Quoyi parrotfish
- Thread starter RandU
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Congratulations, RandU! He looks like a beauty.
As with others, I've found that they love pellets - I've got a mix of different ones, all jumbled into the same container, in the 1mm size. I've had one that wouldn't eat a thing, and two who would eat just about everything I throw in the water. My current one is a decent eater, though not always super-enthusiastic. He'll eat smaller frozen bits, and sometimes larger ones, but other fish (especially the Marcia's anthias) may snarf it all up before he gets very much. He'll decimate any flavor of nori, but not quite as enthusiastically as the tangs and foxface, so I have to feed a bit extra to make sure he gets some. He'll hammer littleneck clams, which I suspend from a clip with the shell open. He'll even follow the algae scraper, which I use about once a week, and pick up the strands of film algae it scrapes from the front glass.
I haven't seen him take hair algae or bryopsis, but have seen him pound away at some Sargassum spp. that I had on FL Keys liverock - wouldn't consider him macro-safe. He will scrape liverock right down to white - no film algae or coraline is safe - though there's some on the back glass that he hasn't been able to remove.
Watch his weight - I've got a feeling that these guys tend to have a bit of a relaxed feeding style, due to their food pretty much not going anywhere on the reef, and I don't think they do as well with a ton of competition.
I would probably also treat for internal parasites with General Cure / Focus.
I've also found that his color is intensely variable - when he gets excited, the green / pink color scheme can deepen to blue / plum.
Good luck!
~Bruce
As with others, I've found that they love pellets - I've got a mix of different ones, all jumbled into the same container, in the 1mm size. I've had one that wouldn't eat a thing, and two who would eat just about everything I throw in the water. My current one is a decent eater, though not always super-enthusiastic. He'll eat smaller frozen bits, and sometimes larger ones, but other fish (especially the Marcia's anthias) may snarf it all up before he gets very much. He'll decimate any flavor of nori, but not quite as enthusiastically as the tangs and foxface, so I have to feed a bit extra to make sure he gets some. He'll hammer littleneck clams, which I suspend from a clip with the shell open. He'll even follow the algae scraper, which I use about once a week, and pick up the strands of film algae it scrapes from the front glass.
I haven't seen him take hair algae or bryopsis, but have seen him pound away at some Sargassum spp. that I had on FL Keys liverock - wouldn't consider him macro-safe. He will scrape liverock right down to white - no film algae or coraline is safe - though there's some on the back glass that he hasn't been able to remove.
Watch his weight - I've got a feeling that these guys tend to have a bit of a relaxed feeding style, due to their food pretty much not going anywhere on the reef, and I don't think they do as well with a ton of competition.
I would probably also treat for internal parasites with General Cure / Focus.
I've also found that his color is intensely variable - when he gets excited, the green / pink color scheme can deepen to blue / plum.
Good luck!
~Bruce
Land Shark
Valuable Member
I had a scarus quoyi for a couple years and she was a healthy, model citizen. Always friendly and willing to eat right out of my hand without hesitation. She was a real worker too and would eat algae off of all rocks continually. She also didn't grow much either as some people suggested to me initially.
I eventually traded her to a friend because I also have a powder blue tang and he started picking on the Scarus quoyi With a passion. It became stressful for me to watch that all the time. Another issue was that there was a lot of pooping going on with the scarus. Water quality wasn’t an issue but the poop itself was thick and was a little unsightly laying all over the sand.
I profilactically treat the tank with a 50% strength dose of prazipro once every four months or so to mitigate any possible internal parasite issues. The treatment way be beneficial as the fish stay healthy and always have a good appetite. Given that some commonly report that their scarus quoyi stopped eating after some time, I figured I’d mention it.
I eventually traded her to a friend because I also have a powder blue tang and he started picking on the Scarus quoyi With a passion. It became stressful for me to watch that all the time. Another issue was that there was a lot of pooping going on with the scarus. Water quality wasn’t an issue but the poop itself was thick and was a little unsightly laying all over the sand.
I profilactically treat the tank with a 50% strength dose of prazipro once every four months or so to mitigate any possible internal parasite issues. The treatment way be beneficial as the fish stay healthy and always have a good appetite. Given that some commonly report that their scarus quoyi stopped eating after some time, I figured I’d mention it.
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ca1ore
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I’ve given up on this fish. Tried on three separate occasions and in all three the fish lasted about 6 months in my system before succumbing to malnutrition. In my competitive tank, it simply isn’t aggressive enough to the food and grazing surfaces clearly aren’t sufficient either. Too bad because it is a really nice fish.
Land Shark
Valuable Member
109 gal and the scarus was about 4-5”. The scarus was fine in that size tank as it is a timid, non-aggressive fish and was content. It’s the powder blue that wasn’t so happy. A larger tank would have been beneficial and would have allowed me to keep both long term. The scarus is now in a 500 gal tank with several tangs and isn’t picked on now.
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Sadly, about a week after I last posted in this thread, my Quoy's simply ... stopped.
Stopped eating.
Stopped grazing.
Stopped his vigorous swimming.
And a week and a half later, he was gone.
Like Ca1ore, I may try again with this fish ... but it isn't going to be any time soon. Just hurts too much.
~Bruce
Stopped eating.
Stopped grazing.
Stopped his vigorous swimming.
And a week and a half later, he was gone.
Like Ca1ore, I may try again with this fish ... but it isn't going to be any time soon. Just hurts too much.
~Bruce
LesPoissons
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This sadly happened to most of us who tried the quoyi. So sorry, its freaking heartbreaking. Happened to me after months of it eating like a pig. I just commented on someone else's thread. I contacted my LFS who has been tracking the repeat customers who buy his quoyi. Of the 17 he could find that he sold over the last aprox 2 years, inculding his, 0 were alive. These fish do not do well in captivity and any that survive for more than a year are the rare exception, not the rule. Its so sad. Huge congratulations to anyone who has beaten the odds though.
Mayerlyn A
Entre_Jardines
Thank you for sharing this, even though I have always wanted one, this may one I skip. Would hate to loose such a beautiful fish.
Ks4726
Active Member
@Maritimer
I know this is an old post, but have you continued with these parrotfish? Everyone always speaks highly of you with this species? I was curious if you had any insight that you gotten through experience?
I know this is an old post, but have you continued with these parrotfish? Everyone always speaks highly of you with this species? I was curious if you had any insight that you gotten through experience?
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