Please help - Urgent!

[xioxxio]

Hi, I need some help. I was transferred to Hong Kong for work. After 6 months of being here I decided to continue with my fish keeping hobby. I was very excited as you can buy anything and everything here, if they can make an extra dollar they will sell it. Stuff that is illegal in other parts of the world is freely available.

This is my problem; there is an area in Hong Kong that is dedicated to this hobby. (2 blocks). These guys receive shipments everyday of weird and wonderful exotic fish and corals, prices are a joke. Due to the enormous turnover of the “goods”, the fish have never been fed in captivity.

How do you get the fish to eat in captivity, after a few day to a week the fish die due to starvation. I feed them brine shrimp and pellets and they don’t eat.

What else should I be trying? Any suggestions appreciated

[BangkokMatt]

Are you starting the fish off in a QT tank. If not, it will help a lot as the fish will feel a lot safer in the initial stages.
What fish are you specifically talking about?

[xioxxio]

I dont have a QT tank. Butterfly, clown, tangs....

[Recty]

Well, keep the fish as happy as possible. You really probably do need to quarantine the fish, not just dump them all into a big tank and hope they survive.

Just like in a fish store where you see the fish in small tanks getting somewhat personal attention, you need to do the same in your home. Get them eating and then move them to a larger tank.

[xioxxio]

I dont really want to by a a seperate tank, do you think one of those perspex dividers in the main tank will work?

[woodycb]

Smaller tank with plenty of hiding spots and no lights for a couple of days. Soak all of your food with garlic extract.

[chrisstie]

If you don't QT you'll likely introduce things like flukes, velvet, etc which although your fish are now rediculously cheap, will perish in a few days due to diseases you weren't able to prevent getting into your main display.

If you REALLY don't want to QT I'd at least do a fresh water dip on each fish for ~2 mins, if there are external flukes you'll see them peel off like tiny potato chip shapes... then a saltwater soak in formalin and methyl blue 15-30 mins).

Once this is done, your fish isnt treated with copper and may be more prone to eating (there are some who theorize copper treatments hurt the fish's liver and give it trouble eating). Use garlic to entice appetite and if they dont eat at all use live brine or feeder shrimp to ween them onto mysis.

I would also caution what you mix and match in the tank just try to be sure every fish will get along and avoid impulse buys - while it feels like saving money buying that Super Rare Cool Fish You Cant Get In America, you're still spending money on it and you should still research before you buy. Once you get used to the way they sell them in HK, though, sounds like you have great potential for setting up a really cool tank, best of luck!