Feeding Rock Beauty

[mjreefs]

Hi everyone,

I recently acquired a Rock Beauty angelfish and it is currently in quarantine. The fish took some nibbles of food in the LFS (it did not spit out the food), so I took the chance and got one since I've heard these are hard to get eating. Question is how do you make this fish eat prepared foods with gusto long term? Thank you!

 

[ScottR]

This is a really difficult fish as I believe sponges are the main part of their diet and should be included. Is your tank well-established? There’s a frozen food by Hikari (I can’t remember what it’s called) and it has sponges in it. Good for angels.

 

[pcon]

Hikari mega marine angel has sponges as the first ingredient, then San Francisco Bay brand angel and butterfly includes sponges, ocean nutrition pigmy angel formula has a high sponge content as well.

 

[mjreefs]

This is a really difficult fish as I believe sponges are the main part of their diet and should be included. Is your tank well-established? There’s a frozen food by Hikari (I can’t remember what it’s called) and it has sponges in it. Good for angels.

Hikari mega marine angel has sponges as the first ingredient, then San Francisco Bay brand angel and butterfly includes sponges, ocean nutrition pigmy angel formula has a high sponge content as well.

It's currently in QT which is a very bare tank with just PVC pipes and sponge filter, so no.

I can't get my hands on sponge-based angelfish preparations, only options here are mysis, pellets, clams on a half shell.

 

[pcon]

There is also Panta Rhei Nouri Sponge, a dry pellet food. I would strongly recommend figuring out more foods, a lot can be done on just those foods but if your into difficult fish like rock beauties that’s a limiting factor.

 

[rc1626]

In my experience once you get them eating they will eat just about everything. (I've had 3) I got a young one about 3 months ago that initially refused to eat anything. It took about a week and a half for it to start. (This was in a quarantine tank by itself with a lot of seasoned live rock) Once eating it hasn't stopped. Been feeding LRS reef frenzy, Rods, and cubed Hikari Mysis.
Good luck. One of my favorite fish.

 

[mjreefs]

There is also Panta Rhei Nouri Sponge, a dry pellet food. I would strongly recommend figuring out more foods, a lot can be done on just those foods but if your into difficult fish like rock beauties that’s a limiting factor.

The closest I could probably get is the Hikari Marine A. Although there's no sponge in it, they claim it provides a "sponge-like" texture. I'll try using it tomorrow and hopefully it would work.

In my experience once you get them eating they will eat just about everything. (I've had 3) I got a young one about 3 months ago that initially refused to eat anything. It took about a week and a half for it to start. (This was in a quarantine tank by itself with a lot of seasoned live rock) Once eating it hasn't stopped. Been feeding LRS reef frenzy, Rods, and cubed Hikari Mysis.
Good luck. One of my favorite fish.

Thanks! Hopefully it will accept prepared foods once it settles in.

 

[lion king]

Many times these difficult to feed fish are actually suffering from internal parasites. Because angels are grazers and pick at rocks and substrate for their food, they are very prone to picking up internal parasites along the way. Treatment with general cure is highly recommended. Trying something live like black worms, brine shrimp, and pods. Putting a mature rock with micro algae for grazing in the tank. Search the back of rocks in your display and your sump for sponge. After clearing internal parasites they usually come around, it's also a matter of recognizing what you are feeding is food. Trying the smash in the rocks type food like masstick ir even the ocean nutrition with gel binder. Dither fish and tank mates help with this part.

 

[jda]

Try every type of frozen food that you can until it eats on with a gusto. It might never. Once it is eating one, then mix in some others. Usually once they get the hang of eating, they will take to everything over time. Some never eat well enough to live. Sometimes they need another fish in the tank to show them what to do. See if will eat even brine to get it going.

IMO, the whole sponge thing is BS. They are just bad eaters. While most die, the ones that live are often never fed sponge again once they are eating pellets, mysis and other easy-to-get foods.

I used to do a Prazi dip and treat them for flukes when I got them. No idea if flukes are still a thing with large angelfish, or not, but it is easy to do and does not hurt anything.

 

[ca1ore]

Agree that sponge is unnecessary. I've had a RB in my tank for a few years and it eats just about anything. Tricky to get eating initially though. Just try everything you can and hope that something sticks. Putting in a few rocks for it to graze may help.

 

[mjreefs]

I think I may have figured out the problem.

The fish is sick. I woke up and saw tattered fins and some redness around the pectoral fin area. I also noticed white stuff (not lymph) around the anal fin (I hope I'm right with my anatomy). Now, I noticed some white in the tail, but since it's wiggling all the time, can't determine if it's ich/velvet, but I think the spots are way larger than ich/velvet. Will try to post a video as it is currently hiding.