New Conspic Angel

[juuniz]

I just get my conspic around 8"..
she come in good health but currently haven't pick pellets or any food..

She's currently in my QT tank (150L)
water param: ammonia, nitrite 0, nitrate 10-15 ppm
PH 8.1
temp 25-27 degree

i already tried to feed her chunk of shrimp with selcon, but she only patrols around it..

Any suggestion?? :(

here's the picture
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z17/juuniz/conspic2.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z17/juuniz/conspic3.jpg

Happy reefin

[cl2ysta1]

try some live foods. tigger pods. brine shrimp, see if movement gets her

[juuniz]

ok i'll try, actually she already have a look on those pellets but doesn't seem to interest that much..

sometimes i'm afraid using live shrimp, it might bring in parasite..

[ezcompany]

pellets are the least closest to the fish's natural food in the wild. at 8 inches, that is already a pretty good size so it will be more difficult to train it to feed. live is definitely where you should start if the fish fails to feed for the next few days

[blface]

Awesome speciman. Conspics are my favorite angel by far. Try some fresh clams on the half shell. It should do the trick.

[ccampbell57]

Try soaking sheets of nori or seaweed in garlic and place it in a lettuce clip or tie to a rock and place it in the tank.

I would also place some ghost shrimp in there to see if he reacts to anything.

Also, I would contact who sold you the fish to find out what they fed it.

IMHO - because of its size, this guy is just tweaked out and needs to acclimate. Once he does, you wont be able to drop something in the water and have it be around for a very long

[trueperc]

Check with you LSF and see if they have small peices of liverock with lots of sponge on it. Where I am a usually get a deal as most don't want these peices. I usually get this once a months. Most times its a yellow sponge. This is how I got my Moorish Idol and a few of my angels eating. Once they start eating off sponge on the rock start putting pellets and maybe frozen food or fresh seafood in and around the sponge on the rock. Just a suggestion. By the way beautiful angel.

[juuniz]

thank you..

i already tried with some nori soaked with entice but still a bit shy to eat... tried it and spat it out again..

hopefully will be eating soon..

she is fully aware of people..

[Terra Ferma]

Do you have access to live seaweed/caulerpa?

[eskymick]

Most fish can't resist the "wiggle" of live black worms.

[ezcompany]

if it is putting in food and spitting it out, there's a good chance it will start eating very soon, so i would take it as good news :)

[yoboyjdizz]

Awesome looking fish! If i had the money i would try to get one as well.

[Sheol]

Man, what a dream angel! I hope she starts eating soon. Good luck & great catch!

Matthew

[triggerfish1976]

Conspics especially larger specimans generally have a hard time adapting to captive life and usually refuse prepared foods early on.
It appears to be in a QT tank which is good. I would try feeding it fresh clams (the small ones available in most seafood sections) on a half shell. If the fish goes for these you can eventually start replacing the clam meat with mysis or frozen angelfish formula mushed into the shell. If the fish eats this then you can start trying to feed the fish these foods regularly.
I would be careful with feeding it live sponge since most of the sponges available are Atlantic and some can be toxic or difficult to metabolize by these fish.

[Jackc]

You might want to try,

- Live Mysis shrimp
- Fresh cut live snails (in small pieces)
- Fresh live algae
- any type of stony coral broken into small pieces
- live glass shrimp cut into 4 th
- live tube sponge cut into small pieces
- live 1/2 cracked clams
- (fresh / live) oysters

If the fish does not accept any of these foods. Try moving him to a well established reef tank and for go the QT. What's the point in QT the fish if he is just going to die from starvation.

Remember that the natural diet of these fish are algae eaters. They graze of sponge and stony corals. So I think the next course of action for you is to try some live Acropora and fresh sponge.

Also your Conspic is most likely a male. It has a elongated body shape.

Best of luck

[lesleybird]

I have tried taking frozen krill and put it on a small rock with a rubber band after peeling. Currently I am having the same problem with a Regal that won't eat......thought it could learn by watching the Majestic and the Scribbled angels but it doesn't. We went to the Chinese market tonight and got some live clams and split them open and the other fish went crazy, but not the 7 inch Regal. I also got some frozen squid there that have long tenticals that I will try tomorrow. I have had this poor fish for 5 weeks and it has not even touched live brine, frozen mysis, krill, pellets, flakes, red seaweed rubberbanded to a rock. All the other angels like all of these and gobble them down right in front of him. I figure he will most likely die soon from starvation. Good luck with your beautiful fish. Did you get him from the Divers Den?
Lesley

[juuniz]

thanks for all the recommendation..

i have try pellets (spectrum and formula one), chunk of shrimp and sheets of nori, but still refuse to eat much only try some and spat it out..

i'll get lettuce and live shrimp tomorrow..

i got it from taiwan supplier, it cost me a lot to land one to my country -_-

hopefully it will eat soon..

