Need advice on feeding firefish

[TheReefDiary]

So my firefish is a straight pain the **** to feed. Out of everyone in my tank I struggle to make sure he's getting enough food without overfeeding. He's so skittish that ge hides if I try to do the turkey baster method.

My watchman goby looks forward to the baster and will eat things off the sandbed. My firefish however has not desire to eat anything not floating in the water column.

Any tips because I don't want to overfeed my tank and throw off my parameters just to feed this guy. Not sure if I'm still struggling in a week or so if I should try to trap him and find a less finicky fish?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Is there a large population of live foods in the tank (amphipods, copepods, mysis, etc.)? That would make up a bulk of its diet until it learns to eat the food you provide (if it ever does).

 

[Sleepingtiger]

I bought 4 fire fish and they seem not so skittish. Maybe its better they have a similar tankmate

I also trained them to eat while in quarantine.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I prefer the tough love approach, feed the tank regularly on schedule, and the fish will need to learn to get out and grab the food. It will take a few days but unless it's being bullied, it will learn to get out there to catch its portion. Just feed and walk away, maybe its your presence thats disturbing it, some of my fish wont eat if I stay and watch.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Turn all the pumps off and feed some frozen cyclops. They hang out in the water column longer are tiny enough for the small mouth of the Firefish. Once they get used to feeding with the other fish, they'll eat without the pumps being off and start to eat other things like Mysis, brine, and flakes.

 

[TheReefDiary]

Is there a large population of live foods in the tank (amphipods, copepods, mysis, etc.)? That would make up a bulk of its diet until it learns to eat the food you provide (if it ever does).

It's a 13.5g. I actually have a cheat reactor coming today to hopefully allow for the copepods to breed and create a sustainable amount for the tank. I also feed phyto to the tank so hopefully that should help as well with the pods.

 

[TheReefDiary]

Personally I prefer the tough love approach, feed the tank regularly on schedule, and the fish will need to learn to get out and grab the food. It will take a few days but unless it's being bullied, it will learn to get out there to catch its portion. Just feed and walk away, maybe its your presence thats disturbing it, some of my fish wont eat if I stay and watch.

He's been in there for quite a long time. He was eating well when there weren't corals, the new environment I think spooked him a bit. No aggression in the tank either so he really should be fine eating. But I've just noticed I've struggled to get him food compared to everyone else.

 

[TheReefDiary]

I bought 4 fire fish and they seem not so skittish. Maybe its better they have a similar tankmate

I also trained them to eat while in quarantine.

His tankmate is the watchman. They share a burrow and chill all day. The watchman isnt skittish and eats pretty much straight out of the baster.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Any other fish besides the watchman?

 

[TheReefDiary]

Any other fish besides the watchman?

2 clown. Very small ones. The furefish dwarfs them at the moment.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Clowns are really good at stealing food, especially once bigger.

 

[TheReefDiary]

Clowns are really good at stealing food, especially once bigger.

Oh yeah they eat the majority. However they seem to enjoy surface eating and not eating in the water column. My firefish swims next to them during the day all the time. Feeding time comes and he's afraid of me. All the other fish look for me to come over because it's feeding time.

 

[killer2001]

My firefish likes to eat flakes floating around in the water column, but only a very specific size for his tiny mouth. Other than that, he will just pick off the chunky copepods that are on my glass.

 

[Pkunk35]

Try tiny almost pulverized bits of flake food that the other fish won’t eat. Mine love flake and as mentioned eat the tiniest bits of them floating in the water. You can feed it separately from the main feast or as a additional to try and gutload that firefish.