Finicky fish experts or garlic users need some advice

[Oshengems]

Im attempting to condition a Multibar Angel to frozen/pellets/ flakes which one one works for now. I have never used garlic to feed new fish since I’ve had good luck getting fish to eat but besides the new Multibar I also picked up a blue Star wrasse and it’s not eating as well so why not give it a try. I also have a potters angel in my DT he’s been there roughly 4 months still not eating I have A LOT! Of LR so he’s grazing all day but will toss him in with the Multibar to see if I can get them both to eat.

My question is from what I’ve read I can use powder or Garlic cloves my LFS has both garlic guard(sea hen) and garlic extreme(Kent M) which will be better or which have given you better responses or better stimulation to get finicky fish to eat? Real fresh garlic or these extracts.. Also what’s the best method to soak the food? Idk why I feel the garlic pouder should not be used but it seems people have.

Last night I saw him grab some frozen brine and spit it back out and felt this can be a good opportunity

 

[theMeat]

I know this sounds weird, and many would raise an eyebrow, but i’v had so much good luck with multiple types of finicky fish using new life spectrum, especially their flake.

 

[Whipples]

I've mixed in a few pellets to the normal frozen food to kind of "season" them to entice some picky eaters. This softens them and also gives them the taste profile of whatever food you are currently getting them to eat!

 

[Oshengems]

I have NLP pellets but don’t use them because of the size but will try it today as well

 

[Oshengems]

I've mixed in a few pellets to the normal frozen food to kind of "season" them to entice some picky eaters. This softens them and also gives them the taste profile of whatever food you are currently getting them to eat!

In conjunction with garlic ? If so what type of garlic do you use fresh or those extracts ?

 

[Grossman90]

This might not be the case for your angels but my potters angel when introduced into my tank spit out all food. 2 days later ich/velvet appeared on the angel. Was a good thing i QT. I FW dipped the angel and started copper. The very next feeding the angel was eating everything. The angel had flukes aswell which i discovered a week after i started copper.

 

[Whipples]

In conjunction with garlic ? If so what type of garlic do you use fresh or those extracts ?

No extracts or anything, just the juice so to speak from the frozen food I’ve thawed to feed the tank. Ill also toss in some pellets when feeding other food to trick them. NLS picky pellets worked with my anthias, too.

 

[PDR]

I have never had a finicky fish respond any better to the same food soaked in garlic. I have had success getting all of my finicky fish eating LRS Fish Frenzy soaked in selcon.

 

[Jesterrace]

Im attempting to condition a Multibar Angel to frozen/pellets/ flakes which one one works for now. I have never used garlic to feed new fish since I’ve had good luck getting fish to eat but besides the new Multibar I also picked up a blue Star wrasse and it’s not eating as well so why not give it a try. I also have a potters angel in my DT he’s been there roughly 4 months still not eating I have A LOT! Of LR so he’s grazing all day but will toss him in with the Multibar to see if I can get them both to eat.

My question is from what I’ve read I can use powder or Garlic cloves my LFS has both garlic guard(sea hen) and garlic extreme(Kent M) which will be better or which have given you better responses or better stimulation to get finicky fish to eat? Real fresh garlic or these extracts.. Also what’s the best method to soak the food? Idk why I feel the garlic pouder should not be used but it seems people have.

Last night I saw him grab some frozen brine and spit it back out and felt this can be a good opportunity

If you aren't using LRS Reef Frenzy, I would strongly recommend it as it is geared for picky eaters and is literally an all in one Omnivore Buffet. I've used the Kent's Marine to induce feeding before. What I do is take a cup that I use for feeding and take water from the tank, then take a chunk of reef frenzy and mash it up a bit. Then add one to two drops of the Kent's Marine to the water and cover it with plastic seal and stick it in the fridge and let it marinate for a few hours. Then pull out and let the cup sit out for a little bit and dump it in around feeding time.

 

[lion king]

The best system I've found is to feed live and frozen brine at the same, they'll start getting s taste for the dead, then mix in some mysis and eventually stop with the live. The problem with all the fish you you mentioned, is that they don't usually eat from the water column, so they do not recognize what you are feeding as food. Being with other fish that are eating also gives them a clue. Smashing food like masstick and the ocean nutrition cubes with the gel binders into rocks helps as well.

 

[maroun.c]

+1 for live brine shrimp if u can hatch in time.
I'd also mix frozen and pellets with vitamins and if u want garlic (any form would work) id leqve those to soak then crush on a piece of rock and leave to dry a bit and then offer, this way they look a bit more natural. Beautiful fish food luck with it.