*it condition almost perfect no whitespot from day one..

[triggerfish1976]

Is it's belly pinched?

[just dave]

Take a frozen food cube that uses a gelatin like binder ( like Ocean Nutrition Formula I & II) ,slightly defrost it so it's pliable, smash it into the crevices of some rock and refreeze it slightly while on the rock ( so it becomes firm again), and place it into the tank.

[32flavors]

as far as the sponge goes... if it's on live rock from Marshall or Tonga, you should be ok....

Pods are a great idea... I was once cleaning tanks at work, and I moved a rock in with a Lemon Peel and pods starting scurrying everywhere--that fish went nuts picking at the pods.

Also with the nori... sometimes it appears more naturalto the fish if you cut it into strips and secure the clip between a couple of rocks on the bottom... worked wonderfully on a Golden Angel one time.

The best thing of all: CYCLOPEEZE, not as the actual food, but as an appetite stimulant. At work for the stubborn new arrivals, I put cyclopeeze in a minute before whatever I'm feeding and it often works very well.

Best of luck and congrats!!

[sedgro]

I've had my conspic (8 in) for about 2 years. The entire first year I spent trying to get the fish to feed well. It was a nibbler - would eat small amounts of food (it took a couple of weeks to start feeding) but never enough to gain weight. Its back was pinched and I thought I was going to loose it. I over fed the tank a lot to make sure it got enough. I think the thing that worked the best were fresh mussels or clams on the half shell. Few fish can resist this. 2 years later it is fat and eats everything from pellets to brine shrimp. I hope yours does as well. They are certainly not easy fish, but worth it in the end.

[juuniz]

omg that long??

it has just been few days and im already worried like hell..

how long will i need to wait :fun5:

[niles1967]

I have a 12" blue face that didn't eat anything that I was aware of for 3 months. Its in a F/O tank. It finally srated picking at algae sheets about a week ago. Dont panic. Large angels take time to acclimate.

[juuniz]

so hopeful :rolleye1:

panic mode still on..

i'll post it video tomorrow when im not busy..

[cthetoy]

I have 7" Chrysurus Angel which took almost a month before it ate. A month later it would eat just the huge flakes only from Ocean Nutrition. The flakes had to be floating and not sinking. Later it would eat anything floating on the surface so I feed it freeze dried foods. Almost 4 months later it finally ate large pellets from New Life Spectrum.

[slayer213]

Hi, im a reefer from singapore. I know its been awhile since your conspic angel post.... so im not sure if u are still active in reefing. I have just purchased a 8inch conspic angel. And im in the situation as you before... it refuses to eat... im into my 5th day... so far i have tried everything... all brands of pallets, flakes, mysis soaked in selcon/garlic, clams, chopped prawn, copepods, greenredbrown seaweed tied to rock... still hasnt get him to eat anything... so far i have only seen him nip at my wavemaker and sometimes grab something off the sandbed... i could use some help here as im also in a PANIC MODE... it cost me a bomb to acquire this fish. Please help if u have any ideas to get my fish to eat... thanks!

[slayer213]

Sorry, not sure if this tread is still active... but could use some help... thanks!

[ThRoewer]

I would try live clams or, if you can get live urchins, smash one of those. Fish in the wild go crazy over those.

Another good food are fresh red algae, leafy or those little grape shaped.

Is he picking on rocks or just swimming around. If picking on rocks, you can try to seed a rock with food bits you stuff into openings of the rock that are accessible to him.
If making your own food mixes you could put that on some rocks so he can graze it off.

Live brine shrimp may also be worth a try.

[Achilles Torben]

How is the situation? Is the fish in quarantine? Is in display with many other fish? Tell more

[Dmorty217]

How is the situation? Is the fish in quarantine? Is in display with many other fish? Tell more

+1 and I wouldn't worry too much until the Conspic hasn't eaten for a few weeks being that she is 8" and probably newly collected. She will more than likely have to get pretty hungry before she will try prepared foods. You could always try some live sponge or brine

[carrots]

My new Regal in QT, didn't eat for the first few days and someone suggested another freshwater dip. Her first was only a couple of minutes long. This time she stayed in bath for 10 minutes. Sure as Hell four large flukes dropped off as well as a bunch of smaller ones. The next day she was acting like a new fish. More active and started eating and tasting everything I offered. Black worms, clams on half shell and Pellets all eaten on the first day of feeding. Not sure if it was the flukes but something to think about. Hope your girl is eating soon.

