are so small. Looked like she took a few
gulps though. I'll watch and see.

Speaking of hatching brine... should I put them in another aquarium to grow
larger before feeding them? I know people hatch them and directly feed but
it seems like the fish go nuts chasing dots around. Hardly seems worth the
effort (although I'm no fish). :)

Thanks for the help guys. I'll keep working on her.

B

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:bMDGg.21287$u1.6838@trnddc05...
Bryan wrote:

I've tried mysis (which the pet store said she was eating there),
seaweed, "Frozen Emerald Entree" which is zooplankton and a bunch of
greens mixed up and I've tried flake food.

Forget the flake food. Fenner states that these guys eat fine, meaty
foods. In the wild, they take crustaceans, fish eggs, and larvae. He says
that you may have to use live foods like live brine shrimp to get the fish
started eating. They don't eat greens. Fenner says that brine shrimp isn't
sufficient as a steady diet.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

Pain in the Anthias

Bryan wrote:

Speaking of hatching brine... should I put them in another aquarium to grow
larger before feeding them?

Couple of problems with that. First, what will you feed the brine shrimp to make
them grow larger? Second, I've been told that they really need higher salinity
than typical marine tanks if you want to raise them.

The kicker for me is the fact that my latest book ("The Conscientious Aquarist")
says that your fish can't stay alive on brine shrimp. It's to be used only as a
transition food to get them started eating stuff like ground clam and shrimp.

I would buy doses of live brine from an LFS and mix it with "real" food. I would
quit feeding live brine as soon as it starts eating something else.

As I said, Fenner says they eat a "fine, meaty" diet. I'll leave it to people
like Wayne to further define that, but my guess is that some shrimp pulverized
in a blender is a good candidate.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

Pain in the Anthias

Thanks George.

I agree, I've read everywhere that brine isn't very nutritious, it just
seems to add the "live" to feeding. It's also a pain in the ... compared to
other types of feeding. I'm willing to use it to get new livestock to eat
and even to keep the fish, ever so often, working for food. (It's also a bit
entertaining for a few feeding moments.)

So I'll leave it at that for the brine question. I'll work this anthias
eating struggle until it's either eating like it should or the hermits have
found a use for the fish.... oh that was bad I know.. :)

Thanks for the help. Any other coaxing ideas are appreciated.

B

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:LINGg.21347$u1.15523@trnddc05...
Bryan wrote:

Speaking of hatching brine... should I put them in another aquarium to
grow larger before feeding them?

Couple of problems with that. First, what will you feed the brine shrimp
to make them grow larger? Second, I've been told that they really need
higher salinity than typical marine tanks if you want to raise them.

The kicker for me is the fact that my latest book ("The Conscientious
Aquarist") says that your fish can't stay alive on brine shrimp. It's to
be used only as a transition food to get them started eating stuff like
ground clam and shrimp.

I would buy doses of live brine from an LFS and mix it with "real" food. I
would quit feeding live brine as soon as it starts eating something else.

As I said, Fenner says they eat a "fine, meaty" diet. I'll leave it to
people like Wayne to further define that, but my guess is that some shrimp
pulverized in a blender is a good candidate.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

Pain in the Anthias

Good luck with your Dispar. I had a gorgeous Purple Queen that I fed
absolutely everything, to no avail. I thought at one point I'd found
something it would eat, but I couldn't really be certain it wasn't
just a "drive through and sniff it" reaction. I think it never did eat
-- it expired after about a month. Some of the things I tried:

any kind of flake or pelleted (even the tiny stuff)
live brine
frozen cube
Cyclopeez
pounded raw shrimp on a clip
rinsed caviar
pulverized and strained clams
Mysis
blackworms
freeze-dried Tubifex
jarred zooplankton

Mine behaved just as you say yours is doing. Peaceful, didn't bother
anybody nor did anybody bother it; didn't even seem terribly shy when
we worked around or in the tank. Loved our cleaner shrimp. Came out
and acted terribly interested when any food was being offered, and
swam through the feeding frenzy with great excitement, but never
actually snapped anything up. It didn't seem to recognize any
offerings as food, although it evidently smelled it or in some way
realized there was food around somewhere. All the other fish were
beside themselves with joy at the cafeteria variety. Now I've got to
feed all that stuff to them periodically or they sulk.

I hope you find something your Anthias likes. I was heartbroken when
mine finally died. I'll never have another one. The pictures I see of
them in the wild are of big schools in wide open spaces. I think my
little 120-gal just isn't the right environment for these beautiful
animals. I'll enjoy the reefshots on TV and video, and leave them to
their rightful place.

Best of luck to you. And your Anthias.
~v~

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:25:08 GMT, "Bryan" wrote:

I just rec'd a Dispar Anthias last Thursday. After hours of hiding out, she
finally comes out from time to time to swim around. My problem is with
feeding her.

