Little surprised I’ve got one.. Quoyi Parrotfish

[Maritimer]

Hows this one doing? Do they tend to fade over time, regardless of diet?

After being unsuccessful with one, I was able to keep my second for several months. (not the one in the video, obviously...) A smaller fish, he started out as pale pastels, but became brighter over time - the pinks deepening to near-plum when he saw his reflection in a mirror . . .

Sadly, that fish was lost to what I believe was Brook - but I've got another in QT, and my fingers crossed.

~Bruce

 

[ca1ore]

I'm convinced these guys are pretty darn hard to maintain.

I got one successfully through QT and into my low-competition refugium. It appears to be doing just fine and eating well. Then one morning about 5 months after I got it ..... dead on the sand. Didn't appear to have lost weight, but dead nonetheless. All to say, I agree.

 

[ca1ore]

FWIW, I am going to try one more time. Picked one up locally that was eating with enthusiasm. It's in QT now, with a decent sized algae-encrusted rock. It is eating frozen and picking at the rock. We shall see.

 

[saltyhog]

FWIW, I am going to try one more time. Picked one up locally that was eating with enthusiasm. It's in QT now, with a decent sized algae-encrusted rock. It is eating frozen and picking at the rock. We shall see.

Are you going to treat it empirically for internal parasites? What with? I'm anxious to see how this time works out for you. If you're successful I might be persuaded to try one more time.

 

[ca1ore]

Yes, I will do a round, maybe two, of prazipro; but not for a week or two. I want to give it plenty of time to settle in.

 

[Maritimer]

I'm currently treating mine with API's "General Cure" and Focus. He nibbles and snacks on frozen foods, gets enthusiastic about 1mm pellets (mixture of NLS and Ocean Nutrition).

~Bruce

 

[Decat]

Hows this one doing? Do they tend to fade over time, regardless of diet?

Yeah, he did well for a while, but stopped eating and I lost him. I will not purchase another Parrotfish.

 

[Decat]

Wow, that's definitely a neat collection of fish, I really dig that second display below peering through the stand, very cool! I must say though, I would have reservations putting that parrot in with a grouper, especially a tank where they're gonna run into each other all the time. There are some very cool groupers on the market but most of them tend to be jerks unless you put them with big angels, morays, or triggers, ect, but definitely not with those 2 clowns, bass, or even the hog, I'm very surprised he hasn't taken a shot at them. I love tassled files as well, but once again, I never put them with grazing fish like angels, tangs, or butterflies, although I have seen people do it. I hope all of them are well, a few of them seem uneasy in the tank, especially that blueface, my experience with them is that they tend to be a bit more shy and stay in or behind rocks, him swimming up and down and back and forth with his fins down is (from my experience) not a good sign, but I sincerely think the grouper will be an eventual issue (sooner rather than later). Anyhow, just giving you my experience with these guys, I hope everyone works out great for you, good luck!

Parrot never made it through quarantine, stopped eating. Grouper ate one of the Clowns so I moved the other Clown to another tank. BlueFace is the king of the tank and keeps the Grouper in check. Even now that the grouper is larger then the Angel, the angel still keeps him in check. The Angel is doing great, eats like a hog, and loves swimming around, but normally hangs out around the lower left corner under the arch up alongside the rock. I have since also added a Broomtail Wrasse, and he and the grouper are sharing second in command in the tank now. Grouper only attacked the Hogfish once, now he sees him as a parasite control fish. I will keep monitoring them closely though. I am also surprised I haven't had to move more fish around. I have other tanks, but for whatever reason, this combination seems to be working great. I am ready and willing to move the Harlequin Basslett, and the Hogfish out, but the Grouper has never attached the Basslett and only attacked the Hogfish that once, and never again. But you're right I didn't really expect this combination to work long term, but it has for a while now. Brommtail has helped keep the Grouper in check even better then before. See new video below:

 

[Trickman2]

Anyone that has one in their reef, would love any advice

I have one in my 280 gallon. He is doing great https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/trickman2s-280-gallon-upgrade.369124/

 

[Trickman2]

There are a lot of different types of parrotfish, ranging in size from less than one foot to something like four feet long, with weight to match. (One of the fish in our hobby that bugs me a bit is the bicolor parrot. Commonly sold as a little white fish with an orange stripe across its eye that makes it look like a tiny U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the fish grows to something like two and a half feet long. How big is your tank?)

