High Tide Aquatics

Getting a Wrasse to eat

J

Jonathan Chia

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Hey all, any tips to getting a Wrasse to eat?

Mine hunts the rock all day but ignores any frozen food I drop in the tank .I've also tried ROE from reef nutrition and black worms but the Wrasse ignores it all.

Fed with both pumps on and off and still can't get the Wrasse to pay attention to the food.

Been about 1 week already and I bought some pods to supplement the tank
 
To add to Bruce’s questions: How long have you had it and did you quarantine? Have you tried hatching brine shrimp?

I had a possum wrasse that ate everything at first but became increasingly picky as a fluke infestation it had got worse. But tiny live foods like pods and baby brine would entice it to eat even when black worms would not
 
leopards can definitely be a bit spacey. If it's actively hunting and behaving properly (i.e. not obviously suffering from disease) .... it helps a bit if there are other not-super-aggressive fish in the tank that will snatch food from the water column. That often sparks a bit of a "me too!" reaction in fish that ignore prepared foods at first.
 
It's a china wrassse that a fellow member helped me pick up. Did not see it eat in the store. It shares a tank with an orange spotted goby and 2 clowns, all of which eat at eating time. It's been in the tank for about 2 weeks, no QT.

No obvious signs of any infestations and behavior seems normal
 
Anampses are difficult. You can flood tank with a variety of food and it may emulate other fish. It’s good that it’s coming out of bed every day otherwise it would have been a goner. Live brine, clams and mysis may help. If you’re lucky to keep it and see it morphed to male, it will be a sight to enjoy.
 
Anampses neoguinaicus can be tricky. I have had one for a little over a year now. This is my third attempt. Even if they eat there is no guarantee that they will live. All three that I had began eating masstick mixed with nutramar ova and lrs fish frenzy. I stuck small pieces onto the rocks all around the tank and they slowly started picking.
It is imperative that they are fed at least 3x a day.

I have also found that younger specimens are easier to wean onto prepared food and adapt to aquarium life much better as compared to full grown.

I would try masstick, baby brine, or live mysid shrimp.

- Edit
Have you noticed any stringy white poop?
 
A few things with Anampses. One, most do come in with internal parasites so keep an eye out for no weight gain, white poop, etc. Second, they are tough to get to eat prepared foods if you're not willing to do a lot of work. I think probably 9 out of ten die off withing a few months in a reef tank because of slow starvation. So try some of the suggestions above. Masstick can be a savior but it's a pain to use sometimes. LRS Ova or even RN eggs can help. Blackworms and live brine can get you through a few weeks as well. Their natural behavior is to pick from rocks so feew food ( or Masstick) that gets onto the bottom and rocks.
 
The Wrasse finally eats! Think it feared the wrath of BAR advice.

Fed a mix of frozen PE Canalus and LRS reef frenzy and he finally strated snapping away at the food. Definitely seems to prefer food that is trapped as opposed to being in the water column
 
For fish that pick, Copperbands for example, I’ve has good luck using the little fishes feeding pouch. I put a small amount of frozen mysis or LRS in it and leave it in a low flow area. Even if it defrosts, most of it gets trapped in it as long as the flow is not too fast. Once the fish learns there is food there, it usually comes to hangout by that area when you approach the tank.

The 1st few times are going to be a bust since it is probably a little hesitant with the new thing in the tank, just wiggle the bag to release the trapped food and feed the rest of the tank. Usually takes me a few weeks to get a fish like that to feed consistently from it. I could eventually hand feed the cooperband. This way I can make sure it gets enough food before I releasing the rest of the food into the tank. I can also fend off the wrasses that come peck from the food in my hand as well. Not foolproof but i’ve had pretty good success.


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Ive seen picky fish look at food and once the food drifts a little they get lazy and ignore trying it. What has worked for me is putting fish in a small breeder box and putting food in it that cant go too far. There you can experiment what they will and will not eat.

Got boxfish on pellets that way. They get curious, ate it and thought hey this is some good food. Ill start eating pellets now.


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