Pygmy Roosterfish Question

Sharkbait19

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Hello,
I have a few questions/concerns about my red roosterfish if you don’t mind. I currently have the fish in quarantine, but I’m worried he isn’t getting enough food. He has a strong appetite and eats (most) of what is offered, but has been getting noticeably thinner over the past 3 weeks I’ve had him. I don’t believe there is an internal parasite issue as he does have a strong appetite and feces appear normal. He readily eats frozen mysis and live amphipods, but I’ve been having difficulty collecting pods (always hiding too well to catch), and getting enough to him mysis where I don’t just pollute the tank with extra. Are there any other foods that I can try? I haven’t been able to find ghost shrimp in stores by me, but I do have frozen river shrimp (would have to be cut up to be small enough) and freeze dried mealworms. Would either of those be acceptable (my guess is the worms are too hard to eat)?
Once I’ve gotten him into the dt, I’m sure there will be more than enough live pods and such to sustain him better than I can in qt. That does, however, bring me to my next question. I would move the fish over now (nothing has popped up in qt) but have been having coral troubles due to some parameter imbalance. None of my other fish are affected, but I know scorps are much more sensitive than other fish so I wouldn’t want to move it over unless that’s not an issue.
Thanks in advance (and sorry for the long post)
 

lion king

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They need something of more substance than regular mysis, PE mysis is a meatier mysis higher in protein. I wrote this thread a few days ago with alot of suggestions, Minced seafood, preferably fresh; scallops, salmon, mussels, shrimp. Finely mince this seafood up and feed it from the pipette. Don't be shy about just buying a couple pieces of what ever they have if you are not going to make a meal out of it for yourself. I enjoy eating seafood myself so I never have a problem slicing off bits for my fish. While you have to careful not to pollute your tank, you also have to get them enough food. Turn off the pumps and gently squirt some just in front of their face giving them an opportunity to take it from the water column, they may start to rise up and take food right from the pipette or eat it from the substrate. Squirt some give a moment for them eat, then give another squirt and give a moment, do that a few times with just a little bit of food each time. Eventually they will come and take it right from the pipette. You can also take little bits and feed with hemostats, mine will even take food from the hemos. They will also take the PE mysis from the hemos, as well as live black worms.

 
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Sharkbait19

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Thanks for the info - I’ll pick some up as soon as I can. Odd question - I have plenty of freshwater pond and ramshorn snails - is that something I can feed it if I remove/crush the shells?
 

lion king

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Thanks for the info - I’ll pick some up as soon as I can. Odd question - I have plenty of freshwater pond and ramshorn snails - is that something I can feed it if I remove/crush the shells?

I have never used them and do not know their nutritional value or digestibility.
 

Tired

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Generally, freshwater food items aren't good for saltwater fish, except as occasional treats. Probably also more trouble than they're really worth.

A good way to help keep him fed is to teach him to eat from tongs or a turkey baster. Target-feeding works great.

What sort of parameter troubles? Calcium and the like?
 
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Sharkbait19

Sharkbait19

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Generally, freshwater food items aren't good for saltwater fish, except as occasional treats. Probably also more trouble than they're really worth.

A good way to help keep him fed is to teach him to eat from tongs or a turkey baster. Target-feeding works great.

What sort of parameter troubles? Calcium and the like?
Tbh I’m not too sure what the exact param issue is - all of the numbers are undesirable. It’s better outlined here:
 

Tired

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Hm. I wouldn't suggest adding fish to a tank that has a completely unknown problem. if you were dealing with a calcium or phosphate issue, that's one thing, but a potential mystery like I'm seeing on a quick skim? Probably best not to add more critters, just in case.
 
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Sharkbait19

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Hm. I wouldn't suggest adding fish to a tank that has a completely unknown problem. if you were dealing with a calcium or phosphate issue, that's one thing, but a potential mystery like I'm seeing on a quick skim? Probably best not to add more critters, just in case.
That was my thought as well. None of my other fish are affected, but they are all much more hardy species.
 

Tamberav

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I don't find mysis to be that great, they are a lot of shell, PE mysis and such are actually a freshwater shrimp, not marine mysis. So when we talk about freshwater items not being great for marine fish, does this also include freshwater mysis? I am not sure but it is something to think about.

I don't mind using it in rotation but I don't use it as my main food source.

You can buy and make your own foods or I really like frozen LRS. The only downside is it will be messier then mysis so you need to stay on top of water quality in a QT tank.
 