I've tried mysis (which the pet store said she was eating there), seaweed,
"Frozen Emerald Entree" which is zooplankton and a bunch of greens mixed up
and I've tried flake food. She doesn't seem to care for any of them. I do
see a dip inward in her belly but I can't help to think that maybe she's
eating a little when I'm not looking because she is alive and acting
"normal" after 4 days. I'd feel better if I could see her eat though.

I've done some reading about this fish and understand that they can be a
challenge to coax them to eat. Any of you have any luck or knowledge in
this? Any ideas?

My other fish don't bother the anthias at all. She swims around them
peacefully. She is still a little skittish when I walk by the tank and
hides for a good while after stick my hand in it. She seems to love being
cleaned by my cleaner shrimp. In fact, after they did clean her initially,
she pushes herself on them at all times to the point where they just ignore
her and try to walk away after a while.. It's rather comical.

I see her move around quickly like the other fish when I feed him. I see
him swim up to a piece like she's going to bite, but doesn't. Overall, it
seems like the Anthias is wanting to eat.... but just doesn't.

I appreciate the time.

B

=^..^=
.... the problem with people these days is that
they've forgotten we're really just animals.

Pain in the Anthias = Crab Meat

Thanks exotec. You described my Dispar Anthias' actions perfectly.

Alas this morning, I found that she became crab meat. Yesterday she came
out in the morning a little bit. I fed them all and she ran and hid. She
didn't come out the rest of the day = not normal. Late lastnight I saw her
alive and hiding under her rocks. This time though her tail wasn't moving
as much so I didn't know if I caught her leaning on a rock "sleeping" or
weak.

This morning the cleaners and hermits pointed her out to me.

I didn't get a chance to try as much food as you. I was going to do
Cyclopeez next. I think she ate some brine the other day but it's
impossible to tell. I agree with you that the Anthias needs to stay in the
ocean. I can't help to wonder if a school would have been the right way to
have these things. I'm not going to test that out though. Nothing I read
supports that but maybe some day that will be reported.

R.I.P. to our Anthias...

B

"exotec" wrote in message
...
Good luck with your Dispar. I had a gorgeous Purple Queen that I fed
absolutely everything, to no avail. I thought at one point I'd found
something it would eat, but I couldn't really be certain it wasn't
just a "drive through and sniff it" reaction. I think it never did eat
-- it expired after about a month. Some of the things I tried:

any kind of flake or pelleted (even the tiny stuff)
live brine
frozen cube
Cyclopeez
pounded raw shrimp on a clip
rinsed caviar
pulverized and strained clams
Mysis
blackworms
freeze-dried Tubifex
jarred zooplankton

Mine behaved just as you say yours is doing. Peaceful, didn't bother
anybody nor did anybody bother it; didn't even seem terribly shy when
we worked around or in the tank. Loved our cleaner shrimp. Came out
and acted terribly interested when any food was being offered, and
swam through the feeding frenzy with great excitement, but never
actually snapped anything up. It didn't seem to recognize any
offerings as food, although it evidently smelled it or in some way
realized there was food around somewhere. All the other fish were
beside themselves with joy at the cafeteria variety. Now I've got to
feed all that stuff to them periodically or they sulk.

I hope you find something your Anthias likes. I was heartbroken when
mine finally died. I'll never have another one. The pictures I see of
them in the wild are of big schools in wide open spaces. I think my
little 120-gal just isn't the right environment for these beautiful
animals. I'll enjoy the reefshots on TV and video, and leave them to
their rightful place.

Best of luck to you. And your Anthias.
~v~

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:25:08 GMT, "Bryan" wrote:

I just rec'd a Dispar Anthias last Thursday. After hours of hiding out,
she
finally comes out from time to time to swim around. My problem is with
feeding her.

I've tried mysis (which the pet store said she was eating there), seaweed,
"Frozen Emerald Entree" which is zooplankton and a bunch of greens mixed
up
and I've tried flake food. She doesn't seem to care for any of them. I
do
see a dip inward in her belly but I can't help to think that maybe she's
eating a little when I'm not looking because she is alive and acting
"normal" after 4 days. I'd feel better if I could see her eat though.

I've done some reading about this fish and understand that they can be a
challenge to coax them to eat. Any of you have any luck or knowledge in
this? Any ideas?

My other fish don't bother the anthias at all. She swims around them
peacefully. She is still a little skittish when I walk by the tank and
hides for a good while after stick my hand in it. She seems to love being
cleaned by my cleaner shrimp. In fact, after they did clean her
initially,
she pushes herself on them at all times to the point where they just
ignore
her and try to walk away after a while.. It's rather comical.

I see her move around quickly like the other fish when I feed him. I see
him swim up to a piece like she's going to bite, but doesn't. Overall, it
seems like the Anthias is wanting to eat.... but just doesn't.

I appreciate the time.

B

=^..^=
... the problem with people these days is that
they've forgotten we're really just animals.