[slayer213]

Hi.. thanks for all the suggestions... currently he is in my 6ft display with half partitioned to keep out the rest of my other fishes... so he has a good half of the tank all by himself. So far i have seen him ate alittle of the frozen artic pods that i threw in(read that they trigger feeding response), he took a nip at a piece of chopped shrimp and thats about it. So far im only able to get frozen clams and mussels, which doesnt interest him at all... hasnt seen any live ones available though, does it make a differences live or frozen? Urchins? Which types? The lfs here do have a few kinds for sale, will long spine urchins work? I will try to get some live brines as well...

I know getting a bigger conspic is gonna give me a hard time to get it eating... mayb its still too early for him to be hungry. He doesnt look thin at all as of now... thanks for all the tips and help!

[carrots]

I like the frozen clams on the half. I use a razor blade to put some smaller slices in the frozen clam meat then drop into the tank. IMO fish like the smaller bites of the stringy clam meat. Can't wait to hear that your fish is eating well.

[slayer213]

Hi, so far i tried frozen clams and mussels, sliced the flesh too. But he took one bite and doesnt want it anymore. As of now, he took a couple of small bites of ocean nutrition formula 2 flakes. Tried green grape, he ate one of it and thats about it. At least he is trying to eat. So fingers crossed here...

[illumnae]

You can get live clam at wet markets and sometimes Giant or Sheng Siong here in Singapore. I used to use them to get finicky predators feeding. Very effective. Look for short neck clams

[slayer213]

Alrighty will go look for them! Thanks!

[slayer213]

Are those what we locally know as LALA?

[illumnae]

Yup I think so, but I buy them as short neck clams

[slayer213]

Ok thanks!

[slayer213]

Day 12
Hi，still didnt managed to get the fish to eat. A kind reefer here offered me some larrys food and it took a few nibbles and thats about it... would nt touch it the next time round... so far i have tried all these:

New era algae pellets/flakes
Ocean nutrition formula 2 algae flakes
TDO pellets
New life spectrum finnicky fish pallets
Green grapes, green/red/brown nori tied to rock
Chopped shrimp
Oyster, mussels, clams
Krills
Artemias
Artic Copepods
PE Mysis
Larrys reef frenzy

All foods tried with and without soaking in selcon, brightwell vit m, vit c, garlic.

Gonna try some chopped squids and frozen brineshrimp tonight. I think i have exhausted all my options. So far he only comes to the food, sniff and swam away... cant think of anymore things to try anymore.... he is doing ok, stomach not pinched, swimming normally.

[slayer213]

Have yet to try the urchins as im not sure which kind... i probably will get a live rock with sponges on it to try as well.

[ThRoewer]

Any urchin you can get should be fine. Can you get live ones at a local fish market? Otherwise try a sushi restaurant - the good ones often buy live urchins for their uni rather than using refrigerated uni.

[slayer213]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160329/b87323a7412b1262b09dfb13b2fba3da.jpg

My lfs usually have tons of these and the longspine black urchins... ok will try one this weekend. Thanks!

[slayer213]

Day 24

Hi... its been 3 weeks... and finally had a breakthru! Tried urchins, took a couple of bites and thats its not interested anymore... i figure i really needed to get some live food to trigger his feeding response... i could find any live brines shrimp here... at least not the adults ones. Plus hes stomach is getting alittle pinched... So i went to get some freshwater grass shrimps... he hunt it down and ate 4 straight in a row! Finally i get him to ate something substantial.

Ok now heres the dilemma... i know fw food is never good for saltwater species in a long run. So i needed to find a solution to this problem... i tried getting some live saltwater shrimps from a fishing bait shop, but they only have them in 5 or 6inch sizes... so i chopped a live one to bite size and threw them in... no luck. Not even interested...

Now im stuck with feeding 3 or 4 grass shrimps twice a day. He doesnt need them live, even recently deceased shrimp is good for him to eat. So now i tried soaking the live shrimps in vitamins, stuffing pallets into their carapace prior to feeding... hopefully he gets more out of the shrimps.

Any ideas what to do from now on?

