Purple queen anthis feeding?

Vinman · Mar 10, 2020

I just got some purple queen anthis and they've been in quarantine for 3 days, swimming fine and looking good but won't eat. Tried small food like cyclopeez and garlic trick. Anyone have experience with these fish? I know they can be difficult. Thanks if you reply

sp1187 · Mar 10, 2020

I haven't had queen anthias yet. hope to add them.
but with other finicky eaters I've had success with live pods and/or R.O.E.
https://reefnutrition.com/product_roe.php

Vinman · Mar 10, 2020

I'll look into some live pods but running copper in the quarantine so don't know how long they would last

ca1ore · Mar 10, 2020

They’re not just difficult to feed .... they’re impossible to feed. I’ve tried them on a few different occasions, all failures. The most success I had was with a quintet in a NPS tank that got fed small foods multiple times a day (including nutramar ova, which you cannot get anymore). Even with that they eventually starved. A beautiful fish, but really one that shouldn’t be collected for the hobby.

ca1ore · Mar 10, 2020

Vinman said:
I'll look into some live pods but running copper in the quarantine so don't know how long they would last

Tuka feed from the water column exclusively so it’d need to be tisbe, or something like that.

Vinman · Mar 10, 2020

ca1ore said:
They’re not just difficult to feed .... they’re impossible to feed. I’ve tried them on a few different occasions, all failures. The most success I had was with a quintet in a NPS tank that got fed small foods multiple times a day (including nutramar ova, which you cannot get anymore). Even with that they eventually starved. A beautiful fish, but really one that shouldn’t be collected for the hobby.

Got the free from lfs so I thought I would give them a chance

Vinman · Mar 10, 2020

ca1ore said:
Tuka feed from the water column exclusively so it’d need to be tisbe, or something like that.

Googled tisbe sound like a good start thanks.. do you think the meds in quarantine will kill them.
Copper
General cure
Furan-2

ca1ore · Mar 10, 2020

Vinman said:
Googled tisbe sound like a good start thanks.. do you think the meds in quarantine will kill them.
Copper
General cure
Furan-2

It’s a good question. Meds will kill them; how quickly I could not say. Newly hatched brine nauplii could work too, though they’d be affected by the copper also. You may want to think about pulling the meds for a bit to see if you can get them eating. I did have some success with other anthias problem feeders using rods fish eggs.

Vinman · Mar 11, 2020

I like rods ...definitely buying some. If they don't eat it my other tank (90) loves fish eggs

Haydn · Mar 11, 2020

Vinman said:
Googled tisbe sound like a good start thanks.. do you think the meds in quarantine will kill them.
Copper
General cure
Furan-2

You also have another problem this anthias does not tolerate medication well, particually Furan.

Paul B · Mar 11, 2020

I can't keep them as long as most fish, a year or so and thats about it. Beautiful fish.
I give them new born brine shrimp which they will eat as many as I want to hatch.

They will eat all day but only tiny food in the current and they seem to like a lot of current.

I have some in here,

And here eating out of my brine shrimp feeder.

GlassMunky · Mar 11, 2020

@tsm corals has a giant group of these guys either in QT now or just finished QT....
I was tempted to get a few but after reading about their feeding habits I decided to hold off.
But maybe they can chime in with a little help/advice on best ways to get them through QT and eating well.

Vinman · Mar 11, 2020

Haydn said:
You also have another problem this anthias does not tolerate medication well, particually Furan.

Tomorrow (according to the box) will be my last day of furan-2 then one more day of general cure.

Vinman · Mar 11, 2020

Paul B said:
I can't keep them as long as most fish, a year or so and thats about it. Beautiful fish.
I give them new born brine shrimp which they will eat as many as I want to hatch.

They will eat all day but only tiny food in the current and they seem to like a lot of current.

I have some in here,

And here eating out of my brine shrimp feeder.

Wow, nice ! Brine shrimp feeder? Do they hatch then swim out? Is it homemade? How long till the shrimp hatch?

Paul B · Mar 11, 2020

I invented and built the thing. You have to hatch the shrimp in another device. The shrimp will live in there indefinately but the fish eat them as soon as they come out through the mesh.
This device keeps all my pipefish, mandarins and ruby red dragonetes spawning.
The pipefish has eggs here

DIY Target Feeder for Mandarinfish (and Pipefish)

We as aquarists tend to keep all sorts of creatures in our tanks, and some of them present a challenge to feed. We know what fish eat, and we know how fish eat, but sometimes the fish’s schedule do…

www.saltwatersmarts.com

sp1187 · Mar 11, 2020

Paul B said:
I invented and built the thing. You have to hatch the shrimp in another device. The shrimp will live in there indefinately but the fish eat them as soon as they come out through the mesh.
This device keeps all my pipefish, mandarins and ruby red dragonetes spawning.
The pipefish has eggs here

DIY Target Feeder for Mandarinfish (and Pipefish)

We as aquarists tend to keep all sorts of creatures in our tanks, and some of them present a challenge to feed. We know what fish eat, and we know how fish eat, but sometimes the fish’s schedule do…

www.saltwatersmarts.com

nicely done.
your pic shows your mandarins eating at the mesh.
wondering how it will work out with anthias. mine seem to only feed from the water column, not off the bottom.
also, do the shrimp migrate from the funnel down to the container?
what distance are we talking? (my tanks 30" deep)

Paul B · Mar 11, 2020

My tank is 18" deep, the shrimp do not migrate down. I put them in the small funnel above the water and add a little water to push them down.
Those blue stripe pipes, mandarins and ruby red dragonettes were all spawning.

The anthius also only feed from the water column, but a lot of the shrimp escape and the fish eat them right above the feeder or they find them in the water.

mattzang · Mar 11, 2020

https://reefs.com/magazine/boldly-colored-beauties-the-tuka-anthias/

Vinman · Mar 11, 2020

Paul B said:
My tank is 18" deep, the shrimp do not migrate down. I put them in the small funnel above the water and add a little water to push them down.
Those blue stripe pipes, mandarins and ruby red dragonettes were all spawning.

The anthius also only feed from the water column, but a lot of the shrimp escape and the fish eat them right above the feeder or they find them in the water.

The baby brine shrimp fit through a aquarium net size mesh?