 

[Oshengems]

If you aren't using LRS Reef Frenzy, I would strongly recommend it as it is geared for picky eaters and is literally an all in one Omnivore Buffet. I've used the Kent's Marine to induce feeding before. What I do is take a cup that I use for feeding and take water from the tank, then take a chunk of reef frenzy and mash it up a bit. Then add one to two drops of the Kent's Marine to the water and cover it with plastic seal and stick it in the fridge and let it marinate for a few hours. Then pull out and let the cup sit out for a little bit and dump it in around feeding time.

I have an aresenal of food but my main LRS RF, he’s bitting but spitting back out. I observed on this one he goes after brine that was getting caught in between the egg crate rack but bites and spits guess it’s a good sign haven’t had time to add garlic to any of my feeds but will this weekend these pass few days work was intense

 

[ca1ore]

I know it is conventional wisdom to use garlic as a way to increase interest in food, but I have neither found it to be true nor have I ever seen any research to validate the notion. Frankly I think it’s a waste of time. A fish will either decide it’s interested or it will not. Sometimes a fish refuses to eat for a while, then suddenly starts and it’s easy to assume that whatever you offerrred was THE ANSWER .... when it’s more likely that the fish was just ready to eat. Leopard wrasse will usually start to eat brine or mysis, potters as well. Multibar ..... who knows.

 

[Jesterrace]

All I know is that my fish eat the food regardless, but all of them definitely respond much quicker when it's been marinated in garlic and that new fish that were spitting food back out would definitely gobble up and keep down the food after garlic. I can't prove it scientifically, but I definitely notice a visible difference with my fish between garlic and no garlic. I agree though that adding it as a regular daily source to the fish food is not the best idea. Just for a feeding or two to get them eating.

 

[maroun.c]

Typically when fish pick upnas spit food its a good sign as the will to eat is there. It's typically only a few days after till they get used to the new taste and texture of the new food and they start eating.

 

[YellowFinsReef]

I agree with the unnecessary use of garlic in fish food. In my experience, never had I been able to get a fish to eat food by adding garlic or fish-palatable enhancers. When I have a difficult fish (or know I will be getting into it), there are two things that are important to me. Water quality and variety of food.

I say water quality, because if the water has parasites, chemicals, or is degraded, it's another barrier towards getting the fish to feed. If this is in check, the other thing is, do you have a variety of food to offer and patiently observe if the fish will accept it (and when i say variety, i really mean a cabinet full of fish food).

I say this because I've had some of the most annoying fish ever, which i had to condition to accept prepared foods (which i lost most due to a tank exploding last year). I've kept moorish idols, regals, multibar, tamarins, leopard wrasses...etc. In order for me to get them to eat, i literally had to throw in everything from seaweed flakes, nutramar ova, pellets, shredded squid, and black worms and observe to see what they will eat. My nitrates sky rocketed, but i felt success when the fish was eating.

Multibars are a bit annoying, but they can be dealt with. Ive had some good success getting them to eat nutramar ova, but they don't manufacture them anymore, so i would encourage you to try and get your hands on LRS fish eggs. Let me know how it goes.

 

[naoki]

I know it is conventional wisdom to use garlic as a way to increase interest in food, but I have neither found it to be true nor have I ever seen any research to validate the notion.

Really? I haven't used garlic, but if you search google scholar, there are quite a few research supporting or suggesting garlic as an appetite stimulant in several species of fish.

 

[Tamberav]

Have you tried live food? I did live brine first few days with my leopards until they were just excited to see me and my presence = food. Then I started mixing in LRS...and removed the brine.

 

[ca1ore]

Really? I haven't used garlic, but if you search google scholar, there are quite a few research supporting or suggesting garlic as an appetite stimulant in several species of fish.

Not that I’ve seen .... and I have looked. Most of the studies I read looked at garlic as a way to accelerate weight gain, and were marginal at best. Liver damage seems to be a problem as well when fed garlic consistently. My own anecdotal observations are that it makes no difference, therefore I don’t do it. Oh, and garlic is also useless against ich, if anyone was wondering.

 

[Captain Quint]

In conjunction with garlic ? If so what type of garlic do you use fresh or those extracts ?

I feed frozen cubes of Mysis. I do you Garlic Guard but only really because I use Selcon and it covers the taste of the vitamins. The fishes must like it. They go nuts eating.

I've done it this way for more years than I like to admit to.