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[ThRoewer]

Freshwater shrimp are fine. The Mysis you buy as fish food are all caught in freshwater lakes.

[slayer213]

Ok... ultimately would be best if i can train him to go for pallets and nori. Any ideas how shld i go about doing that? I know it will be a long while before that will happen...

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[ThRoewer]

For now I would just go with frozen shrimp if that's what he likes. When he is nicely fat you can start training him on other foods. Usually it helps to have some other fish in the tank who feed well off the food you want to train him on.

[slayer213]

He doesnt take the frozens... just the live ghost shrimps... im just worried going on a diet of just shrimps without veggie at all will cos digestive problems for him... as of now, he still refuses to take any sorts of nori, i have tried red green brown purple seaweed fresh or dried and lettuce. On clip, tied to rocks, strips...

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[Conspic Dreamer]

Was it housed with cleaner shrimp before you added the feeder shrimp?

[humaguy]

He doesnt take the frozens... just the live ghost shrimps... im just worried going on a diet of just shrimps without veggie at all will cos digestive problems for him... as of now, he still refuses to take any sorts of nori, i have tried red green brown purple seaweed fresh or dried and lettuce. On clip, tied to rocks, strips...

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try spir brine, they don't all eat nori and remain healthy, there is some vegetable protein in the shrimp (they eat it) , but I would try and wean off live.....

[slayer213]

Was it housed with cleaner shrimp before you added the feeder shrimp?
Nope, he was all alone...

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[slayer213]

try spir brine, they don't all eat nori and remain healthy, there is some vegetable protein in the shrimp (they eat it) , but I would try and wean off live.....
Yes, im gut loading the shrimps will algae pellets before feeding...

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[snorvich]

Awesome speciman. Conspics are my favorite angel by far. Try some fresh clams on the half shell. It should do the trick.

That is where I would start.

[illumnae]

I used to use the feeding stick method to train my lionfish once they started taking live shrimp, not sure if it would work on your angel.

Basically create a feeding stick using acrylic rod (3mm rod available at artfriend) and fishing line scotch taped to the end (about 5 to 10cm sticking out). Use the fishing line to pierce a live ghost shrimp and dangle it in front of the fish. The fish will soon learn to pull the shrimp off the stick and associate the stick with food. After awhile, replace live ghost shrimp with frozen ghost shrimp - I buy a bag of the live feeders, gut load them then drain the water and freeze. After the fish is used to frozen ghost shrimp, replace with pieces of fish or prawn meat. Sooner or later, the fish will take fish or prawn meat. Thereafter, it will eventually recognize you as a food source and one day will take pellets, especially if other fish in the tank eat pellets that you feed.

I usually stop at fish meat with my lions, but once even had success training a dwarf fuzzy to eat pellets using this method. Even lions that arrive in very poor condition and refuse to eat at the start have been trained using this method. The hardest part is getting them started eating the live shrimp in the first place, which you have already succeeded doing

[slayer213]

Thanks for the advise! I have too, succeed in training lions with the same method as you, the thing is my fish will take a few bites before swallowing the shrimp whole... he will take dead ghost shrimp from my thongs... but once i switch to frozen ones with the same method he doesnt even take a single bite... duno whats up with him and frozens.... now im trying to gutload the shrimps and smearing mushup pallets paste all over it prior feeding. Sometimes it eats sometimes not... sometimes he will just grab the shrimp and thrash it around to remove the pallet paste... i guess i have to keep trying. Thank you all for the inputs!

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[illumnae]

Try feeding the shrimp with the pellets, and once they eat, catch them out to feed the fish.

[slayer213]

Yes.. been doing that now.. thanks!

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[slayer213]

Day 30

Hi all, exactly one month. After days of stuff ghost shrimps pellets, finally he is feeding pellets alone off the thongs! Nows hes taking pallets all the time with thongs target feeding, provided my annoying pinkface doesnt snatch it off before him!

Takes a month to train this sort of a stubborn fish... guess i was lucky. Was told 8inch sized conspic might never take prepared food. Now i can sleep better at night... thank you guys for the valuable advices and help. You guys rock! Reef on!

Thank you!

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[humaguy]

now put the pellets on top of a fresh clam, see if he goes for that...

[slayer213]

He seems alittle intrested in pellets i drop for the other fish... so i guess he will probly go for the sinking pellets later, at the same time i just have to target feed him pellet with thongs. Thanks

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[humaguy]

how are things?

[slayer213]

He is still being the spoilt brat... only eats off the thongs. At least he is eating alot of pallets twice a day.

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