Any suggestions for multibar angle?

[gabriellar]

I’m getting my second baby multibar angelfish soon, and I’m a little nervous about how to keep it safe.

My first one was killed by crabs, or at least that’s what I suspect. It was eating, active, and showed no obvious signs of illness. I had seen emerald crabs try to grab it during the day a few times, but it always got away. Then one morning, it didn’t come out for feeding, and I found it dead under the rock where it usually slept, with a pom pom crab already eating it halfway through. That experience made me rethink whether a small 1.5-inch fish is really safe at night, even with inverts that aren’t usually considered fish predators. I could be wrong, though, so I’d love to hear other opinions.

Before adding the new multibar, I removed all the crabs to another tank except hermits and snails. But now I’m also worrying about bristle worms or fireworms, since I’ve read they may have at least some chance of bothering a very small sleeping fish. So I’m mainly looking for advice on what I actually need to worry about, what I’m probably overthinking, and what I should prep before the new multibar arrives.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mcarroll]

I won't tell anyone I heard you trusted a crab. Just don't let it happen again.



;)

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have several clown gobies, neon gobies, redhead gobies, all smaller than one inch, they are all fine for years, even with crabs. Worrying about bristle worms eating your fish at night is overthinking IMO

 

[W31Olds]

You picked an expert level fish, similar to Moorish Idols and Regal Angels. You don't seem to see a lot of Forum Members keeping these because they have a very poor survival rate. Not likely Crabs killed you first one. If I were to consider one, a Mature Reef with lots of Pods, sponge, etc. and no aggressive fish would be a requirement.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Las Vegas book-makers' odds say that the fish died on its own first; THEN the CUC had a meal.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[gabriellar]

Thinking I might as well post a few more details so I can double check if anything sounds off or if I’m missing something:

I’ll be putting this fish into a 20 gallon quarantine tank, which has been running for almost 2 years now. It already has pods and sponges in it. The only fish in there right now is a small clownfish. No anemones. I do have some SPS, LPS, and softies in there, but they’re all just small frags. I have a powerhead running at the moment, but I’ll probably turn it off once the multibar gets here since I’ve read they prefer calmer water.

For food, I have baby brine shrimp, frozen angelfish mix, some other frozens (mysis, krill, bloodworms, clam on the half shell and mussels), TDO pellets, and seaweed. One other thing I thought about but did not prep is live worms. Last multibar did not have trouble chasing frozen mysis in the tank, so I'm hoping the new one will do the same. Planning to feed 2–3 times a day, mostly with mysis and baby brine. I’m hoping in between feedings it can graze on pods off the rock instead. I added another 3 oz of pods last week and still have 3 oz left I can dump in. I also have more sponges in my display tank, so maybe I can scrape some off and add them to the quarantine tank to replenish things, although I’m not really sure if sponges grow back that way. Also have a protein skimmer running.

For meds, I have MetroPlex and Ich-X on hand.

 

[RobertK]

Why not get a captive bred multibar? Mine has been very hardy.

 

[gabriellar]

Why not get a captive bred multibar? Mine has been very hardy.

Yup it is a Bali aquarich captive one, but I’m still nervous about it haha

 

[slingfox]

Yup it is a Bali aquarich captive one, but I’m still nervous about it haha

Did you get the Multibar? If so, how is it doing? I am thinking about picking one up from Biota as well.

 

[RobertK]

Did you get the Multibar? If so, how is it doing? I am thinking about picking one up from Biota as well.

Go for it! Mine is great!

That was last summer, he's bigger now!

 

[gabriellar]

Did you get the Multibar? If so, how is it doing? I am thinking about picking one up from Biota as well.

I’m still waiting for the new fish. Previous one I got from Jersey corals was DOAed. And that was the last one from their batch. So waited for a couple of weeks for them to grab another batch of multibar, now it’s still under quarantine on their side. Need to wait for another week or two for them to ship to me. But I can update here for my experience afterwards!

 

[gabriellar]

Go for it! Mine is great!

That was last summer, he's bigger now!

So cute!! And glad to hear yours is doing well!

 

[slingfox]

Go for it! Mine is great!

That was last summer, he's bigger now!

Sweet! What a cutie!

Did you host him in an acclimation box or separate tank or did you put him straight into the display? How did you handle feeding? I haven’t decided what to do for acclimation and feeding yet. There is not much out there on how people handle the captive bred multibars.

 

[RobertK]

I did not quarantine. Got him direct from Biota. I put him in an acclimation box for a few days, fed xtra small TDO chromaboost pellets and frozen brine, then straight into the display. He did fine even with two centropyge angels in the tank.

 

[slingfox]

I did not quarantine. Got him direct from Biota. I put him in an acclimation box for a few days, fed xtra small TDO chromaboost pellets and frozen brine, then straight into the display. He did fine even with two centropyge angels in the tank.

The Xtra Small TDO pellets work? I saw in an old post that the B2 size was recommended but if Xtra Small works I don’t need to buy anything new since that’s what I feed my clownfish.

 

[Nordy]

I had one for 4 days, wild caught. I thought I did a great initial arrival acclimation, and strived for the solid tank acclimation to my setup. Definitely would do a Biota one, and only if it were a very early intro to the stocking order. My Red Sea is a rock haven, lots of sponges, pods, it’s matured nicely. Being a deep water species, it’s was well protected from the lighting. It had a nice rock covered area, however my two Springer Dottybacks seemed to occupy both sides consistently. That was one of my mistakes. Such a neat fish, a joy to keep from reading and seeing all the posts, definitely expert, awesome if u can get the CB, up the odds some, settle it in well after it’s boxed journey.

 

[RobertK]

The Xtra Small TDO pellets work? I saw in an old post that the B2 size was recommended but if Xtra Small works I don’t need to buy anything new since that’s what I feed my clownfish.

I had small and xtra small TDO, nothing smaller. Can't remember which I fed but it was one of those.

 

[slingfox]

I had one for 4 days, wild caught. I thought I did a great initial arrival acclimation, and strived for the solid tank acclimation to my setup. Definitely would do a Biota one, and only if it were a very early intro to the stocking order. My Red Sea is a rock haven, lots of sponges, pods, it’s matured nicely. Being a deep water species, it’s was well protected from the lighting. It had a nice rock covered area, however my two Springer Dottybacks seemed to occupy both sides consistently. That was one of my mistakes. Such a neat fish, a joy to keep from reading and seeing all the posts, definitely expert, awesome if u can get the CB, up the odds some, settle it in well after it’s boxed journey.

Thanks for the anecdote. Yes, it seems like the wild caught multibars are very challenging to keep hence you rarely see them in tanks. My tank has 23 fish in it already but is overall pretty peaceful assuming none of the tangs care about a baby angelfish joining. Fish interactions are difficult to predict so I’ll likely house the Multibar in an isolation box and see how the other fish respond. I recently added a second clownfish and a pigmy Hawkfish (both small) and none of the other fish paid any attention.

 

[slingfox]

I had small and xtra small TDO, nothing smaller. Can't remember which I fed but it was one of those.

Thanks. I will try the Xsmall and see how it goes. At worst I have frozen calanus and baby brine shrimp eggs around in case the Xsmall TDO doesn’t work.

 

[gabriellar]

Anyone have quarantined their baby multibar with copper meds (e.g., coppersafe and copper power)?