Lamarck's Angel not eating

wesman42 · Feb 28, 2019

I have a small female Lamarck's Angel in QT and she's not eating anything. I've tried:

Krill
Mysis
Brine shrimp
Clam shavings
Hikari mega marine angel

She will still go after food and follow it around, but is disinterested after being upon the food.

What could I try here?

wesman42 · Feb 28, 2019

glb · Feb 28, 2019

wesman42 said:
I have a small female Lamarck's Angel in QT and she's not eating anything. I've tried:

Krill
Mysis
Brine shrimp
Clam shavings
Hikari mega marine angel

She will still go after food and follow it around, but is disinterested after being upon the food.

What could I try here?

How long have you had her? Does she look healthy overall?

ngoodermuth · Feb 28, 2019

Try flake food, I’ve had multiple Angels come around using the cheap red flakes I have laying around... I think ocean nutrition. Also, red algae sheets... can band it to a rock if they won’t approach a clip.

For all finicky eaters, I’ll usually try live blackworms and clam on the half shell as well. And keep offering the frozen foods. Eventually they will hopefully figure out that they like SOMETHING and that turns into everything. I had a Lamarck’s that was fussy and shy, but once she came around she was actually pretty aggressive at feed time.

nereefpat · Feb 28, 2019

If your lfs carries live brine, that would be something to try.

wesman42 · Feb 28, 2019

glb said:
How long have you had her? Does she look healthy overall?

She looks quite healthy, yes. I think she had recovered from a swim bladder issue. I've had her for about a week now, and when I got her, she was swimming ****-eyed nose down. She's since improved tremendously and is swimming normal.

ngoodermuth said:
Try flake food, I’ve had multiple Angels come around using the cheap red flakes I have laying around... I think ocean nutrition. Also, red algae sheets... can band it to a rock if they won’t approach a clip.

For all finicky eaters, I’ll usually try live blackworms and clam on the half shell as well. And keep offering the frozen foods. Eventually they will hopefully figure out that they like SOMETHING and that turns into everything. I had a Lamarck’s that was fussy and shy, but once she came around she was actually pretty aggressive at feed time.

I'm intrigued here. I was told she is a planktivore, so I just assumed eating frozen meaty food would be the way. I have some spirulina flakes I could give a go on...

maroun.c · Feb 28, 2019

The favt that she goes after food is a good sign. Id try the following:
Crushing pelkets soacked in vitamins on a rock as they might nip easier than eating from water column first.
Flakes as suggested
Adding a passive fish thats eating (some people keep mollies acclimated to saltwater to entice finicky fish)
Ive had good success with LRS.
Try mussels

wesman42 · Feb 28, 2019

maroun.c said:
The favt that she goes after food is a good sign. Id try the following:
Crushing pelkets soacked in vitamins on a rock as they might nip easier than eating from water column first.
Flakes as suggested
Adding a passive fish thats eating (some people keep mollies acclimated to saltwater to entice finicky fish)
Ive had good success with LRS.
Try mussels

The flakes she did the same thing with....looked at them but didn't eat.

I have 2 other fish, one being a Midas blenny in there now.

I'll give the pellets a go later today. There's really only PVC in there so I guess we will see how I can do this lol.

Bouncingsoul39 · Feb 28, 2019

Try the tiniest size New Life Spectrum pellets. They are very enticing for small mouthed plankton eaters.

ngoodermuth · Feb 28, 2019

Another good tiny food is cyclops, works for leopards. My lamarck’s and regal both went for the flakes first. Dwarf angels, not so much. But, it was worth a shot. The regal didn’t like the green omnivore flakes though, just the red ones.

wesman42 · Mar 1, 2019

Bouncingsoul39 said:
Try the tiniest size New Life Spectrum pellets. They are very enticing for small mouthed plankton eaters.

Pellets were a no go last night and this morning unfortunately.

ngoodermuth said:
Another good tiny food is cyclops, works for leopards. My lamarck’s and regal both went for the flakes first. Dwarf angels, not so much. But, it was worth a shot. The regal didn’t like the green omnivore flakes though, just the red ones.