Quoy's parrotfish stays much smaller, and while it can sometimes reach lengths of just over one foot in the wild, rarely approaches that size in an aquarium. Reports from just about everyone are similar - this fish is an algae feeder, and studiously avoids munching on any corals. My own experience is in full agreement.

There are also a couple of smaller parrots from the Caribbean which are sometimes offered; the princess parrot, and slightly smaller striped parrot. I had a striped parrot which did well in quarantine, but when introduced to other fish, turned out not to be labrid-safe, and attacked any wrasse in the water with it.

Quoy's seem to sometimes tolerate others of their own kind - but my fish's reaction to his reflection in a mirror leaves no doubt that he wants to be an only-parrot. I'm OK with that . . .

Small foods seem to be these guys' preference when newly introduced, but they certainly can learn to deal with bigger chunks. Still, it's amusing to see such a relatively large fish daintily sipping at the tiniest of morsels! Not only do they possess that great nipping beak, but further back in their throats, they've got pharyngeal teeth that are capable of turning rock to sugar-fine sand. I mean ... really? With a dental battery like that, you're sipping capelin roe?!

~Bruce

How long have you had it? Also how big of a tank do you have?

 

[MUSBFRANK]

Parrot never made it through quarantine, stopped eating. Grouper ate one of the Clowns so I moved the other Clown to another tank. BlueFace is the king of the tank and keeps the Grouper in check. Even now that the grouper is larger then the Angel, the angel still keeps him in check. The Angel is doing great, eats like a hog, and loves swimming around, but normally hangs out around the lower left corner under the arch up alongside the rock. I have since also added a Broomtail Wrasse, and he and the grouper are sharing second in command in the tank now. Grouper only attacked the Hogfish once, now he sees him as a parasite control fish. I will keep monitoring them closely though. I am also surprised I haven't had to move more fish around. I have other tanks, but for whatever reason, this combination seems to be working great. I am ready and willing to move the Harlequin Basslett, and the Hogfish out, but the Grouper has never attached the Basslett and only attacked the Hogfish that once, and never again. But you're right I didn't really expect this combination to work long term, but it has for a while now. Brommtail has helped keep the Grouper in check even better then before. See new video below:

Wow, that grouper has grown since that last video (but then again that's what they do), the Blue face looks absolutely fat, healthy, and solid, but you went and bought my absolutely favorite wrasse, I love wrasses but a full grown male Broomtail is top of the list for me! I'm not sure at what point they can be sexed but if you have a male, it will surely be the jewel of the tank, hopefully you have a much bigger tank to eventually move him to but totally awesome, congrats!

 

[Maritimer]

How long have you had it? Also how big of a tank do you have?

I have a standard 220, and had that parrotfish for a few months - enjoyed every moment - until I started noticing some "schmutz" on the fins of my angelfish (flame, regal, coral beauty). Took all the fish out of the tank to run a fallow period for what I thought at the time was velvet, but now believe may have been Brooklynella. Copper suppresses the symptoms of Brook, but doesn't eradicate it, and when I removed copper after 30 days, fish started dropping ... including the parrot.

I have another in QT as I type this, a bit thin but eating well, and beautifully colored. He's getting a mix of foods, including several varieties of frozen and hair algae from the reef - but his favorite (as with many of them) seems to be 1mm pellets. He's currently under treatment with chelated copper against the probability of ich and/or velvet, and eating food laced with Seachem Focus and API General Cure, and seems to be doing well. (He doesn't much like the small bristletooth tang in the same QT, though . . . )

~Bruce

 

[ca1ore]

FWIW, I am going to try one more time. Picked one up locally that was eating with enthusiasm. It's in QT now, with a decent sized algae-encrusted rock. It is eating frozen and picking at the rock. We shall see.

Update ....

This second one has been touch and go. It went from eating with enthusiasm to eating nothing and hiding in the PVC pipe. Also showed some sliming. No apparent parasites so I treated it with Cipro/Fish flox under the presumption that it was a gram negative infection. It recovered appearance, but not appetite. I've since put it into my coral QT that has a lot of live rock and plenty of algae. While it has still not been eating much frozen, it has mostly cleared the sides and back of the tank of all algae.