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Sharkbait19

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I was able to get some ghost shrimp today and put 2 in - didn’t take long at all for him to find them. Already the fish is looking fatter. I’ll pick up more seafoods in the coming week.
 

lion king

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@lion king

Would very small silversides work?

These fish have very small mouths, they may eat silversides but you will need to slice it up into very small bite size pieces. San Francisco Bay brand is the only silverside I recommend, the other brands I have seen are fish species that contain a high amount of thiaminese. When it comes down to it, feeding these guys is very simple, target feed frozen food like pe mysis and hikari mega marine, minced seafood and that would include silversides, wild salmon is highly recommended, and occasionally live food like ghost shrimp or guppies. My diet recommendations have sustained these guys longer than anyone else I've known, many lose them quickly due to poor diet choices and broadcast feeding.
 
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Sharkbait19

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So far I have tried both clams and salmon.
He occasionally has interest in the salmon, but doesn’t touch the clam meat.
Ghost shrimp are still devoured quickly.
Have I been feeding too many ghosts that he doesn’t recognize frozen as food, or could he just be scared of the tongs? Anything I can do to make it more palatable
I’ve only offered food small enough to be eaten.

I could move him over now, but don’t want to until I can get a strong feeding response (before he disappears into the reef).
 

lion king

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So far I have tried both clams and salmon.
He occasionally has interest in the salmon, but doesn’t touch the clam meat.
Ghost shrimp are still devoured quickly.
Have I been feeding too many ghosts that he doesn’t recognize frozen as food, or could he just be scared of the tongs? Anything I can do to make it more palatable
I’ve only offered food small enough to be eaten.

I could move him over now, but don’t want to until I can get a strong feeding response (before he disappears into the reef).

Have you tried using a pipette, I know they have custom ones at aquarium supply places. I took a basic plastic pipette and cut the tip off to allow a wider opening. I mix a little tank water in my food bowl and suck some up in the pipette, mine sometimes will attack the pipette and actually grab onto the end of it to suck the food out, before I can even squirt it out. Have you tried pe mysis or Hikari mega marine. You have to just try various seafood to see what they will take, they are all different. I would make sure they understand the feeding ritual before you put them in the display. I have heard of some disappearing to never be seen again. If they understand the ritual they'll come out and let you know they are ready to be fed. Mine are in a small BC29 so they are easy to keep track of, but even then I very, very rarely see my male. My females are bold and let me know when they are hungry, my white face girl will literally start dancing in front of the glass. Are you skipping a day here or there, or are you feeding every day. If they are a little hungry, they'll start to seek you out and make it easier to feed..
 
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Sharkbait19

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So far I have been feeding every 2-3 days. I haven’t tried PE mysis (he does eat omega one when I offer it - though I understand it isn’t as nutritious as the PE) or mega marine. I tried LRS reef frenzy a while ago but he wasn’t too interested then - I can try again.
I’ll try using a pipette and see if that does anything - I’ve used a turkey baster in the past (the current generated would push the fish).
It will be going into a 40B, so not too huge. I have considered setting up my 13.5 for it though.

This one is a male - if that makes a difference between how active they are (or yours are just an anomaly).
 

lion king

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So far I have been feeding every 2-3 days. I haven’t tried PE mysis (he does eat omega one when I offer it - though I understand it isn’t as nutritious as the PE) or mega marine. I tried LRS reef frenzy a while ago but he wasn’t too interested then - I can try again.
I’ll try using a pipette and see if that does anything - I’ve used a turkey baster in the past (the current generated would push the fish).
It will be going into a 40B, so not too huge. I have considered setting up my 13.5 for it though.

This one is a male - if that makes a difference between how active they are (or yours are just an anomaly).
Yes food they may have denied may be accepted at a later date, and vice versa. I don't think it matters male or female, I think it's just an individual disposition.
 
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Sharkbait19

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What about frozen krill?
I considered it at the store but it seemed too big for him at this size (he’s less than 2 inches right now). I had tried similarly sized shrimp I use for my fw fish and he couldn’t seem to figure out how to eat it, and eventually gave up.
I can revisit that once he gets bigger though.
 

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Sharkbait19

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Best pic I have is from acclimation:
1677201408584.jpeg

For such an inactive fish, he’s hard to get a good picture of (seems like he knows to hide every time I get the camera out lol)

I didn’t even know about the smaller krill - I’ll have to give that a try next time I can. I thought I red somewhere that it’s high in thiaminese - is that true?
 

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