How to get red lyretail anthias to eat?

Neptune 555 · Feb 20, 2023

I have a red lyretail anthias in a 20 gallon QT tank before releasing it to my 180 reef. Here is my question how do you get them to eat and what are they eating??

I am feeding a variety of high value foods BUT he puts them in his mouth and spits them out ?? WHY? The only foods after 1 week he seems to swallow are newly hatched BBS and live pods I am growing for mandarins??

suggestions??

thank you!

Reeflix · Feb 20, 2023

maybe try some garlic? that always helps

Cthulukelele · Feb 20, 2023

I got them eating with live brine then swapped to frozen brine and mysis then flake and lrs. Took a bit to transition each level

exnisstech · Feb 20, 2023

I started my disbars on fresh hatched brine nauplii when I had them in QT. I set up 3 hatcheries using 2 liter bottles and staggered the hatches by 8 hours each so I almost always had some to feed. They were fed multiple times a day which I think is needed to be succesful with anthias. Now that they are in the display they eat the small particles from my frozen mash in the water column. I feed that twice a day. In between main feedings I squirt calunus in the tank. I do this probably 4 it 5 times a day and they gobble it up. I've never seen them go for pellets and I rarely feed flake.

mfinn · Feb 21, 2023

When I put new fish in a qt tank I use Tigger Pods.
I also use Hikari Mysis. The ones in the cube pack.
I thaw the frozen mysis and add a few in the stream of a powerhead so the mysis moves across the tank. Usually sparks a feeding response.

Bucs20fan · Feb 21, 2023

Anthias eat rather small pieces of food relative to their mouth size. I have lyretails and they were very finicky eaters the first few weeks. Make sure food particle size is pretty small. They have a habit of grabbing as much as they can fit in their mouths and just spitting it out.

They arent picky and they dont need to be fed 5 times a day like it was one thought. I have 4 lyretails and they eat anything they can get now, including pellets. I feed twice a day with a mixture of frozen and pellets.

Gregpetro · Feb 21, 2023

I have had a few fish in QT that won't eat at all. Add garlic live food nothing works. Once I get them in my display tank with the other fish they start eating. Not sure if it's stress or what.

Does he not go for the food or does he eat it and spit it out?

Tcook · Feb 21, 2023

PE mysis chopped and PE calanus to mix with the live brine. That is a male lyretail. The males are red.

Neptune 555 · Feb 21, 2023

Gregpetro said:
I have had a few fish in QT that won't eat at all. Add garlic live food nothing works. Once I get them in my display tank with the other fish they start eating. Not sure if it's stress or what.

Does he not go for the food or does he eat it and spit it out?

Yes... he puts it in his mouth and spits it out.... The only food he seems not to spit out is Live BBS that I am hatching and live pods that I am harvesting. I can't believe this is enough to sustain such a large fish? it is meant for my mandarins...

Lbrdsoxfan · Feb 21, 2023

Brine or mysis seems to be the kickoff food in my experience.

Gregpetro · Feb 21, 2023

Neptune 555 said:
Yes... he puts it in his mouth and spits it out.... The only food he seems not to spit out is Live BBS that I am hatching and live pods that I am harvesting. I can't believe this is enough to sustain such a large fish? it is meant for my mandarins...

I feel your pain. I was having the exact same problem. I wasn't sure what to do myself. But once I put him in the display he started to eat frozen blood worms and mysis the first tike I fead him in the display tank. He went from spitting everthing out in qt to eating frozen food in the display literally the same day. So you may have the same luck as me I hope. Let me know what happens.

Patientman · Feb 21, 2023

Soaking mysis shrimp (and other foods) in Selcon worked for me. Did that for two weeks straight then they started eating without it. Good luck!

shandoee · Feb 21, 2023

I used very small fish food for my anthias like frozen rotifers. This didn’t entice her to eat, I just threw her in the display and continued to feed the other fish normally. After a few days of not eating, I noticed she slowly picked at the tdo pellets I gave other fish. Eventually she started to eat, and eat she did! I may have gotten lucky because all my fish are ferocious eaters. Even my wild-caught mandarin goby started to eat pellets. Wish you the best of luck!

Neptune 555 · Feb 21, 2023

Patientman said:
Soaking mysis shrimp (and other foods) in Selcon worked for me. Did that for two weeks straight then they started eating without it. Good luck!

I soak my dry food in selcon for the fishes breakfast. For dinner I feed frozen food but don't add selcom to the frozen food b/c I don't get how? I add water to thaw my mysis cubes... (or other fr ozen food)so adding selcom would just make it watery? Do you let it sit out for hours and thaw with the selcon? do you thaw and strain? I will try this asap!

Neptune 555 · Feb 21, 2023

Bucs20fan said:
Anthias eat rather small pieces of food relative to their mouth size. I have lyretails and they were very finicky eaters the first few weeks. Make sure food particle size is pretty small. They have a habit of grabbing as much as they can fit in their mouths and just spitting it out.

They arent picky and they dont need to be fed 5 times a day like it was one thought. I have 4 lyretails and they eat anything they can get now, including pellets. I feed twice a day with a mixture of frozen and pellets.

Thank you for the insight they eat food relatively small for their mouth size! He is eating calarus right now... So small for his mouth but he is eating it. I will put him in DT in another week... Want to get him good at recognizing food and eating it b/c their wil be more competition in the DT.

Bucs20fan · Feb 21, 2023

Neptune 555 said:
Thank you for the insight they eat food relatively small for their mouth size! He is eating calarus right now... So small for his mouth but he is eating it. I will put him in DT in another week... Want to get him good at recognizing food and eating it b/c their wil be more competition in the DT.

Once he is in the DT its gonna be game on. They are greedy little buggars and they wanna eat as much as they can. And they are VERY efficient at it mind you.