Male Lyretail refuses to eat

[Philt56]

I put frozen brine and mysis in front of the mp40 so they shoot through the water. Get more attention from the anthias. I have 3 lyretails and 2 sunburst.

 

[AnakinReefWalker]

Have you tried adding food in front of a powerhead?

I have yes, he darted after LRS Reef Frenzy but never actually ate it

 

[mfinn]

I have yes, he darted after LRS Reef Frenzy but never actually ate it

It did get his interest up.
That's atleast a step in the right direction.

 

[User1]

Not to be Mr. Negative, but lyretails aren't generally difficult to get eating (unlike the tuka); if you have one that won't eat it suggest some kind of underlying disease problem.

I tend to agree. I recently added four and they are pretty veracious eaters attacking anything that hits the water. The only food they don't care for so far is some pellet food I feed. I even tried adding that to the sump so the returns jet it out. They will strike it but don't eat it. They eat mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, and flake. All with the same aggressive pattern. One minute hugging the reef walls the next striking quicker than a rainbow trout on its favorite fly. It is so intense it took my normal fish about 3 days to adjust to the fast pace the food disappears.

Seriously. My lawnmower blenny was holding a sign one day saying what the heck is going on? I would add the food and the lyretails would consume it. Now everyone is going 90 miles an hour eating...

Sadly I think maybe something is wrong with its mouth possibly or disease like noted above.

 

[AnakinReefWalker]

Update: Finally eating some Mysis. I don't know what his basis is for picking which ones to eat and which ones to not eat. He ate maybe 3 or 4 pieces, the outlook is still not looking all that great though. He's been thinning out, I'll try again tomorrow in the afternoon. It seems every day he's eating a little more, which is nice.

 

[User1]

Update: Finally eating some Mysis. I don't know what his basis is for picking which ones to eat and which ones to not eat. He ate maybe 3 or 4 pieces, the outlook is still not looking all that great though. He's been thinning out, I'll try again tomorrow in the afternoon. It seems every day he's eating a little more, which is nice.

If it is keeping it down that is a start. You may have to feed multiple times a day so just spread it out. Maybe it will get used to it or a pattern.

 

[Susan Edwards]

adding garlic to the food or water column. Just a drop or 2. Got 3 lyretails today and all three eating. Male attacks the food! Oh, what about using metro and focus in case there is an issue

 

[Susan Edwards]

Yes on feeding often. Maybe small amts every couple hours. I feed my anthias in my 66 gal 3-4 times a day and the new ones will be on same schedule. Yes, my nitrates are high but my tanks, corals, and fish are healthy

 

[AnakinReefWalker]

adding garlic to the food or water column. Just a drop or 2. Got 3 lyretails today and all three eating. Male attacks the food! Oh, what about using metro and focus in case there is an issue

I'm not familiar with the products, what do they do?

 

[Susan Edwards]

I use kents garlic (amazon) and just add a drop or 2 to food. Not everytime but garlic is supposed to encourage appetite

Metroplex ---- From amazon
MetroPlex™ is an effective and safe treatment for several protozoan and anaerobic bacterial diseases of fish (Cryptocaryon, Hexamita, Ichthyophthirius). It does not adversely affect the filter bed and is easily removed with carbon. There is little danger of overdosing. Usual dose is 125 mg/10 gallons. Directions: Use 1-2 measures (included) for every 40 L (10 US gallons). Repeat every 2 days for up to 3 weeks or until symptoms disappear. Turn off UV, ozone, and chemical filtration. To feed, blend 1 measure with about 1 tablespoon of frozen food paste. To minimize loss during feeding use with Focus™. To enhance palatability use with GarlicGuard™ or Entice™. Food may be refrozen

Focus binds the metro to the food so fish eat it and it doesn't go into the water column. You can search the forum for metroplex and focus for how people use them. My last batch of fish one had white stringy poo. I used it for 10 day to get rid of it

 

[AnakinReefWalker]

Sounds like Metro would be more useful for my PBT whom I recently added. He has a small appetite and I'm not sure why (added same time as Lyretail), could be a bacterial issue that's bothering them.

Thank you for sharing

 

[ca1ore]

I remain of the opinion that garlic does nothing to actually entice fish to eat (correlation is NOT causation); I've never seen a credible study on it, just anecdotal hobbyist reports that, frankly, are worthless. What CAN help enormously in getting anthias to eat is if the food is moving. I have had occasional issues getting new ones to eat, and putting the food through a power head almost always works (underlying disease proviso) to pique their interest.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Garlic may or may not do anything for appetite or immune boosting but it also cannot hurt but even seachem recommends its use
<<To enhance palatability use with GarlicGuard™ or Entice.>>

There are a lot of supplements we humans use that fall into this category--maybe it works/helps, maybe not

 

[Ento-Reefer]

My anthias definitely prefer to chase their food. It elicits a much stronger feeding response when the food is zooming around in the flow.

 

[User1]

Garlic may or may not do anything for appetite or immune boosting but it also cannot hurt but even seachem recommends its use
<<To enhance palatability use with GarlicGuard™ or Entice.>>

There are a lot of supplements we humans use that fall into this category--maybe it works/helps, maybe not

True - but Seachem is also pushing / selling product. Just to be devils advocate here.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@saf1 very true, and so do all the other brands and just about every product made and sold.

 

[Norcalreef]

I have a Randall’s anthias in qt. I have a mj1200 in a 29 so good amount of flow. It eats like a pig 5 times a day, mysis especially. But only of the powerhead is on. It’s the strangest thing but he will only eat food that is floating fast.

 

[ca1ore]

It’s the strangest thing but he will only eat food that is floating fast.

It's not strange at all if one takes a moment to think about how and what they eat in their natural environment (which I grant most people don't).

 

[JDowns]

I currently have 6 anthias in my tank, 3 lyretail and 3 carberryi anthias. I had issues with them eating as well (pellets, flakes, mysis, etc.). I tried frozen brine and they go crazy over it, especially the smaller pieces. As of last week, I started feeding hikari seaweed extreme pellets for my tomini tang and bicolor blenny, and found that all the anthias love it as well. So I feed that and frozen ever day and they couldn't be happier.

Frozen Brine with Spirulana is my go to for the picky Anthias also. The Carberryi being the most picky.