Pygmy Angel Not Eating

[AdamR0331]

just got a Pygmy Angel 1-2 days ago and he has not eaten from what i offer him , pellets , Brine shrimp, Mysis (havent tried krill yet ) but he is nipping at my rocks any advice??

 

[MrGisonni]

Live brine. Just be patient. If his nipping it a good sign

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

just got a Pygmy Angel 1-2 days ago and he has not eaten from what i offer him , pellets , Brine shrimp, Mysis (havent tried krill yet ) but he is nipping at my rocks any advice??

What species is it? I can’t tell from the photo.
Live baby brine works well as a starter good. Some angels will pick at live mussels or clams on the half shell.
Jay

 

[AdamR0331]

Looks like this but a tad more yellow and smaller

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Looks like this but a tad more yellow and smaller

Argi angel then. It may not take mysids or krill unless you dice it up smaller.
Jay

 

[AdamR0331]

Hmm will try again , and some live brine just to make sure he eating , but he is super active not hiding and picking at the rocks which is 6-7 months old , and only been 36-48 hours

 

[AdamR0331]

This is him

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hmm will try again , and some live brine just to make sure he eating , but he is super active not hiding and picking at the rocks which is 6-7 months old , and only been 36-48 hours

As the other person said, the rock picking is a good sign, that means the fish has an interest in food. It won’t get a lot of nutrition off the rocks though.
Jsy

 

[zoomonster]

IME that's fairly normal behavior for a new dwarf angel. The last few I added did the same. Didn't start eating provided food for a few days but grazed on rocks for algae. All of them including my similar flameback eat everything I throw at them from flake to frozen mysis, brine etc..

 

[AdamR0331]

IME that's fairly normal behavior for a new dwarf angel. The last few I added did the same. Didn't start eating provided food for a few days but grazed on rocks for algae. All of them including my similar flameback eat everything I throw at them from flake to frozen mysis, brine etc..

Will give it few more days.

 

[jda]

These might not know how to eat out of the water column. They pick at rocks all day. I would turn off the flow pumps for a few hours, let the food settle and then let it go picking.

 

[AdamR0331]

These might not know how to eat out of the water column. They pick at rocks all day. I would turn off the flow pumps for a few hours, let the food settle and then let it go picking.

Yea I turn mine off for 1 hour and let the misis sit at bottom and the frozen brine

 

[jda]

Do you have other fish in there to show them how to eat in captivity?

 

[AdamR0331]

Do you have other fish in there to show them how to eat in captivity?

I've got
2 clown fish
3 chromis
1pj cardinal
And a starfish and hermit crabs and ect....

 

[zoomonster]

Good point as someone mentioned, I have probably 18 fish and it's a feeding frenzy so new fish learn quickly to eat from the water column.

 

[jda]

These are fairly hardy fish if they are not getting battered. They are several thousand miles from the cold water lakes where Mysis live, so they don't know that they are food, yet. I would not worry too much. If it is going to survive, then it will soon figure out that anything in the water column needs to be tried out.

 

[AdamR0331]

These are fairly hardy fish if they are not getting battered. They are several thousand miles from the cold water lakes where Mysis live, so they don't know that they are food, yet. I would not worry too much. If it is going to survive, then it will soon figure out that anything in the water column needs to be tried out.

No one is bothering him and he even hanges out side my side with one of my clowns