MaitlandReef
Community Member
We've had a blotched (borbonius) anthias since February 9th, 2025. We got him as a juvenile and he was lovingly named Jaws because he was the tank terror and would eat anything and everything. When he wasn't hovering under the spot where food gets dumped in, waiting for food, he was busy chasing other fish and being the tank boss, even over our larger yellow tang. He grew quickly over the past year and a half, and a LFS dropped off a second tank in June and commented that he was the fattest blotchy they've ever seen.
In mid-July, we noticed his behavior was changing. He was no longer aggressive towards other fish at all. He was still eating, but just very passive overall. A complete 180 in temperament. Slowly, we started noticing that he seemed to be having trouble seeing food. It seemed like he would just open his mouth and try to eat things that weren't in front of him, like he was seeing food that wasn't there. His eyes seemed to look different and my husband suspected eye flukes. About 3 weeks ago, Jaws started only coming out of his normal sleeping cave very early in the mornings, before other fish were really awake, and would go back to his cave as soon as the lights came on and would not budge until the next morning, not even coming out for food. We have tried to catch him so many times, but he always swims away and it's impossible to catch him with all our rock work and corals. My husband has now done two rounds of praziquantel to the tank, hoping it was eye flukes, but he has not improved at all. He's not scratching on anything, he doesn't have any specks of white on him.
Every morning now before the tank lights come on, Jaws comes out of his cave and hovers in the same corner. We are able to target feed him with the coral feeder when he's in that corner and last week it seemed like he could kinda see because he would eat large pieces, but would still try to eat absolutely nothing and once bit the tip of a soft coral near him (I think he thought it was food). He's become extremely passive towards other fish, and when they get close to him because they want food too, he goes back to his cave. He will return to the normal hovering spot in the corner, but as soon as the blue lights come on, he's gone for the rest of the day. He seems to know the coral feeder is coming towards him because he starts trying to eat as soon as it approaches him. This morning, his vision seems worse. I only saw him eat one piece of frozen shrimp, the rest of the time he was trying to eat but just opening his mouth and snapping at nothing.
Does anyone have any idea what could be going on? His eyes still look different. He wants to eat, he tries to eat, but he has to be target fed between the hours of 7:30am and 9:30am which is when the blue lights come on and all the other fish are more active and he goes back to his cave and will not move until the next morning. He's extremely shy and passive now, when he used to be the one chasing other fish.
I know blotchy's are deep water fish and generally don't like bright lights, but Jaws was perfectly fine, healthy, and an aggressive eater from February 2025-July 2026 and the lights didn't bother him.
In mid-July, we noticed his behavior was changing. He was no longer aggressive towards other fish at all. He was still eating, but just very passive overall. A complete 180 in temperament. Slowly, we started noticing that he seemed to be having trouble seeing food. It seemed like he would just open his mouth and try to eat things that weren't in front of him, like he was seeing food that wasn't there. His eyes seemed to look different and my husband suspected eye flukes. About 3 weeks ago, Jaws started only coming out of his normal sleeping cave very early in the mornings, before other fish were really awake, and would go back to his cave as soon as the lights came on and would not budge until the next morning, not even coming out for food. We have tried to catch him so many times, but he always swims away and it's impossible to catch him with all our rock work and corals. My husband has now done two rounds of praziquantel to the tank, hoping it was eye flukes, but he has not improved at all. He's not scratching on anything, he doesn't have any specks of white on him.
Every morning now before the tank lights come on, Jaws comes out of his cave and hovers in the same corner. We are able to target feed him with the coral feeder when he's in that corner and last week it seemed like he could kinda see because he would eat large pieces, but would still try to eat absolutely nothing and once bit the tip of a soft coral near him (I think he thought it was food). He's become extremely passive towards other fish, and when they get close to him because they want food too, he goes back to his cave. He will return to the normal hovering spot in the corner, but as soon as the blue lights come on, he's gone for the rest of the day. He seems to know the coral feeder is coming towards him because he starts trying to eat as soon as it approaches him. This morning, his vision seems worse. I only saw him eat one piece of frozen shrimp, the rest of the time he was trying to eat but just opening his mouth and snapping at nothing.
Does anyone have any idea what could be going on? His eyes still look different. He wants to eat, he tries to eat, but he has to be target fed between the hours of 7:30am and 9:30am which is when the blue lights come on and all the other fish are more active and he goes back to his cave and will not move until the next morning. He's extremely shy and passive now, when he used to be the one chasing other fish.
I know blotchy's are deep water fish and generally don't like bright lights, but Jaws was perfectly fine, healthy, and an aggressive eater from February 2025-July 2026 and the lights didn't bother him.
