New angler will not eat

[jasonrusso]

I recently got a new wartskin angler from Live Aquaria on 6/30. I acclimated him and put him in his own QT. Before he arrived, I bought 1 peppermint shrimp because I thought he might be hungry after the ordeal.

I am concerned that he has not eaten yet. The shrimp is still in the tank, but seems to be hiding under a foam filter (may be a clue) all the time. I did try 1/2 a silver slide on my feeding tool yesterday. he did bite it twice but spit it out.

My guess is that they pumped him full of food before he shipped (which is bad news for anglers) and he is just not hungry. His belly looked a bit fat. LA gives you a 14 day guarantee, so I still have another week in he was to die but I am confident that an angler can go a month without eating so this kind of nullifies the guarantee.

Am I being too sensitive and he will eat when he gets hungry? Maybe he tried to eat the shrimp and that is why it is hiding now?? I have had 2 anglers in the past and taught them both to eat off my feeding tool (3 lions as well) so I know I can teach him if he starts eating.

He is active (as far as anglers go) because he moves around the tank on a daily basis. The first 2 days he didn't really move at all.

 

[dh350twin]

I have no experience with anglers but I hope someone will chime in

 

[Scurvy]

Not sure on Anglers but find them fascinating.

Most of what ive read about shipping fish is that they arent fed before hand in order to purge them as much as possible before the 12-18 hours in a small bag of water.

Hope he makes it!

 

[jasonrusso]

His shipment was delayed for 4 days because they felt he wasn't healthy enough. With an angler, they only way I think you can tell is that they aren't eating. They don't swim around.

 

[lion king]

Try some small ghost shrimp, they can be a little timid at first to eat. You might turn off the flow in the tank, drop a ghostie in and kind of herd it into the area of the warty. Once he starts eating the ghosties regularly then you can start whatever feeding practices you want. Peppermint shrimp are very elusive and he may not even be able to catch him, I've had one living with my warty for months. I would bet more he was starving when coming in vs stuffed, either way he'd easily eat everyday if you would let him.

 

[4FordFamily]

@Lionfish Lair do you still lurk!? . This is up her alley.

I would think small live fish would entice it as a worst case scenario -- like the feeder "guppies".

 

[jasonrusso]

I'll see what I can find. Live shrimp are tough sometimes around here. I do have a trick with live food but it's not for the timid. I put them in the freezer until they slow down then put it in the tank in front of him

 

[lion king]

Check your freshwater stores to see if anyone brought in some molly babies, I like mollies because you can acclimate them to salt and just let them be until he catches them. just make sure they are not too large and don't put in so many as if he eats them all he will over eat.

 

[jasonrusso]

Check your freshwater stores to see if anyone brought in some molly babies, I like mollies because you can acclimate them to salt and just let them be until he catches them. just make sure they are not too large and don't put in so many as if he eats them all he will over eat.

How do you acclimate them to salt? I tried once with some freshwater ghost shrimp and I killed all of them

 

[lion king]

Ghosties don't acclimate well but they can last a couple of hours, with mollies you just bring the sg up over a couple of hours. Some people take longer, it's worked well for me in just a couple of hours. I try to put 2 or 3 in my angler tank frequently to keep his mind active and entertained. He takes them down pretty quick though, they are never there the next day. I also put some in my cuttlefish tank, I'm not as worried about him overeating and dying, so I put a few in there to live a couple of weeks. No point for my lions, they are slurped as soon as they hit the water. I've even had mollies acclimate themselves to my angler tank when I was just feeding him without acclimation.

 

[jasonrusso]

Ghosties don't acclimate well but they can last a couple of hours, with mollies you just bring the sg up over a couple of hours. Some people take longer, it's worked well for me in just a couple of hours. I try to put 2 or 3 in my angler tank frequently to keep his mind active and entertained. He takes them down pretty quick though, they are never there the next day. I also put some in my cuttlefish tank, I'm not as worried about him overeating and dying, so I put a few in there to live a couple of weeks. No point for my lions, they are slurped as soon as they hit the water. I've even had mollies acclimate themselves to my angler tank when I was just feeding him without acclimation.

Should I assume that FW Fish will not be infected with any SW parasites? This would be a stop gap until I get him on prepared food.

