Ventralis anthia.... beauty and the beast

[ReefAddiction34]

I picked up a gorgeous ventralis anthia on Sunday! I realize these are one of the harder fish to keep because of dietary needs (frequent feedings, picky eaters etc). But I’m most certainly going to give it my best to get this guy eating healthy frozen/prepared foods and have it thrive in my aquarium. But I need a little help from those with ventralis anthias or other picky eater anthias.
I slowly acclimated the fish to the tank. I’m keeping the lights lower intensity to mimick it’s natural habitat. I have pretty good amount of rock for it to hide in. The good news is that he doesn’t seem overly shy, as in just hiding in rocks, not coming out, appearing stressed etc.
The first day he didn’t eat. The second day he nibbles small bits out of the water column. I’m feeding a pretty wide array of foods ( Hikari mysis, hikari spirulina brine shrimp, hikari cyclopods, small amount of roe, small amount of pellets) and it seems to occasionally just pick, but not really feed. So I’m getting a little worried. I know it’s only day 3 and I feel like I have seen some gradual positive progression. Today I also tried soaking the food in garlic, which seemed to stimulate him a little more, so that’s a good sign. But again not really feeding well. I have two other fish in the tank... Lineatus wrasse and a mystery wrasse. All fish are getting along pretty well, no chasing or tail nipping, will swim by and past one another without much spooking.
So I’m looking for a little advice... should I chill out and give it time or be a little more concerned? More importantly, who has successfully kept these guys and what/ how are you feeding them? I’m looking for any advice/tips on what I can try to get him eating more and starting taking more sustenance. Oh and I have also tried live brine shrimp and he wanted nothing to do with that lol.
Thanks I’m advance for your help!

 

[Eva Rose]

Try some PE Calanus mixed in with the foods you have tried it seems interested in the most. Calanus is very fine so you could cut half a cube, thaw it and put in gently in water column using turkey baster. I have not had ventralis but some other deep water anthias I have owned liked Calanus & LRS foods best.

 

[ReefAddiction34]

I’ll give it a shot!

 

[bhuyett]

The other question is do you have some sort of flow going when you place the flood in the DT? You can also do live Tiggerpods. Because they are small and move around you may get more of a reaction. This is what I did, then moved them to PE Calanus, live brine, then frozen.

Try having a Blonde Naso tang and multiple wrasses in a tank. Then have a Ventralis male arrive only 1/2" long. That is a challenge getting them to eat and surviving that small. He has been medicated now and swims out with the rest of the gang.

 

[ReefAddiction34]

The other question is do you have some sort of flow going when you place the flood in the DT? You can also do live Tiggerpods. Because they are small and move around you may get more of a reaction. This is what I did, then moved them to PE Calanus, live brine, then frozen.

Try having a Blonde Naso tang and multiple wrasses in a tank. Then have a Ventralis male arrive only 1/2" long. That is a challenge getting them to eat and surviving that small. He has been medicated now and swims out with the rest of the gang.

I do have flow when feeding, not turbulent, but either just return pump on and powerheads off, or only powerheads on but at lowest setting...
Might try the PE Calanus and LRS, if he still isn’t eating more than I might have to try the tigger pods.
I have a similar situation, in that I’m adding the ventralis to my tank with two wrasses that have well established territories. Aggression so far isn’t too bad... the Lineatus gets a little aggregated close to lights out because the ventralis hangs out in his cave lol and the wrasse wants to go to sleep.
I really hope he takes to frozen and starts eating well. He’s such a gorgeous fish and I him to do well.