So, while recognizing the folly of conclusions from a sample size of 2, I suspect this fish needs sizable quantities of algae and/or trained to take nori. Absent algae, no amount of meaty found will prevent nutrition problems.

 

[Makers Marc]

Update ....

This second one has been touch and go. It went from eating with enthusiasm to eating nothing and hiding in the PVC pipe. Also showed some sliming. No apparent parasites so I treated it with Cipro/Fish flox under the presumption that it was a gram negative infection. It recovered appearance, but not appetite. I've since put it into my coral QT that has a lot of live rock and plenty of algae. While it has still not been eating much frozen, it has mostly cleared the sides and back of the tank of all algae.

So, while recognizing the folly of conclusions from a sample size of 2, I suspect this fish needs sizable quantities of algae and/or trained to take nori. Absent algae, no amount of meaty found will prevent nutrition problems.

Have yours taken NLS oellets? If NLS still doesnt have a sufficient amount of algae based nutrients for a Quoyi to thrive, I guess I won't try.

 

[Maritimer]

Mine happily - and enthusiastically, and I mean snapping the floaters before they have time to sink - takes a mix of pellets; NLS, Ocean Nutrition Formulae One and Two. They're his preferred food.

~Bruce

 

[ca1ore]

My quoyi has now been in QT for about 5 weeks. It appears to be fine, and disease free, but still not eating much. About the only thing it eats are masago roe and calanus ….. and it picks at the rocks. I don't usually add a fish to my main display unless it is eating well, but I may make an exception here as the big tank has a greater variety of rock to pick from.

 

[Maritimer]

I've moved mine to the display ... he eats anything that blasts out of the return, but the big fave is 1mm pellets. (Mine are mixed - Ocean Nutrition & NLS) I've found that I could leave a scattering of those on the floor of QT, and let him pick through the afternoon.

Does yours take the masago and calanus eagerly, or more daintily? How do you think he'll fare against the finned swine that call your tank home?

~Bruce

 

[saltyhog]

I've moved mine to the display ... he eats anything that blasts out of the return, but the big fave is 1mm pellets. (Mine are mixed - Ocean Nutrition & NLS) I've found that I could leave a scattering of those on the floor of QT, and let him pick through the afternoon.

Does yours take the masago and calanus eagerly, or more daintily? How do you think he'll fare against the finned swine that call your tank home?

~Bruce

Stop it Bruce! You're making me want to try again!

 

[Land Shark]

I’ve had a healthy scarus quoyi for over a year now. I can confirm that mine has no interest in coral, just algae. I’m sorry to hear that others have had challenges because mine always has a great appetite and has always been healthy as can be.

Here is what worked for me, which I’ll admit is unique. My 109g reef savvy tank was still young and was started as a fish only tank. I dosed it with a Low dose CP treatment from day 1 and kept a weekly CP dose going for the first 90 days. This way all fish would be treated in a big, open tank that was sure to be parasite free. I also dosed the DT with a couple of prasipro treatments during those 90 days. The quoyi went from the shipping bag right into the DT. I kept the CP dose just strong enough to kill off any algae from growing on the glass. At the end of 90 days I stopped adding CP and introduced activated carbon. Corals started going in at the 120 day mark without issue. I haven’t had a single parasite or disease issue that I am aware of in the tank as all fish are treated with CP in one form or another.

Food wise, she eats what all the other fish eat. That’s a mix of frozen whole shrimp, cod, flakes, nori, mysis, and pellets blended up and frozen in ice cube trays. I also feed flakes and hair algae out of the refugium.

Here is a grainy picture right after the quoyi went in. Note the date. For more recent pics, you can see the same quoyi in my build thread. See tag line below.

 

[ca1ore]

Does yours take the masago and calanus eagerly, or more daintily? How do you think he'll fare against the finned swine that call your tank home?

It's been in the display now since Friday, and almost completely ignored by the mob. Eats with enthusiasm, but just those two foods. I did try some mini mysis that I had in the freezer, and it appeared to eat a couple of those. Interestingly, in the low lit QT, it seemed to have trouble focusing in on foods and would 'miss' a few times. Seems to fare much better in the high lit display. We shall see.