Hmm, okay. I'll give the mixed flakes a try....I have to pick some up today.

As far as cyclops, where do you get that? What's the brand again?

Does the lower salinity of my QT (~1.020) adversley affect appetite maybe?

ngoodermuth · Mar 1, 2019

wesman42 said:
Pellets were a no go last night and this morning unfortunately. Hmm, okay. I'll give the mixed flakes a try....I have to pick some up today.

As far as cyclops, where do you get that? What's the brand again?

Does the lower salinity of my QT (~1.020) adversley affect appetite maybe?

The cyclops I use are the cheap frozen ones at my LFS. I have to check, but I think San Francisco bay brand. The lower salinity should not affect appetite, if it was hypo...maybe. But in general, having a bit lower salinity is actually easier on the fish rather than harder.

ngoodermuth · Mar 1, 2019

If all else fails... it's almost ROE season, you could call local seafood markets to see if they have any. I've never had a fish refuse it. Just freeze the entire egg-sack and then cut slivers off to feed. A little expensive for fish food, but works like a charm if you need something "irresistible" temporarily. I used it as bait to catch all of my fish for QT after a bout of crypto slipped through quarantine.

wesman42 · Mar 3, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
If all else fails... it's almost ROE season, you could call local seafood markets to see if they have any. I've never had a fish refuse it. Just freeze the entire egg-sack and then cut slivers off to feed. A little expensive for fish food, but works like a charm if you need something "irresistible" temporarily. I used it as bait to catch all of my fish for QT after a bout of crypto slipped through quarantine.

I got both ROE and cyclops. I'm happy to say she went for the roe, and subsequently went for mysis, brine, anything after that!!!!!

ngoodermuth · Mar 3, 2019

ROE never fails :) I'm happy she's doing well for you!

wesman42 · Mar 3, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
ROE never fails :) I'm happy she's doing well for you!

Such good advice. It'll be my new secret weapon.

Thank you for all of the help!!

ngoodermuth · Mar 3, 2019

Yep, I need to go replenish my stock while it's in too. It stinks that the season is so short.

You're welcome!

wesman42 · Mar 3, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
Yep, I need to go replenish my stock while it's in too. It stinks that the season is so short.

You're welcome!

I got mine from a Japanese market here. It came shrink wrapped in a little plastic cup with a foam back kinda like meat is packaged.

Jesterrace · Mar 4, 2019

wesman42 said:
She looks quite healthy, yes. I think she had recovered from a swim bladder issue. I've had her for about a week now, and when I got her, she was swimming ****-eyed nose down. She's since improved tremendously and is swimming normal.

I'm intrigued here. I was told she is a planktivore, so I just assumed eating frozen meaty food would be the way. I have some spirulina flakes I could give a go on...

Every Angelfish that I have seen is an Omnivore. Not 100% sure on Lamarck's but with dwarf angels it's not uncommon for them to be algae grazers to start with and then move on to a more mixed diet as they settle in. My Coral Beauty wouldn't touch anything but algae around the rocks when I first added it and then moved on to seaweed/nori and then reef frenzy. I would start with seaweed/nori and then try something like reef frenzy and go from there.

*EDIT* Nevermind, it seems you got it sorted out with another method recommended. Glad you have it headed in the right direction now. Love the look of the Lamarck's.

nereefpat · Mar 4, 2019

Jesterrace said:
Every Angelfish that I have seen is an Omnivore. Not 100% sure on Lamarck's but with dwarf angels it's not uncommon for them to be algae grazers to start with and then move on to a more mixed diet as they settle in. My Coral Beauty wouldn't touch anything but algae around the rocks when I first added it and then moved on to seaweed/nori and then reef frenzy. I would start with seaweed/nori and then try something like reef frenzy and go from there.

*EDIT* Nevermind, it seems you got it sorted out with another method recommended. Glad you have it headed in the right direction now. Love the look of the Lamarck's.

Lamarck's and the rest of the genus are planktivores and not algae or benthic invert eaters like the rest of the angel family, which is why they are reef-safe.