If it works, also maybe a treat

 

[lion king]

Freshwater ich and marine ich are not they same, so you don't have to worry about that. There may be a chance of some sort of internal parasite, I've kept molly feeding tanks that I've treated with prazi pro in the past. There's no threat of disease from ghosties that I know of, they are inverts. I consider the mortality rate of all the fish I keep and decided a live diet was the best way to go. I've kept my warty on a live diet for a year and in that time I've tracked 10 wartys that came into to some of the lfs around here; none of them lived more than a couple of months. I've had my warty for a year now and am going to do an update on my observations in a post in the predatory section. Personally I don't believe these guys should be kept in a glass cage and fed from a stick.

 

[jasonrusso]

Got some mollies yesterday. I acclimated them to salt and fed them pellets. He still won't eat!! He actually did watch it swim around for a bit. It was right in front of him at one point and he didn't take it.

The picture is deceiving, it is definitely small enough for him to eat.

 

[lion king]

Leave the light off and let him be, I'd still try and get some ghosties, they aren't as intimidating. If he has food in the tank, he'll either eat or he won't; there's really nothing else you can do. They do seem to be happier with less flow vs more flow. Some anglers really will just sit until the fish almost swims into it's mouth, so it can be a waiting game. In the beginning I take a rigid air line and kind corral in into their mouth area.

 

[jasonrusso]

Leave the light off and let him be, I'd still try and get some ghosties, they aren't as intimidating. If he has food in the tank, he'll either eat or he won't; there's really nothing else you can do. They do seem to be happier with less flow vs more flow. Some anglers really will just sit until the fish almost swims into it's mouth, so it can be a waiting game. In the beginning I take a rigid air line and kind corral in into their mouth area.

I know it's not up to me at this point. He has clean water and food, that's all I can do. It's just a helpless feeling and I like him because he is so cool looking.

No one has any ghost shrimp around here right now. There isn't much flow. I have a Aqueon 20 filter and a foam air filter. That's it. He goes for a swim at times so he is active. I don't get it.

 

[leahfiish]

They can definitely go a few weeks without eating. Try scallops, krill (whole pieces with eyes on them so they look more alive seem to work better), PE mysis, ghost shrimp (or amano in a pinch), live brine, live blackworms (use tweezers). Try dangling the food different distances away from his mouth. Try giving him a smaller window of opportunity - dangle for a few seconds, take it away, try again a few minutes later).

I wouldn't be worried yet.

 

[jasonrusso]

Ok, time to update this thread.

My yellow/red angler didn't make it. I think there was something wrong with him the whole time. He actually had a shrimp walking on him at one point. When I saw that I knew it probably wasn't going to turn out good.

He actually died on day 14 so I got a refund from LA. Let me say, I don't want a refund, I want a healthy fish I can enjoy for many years. I know you all understand that.

Either way, the next day I ordered a painted black angler from DD. I ordered Thursday morning so I could get it Friday. I was on vacation that week so I could take my time acclimating him, etc.

Well, UPS screwed this one up. He was shipped on Thursday, there was an "issue" at the airport and long story short, I picked him up at the sorting center on Saturday at noon. When I opened the box I was sure he was dead. After floating the bag for an hour, I saw a twitch. I acclimated him for 3 hours.

He lasted for 2 days until I found him stuck to my filter. I feel that any healthy fish should be able to swim away from a 10 gallon filter. Again I got a refund from LA.

I started to get discouraged, but I felt neither of these were my fault.

The next day, I ordered another painted black angler from "That Fish Place." He arrived the next morning (my wife was off) and she immediately floated him in the tank. He was in there for about 8 hours until I got home from work. I acclimated him for 1 1/2 hours (I matched the sg) and plopped him in. He seemed pretty active and his color is absolutely pitch black.

I did get a source for saltwater grass shrimp (most are pretty small) in the meantime. The next day I tossed in 3 gut loaded shrimp. He instantly ate one and stalked the other 2.

This tells me that I didn't really do anything wrong with the other 2. I followed the same process. He is really good looking and active. I actually fed him a small piece of krill off my feeding tool yesterday, so 4 days to stick train him!

Since I found a good source for grass shrimp at a great price I will likely keep a supply on hand. I set up a 10g with some rubble in it. My lion, puffer, and now angler will surely appreciate it. In between treats I will feed frozen. They also have small saltwater feeders, but I would rather feed saltwater inverts. Less chance of parasites.