natan
08/24/2014, 01:22 PM
:headwallblue:
That it didn’t survive is no surprise. Sill, I wanted to share what I did in hope that the information will help others. I do believe there is a way to be found to keep this and similar species because there are few people that do so with at least some degree of success. So here it goes…
The fish was 15 cm long, which is way larger than I would like to try. It spent the first 10 plus days after the import at the dealer's tank in hiposalinity treatment tank. Probably ate nothing. I got it intentionally to try something I felt might work. Money-wise I paid practically nothing for it, as I took a few other (really cool) things from that shop cheaply, and it was sort of bonus to let me try. The fish appeared healthy and alert when removed from that tank.
The old established quarantine setup contained some live rock, live sand, mechanical filter hugely oversized skimmer and used water from water changes on my established reef system. It was running for many month. Tank mate-a bold, very well established coperband which eats everything including flake.
The theory:
I was hoping that if the fish was healthy at some point it should become curious about some sort of food. If it starts to pick at anything, I can go from there. The idea is that the more healthy (as opposed to starving ) it becomes the more aggressive the feeding attempts may become, until the fish eats enough to sustain itself. Please notice: I DID NOT EXPECT IT TO EAT ANYWHERE ABOUT ENOUGH (if at all) INITIALLY! My plan was to force-feed enough for it to regain condition regardless of its initial refusal to eat. To do this I used high quality pellets (I intentionally do not list the brand here, it probably doesn’t matter anyway) ground to powder than mixed with tank water to the consistency of watery paste. It was tube-fed directly in to the fishes stomach usung a cat catheter attached to a 1CC syringe. 0.3-0.4CC was fed each time.
Day 1. Drip-acclimated to the system and left alone for the night. During the day all sorts of standard fair (clam, shrimp, squid, adult brine, frozen plankton) were offered attached to rocks and smeared on coral skeletons as paste. Dry food was offered sparingly. The copperband ate so much it vomited at some point. Meyeri showed no interest whatsoever, no pecking at all. As lights went off I removed it from the tank and force-fed.
Days 2-5-the same. Swimming back and force along the tank, no pecking at all. Force-fed in the evening. Sometimes it vomited some of the food, sometimes not. On day 5 deterioration in condition noticed (the skull protruding/nape area becoming thin).
Day 6-7 force-fed twice a day, morning and evening.
Day 8 fed in the morning than live open brain coral was introduced. The fish packet at it sluggishly a few times. This was the best and the only feeding response I was able solicit from this fish. I did not feed in the evening hoping to preserve feeding response and avoide stressing the fish.
Day 9. No longer interested in the coral, fed twice a day but condition worsened. Feces were examined under microscope-food appeared similar to what went in. The fish was unable to digest the food!
Day 10-the same
Day 11-The same, the fish died during the night. Autopsy in the morning. Digestive tract contained some food, which appeared unchanged throughout. Unfortunately I was unable to examine the condition of the intestinal wall as magnification I have at home is too low. No parasites found on the fish.
Conclusions: the fish was unable to utilize the offered food, the amount injected should have being more than enough to sustain it. It expelled some, but probably no more than half of what was fed at any feeding, and at least in half of the feedings nothing at all. I do not believe in existence of an ex-chemical (some sort of chemical only present in corals that the fish needs), because obligate coralivores have being kept for years without. To me if even a single fish of the given or closely related species survives for 2 years on clam-any similar fish should be able to do the same, and this was done before. I do believe in existence of a specific attractant chemical that triggers feeding in such fish. Some of it probably can be found in the open brain coral mucus.
What remains is the fish's inability to digest the food. It is possible that cyanide capture damaged the digestive system, inability to digest food is a well-documented effect of low doses of cyanide on fish. It is also possible that not being able to feed for at least 2.5 weeks (during shipping and at the shop) caused the intestinal wall to be damaged. It is known to occur in birds and reptiles, but is reversible. No idea about such phenomenon in fish.
So that’s it. I hope it helps someone to make more progress next time. I also hope they report the details so that farther progress can be made.
That it didn’t survive is no surprise. Sill, I wanted to share what I did in hope that the information will help others. I do believe there is a way to be found to keep this and similar species because there are few people that do so with at least some degree of success. So here it goes…
The fish was 15 cm long, which is way larger than I would like to try. It spent the first 10 plus days after the import at the dealer's tank in hiposalinity treatment tank. Probably ate nothing. I got it intentionally to try something I felt might work. Money-wise I paid practically nothing for it, as I took a few other (really cool) things from that shop cheaply, and it was sort of bonus to let me try. The fish appeared healthy and alert when removed from that tank.
The old established quarantine setup contained some live rock, live sand, mechanical filter hugely oversized skimmer and used water from water changes on my established reef system. It was running for many month. Tank mate-a bold, very well established coperband which eats everything including flake.
The theory:
I was hoping that if the fish was healthy at some point it should become curious about some sort of food. If it starts to pick at anything, I can go from there. The idea is that the more healthy (as opposed to starving ) it becomes the more aggressive the feeding attempts may become, until the fish eats enough to sustain itself. Please notice: I DID NOT EXPECT IT TO EAT ANYWHERE ABOUT ENOUGH (if at all) INITIALLY! My plan was to force-feed enough for it to regain condition regardless of its initial refusal to eat. To do this I used high quality pellets (I intentionally do not list the brand here, it probably doesn’t matter anyway) ground to powder than mixed with tank water to the consistency of watery paste. It was tube-fed directly in to the fishes stomach usung a cat catheter attached to a 1CC syringe. 0.3-0.4CC was fed each time.
Day 1. Drip-acclimated to the system and left alone for the night. During the day all sorts of standard fair (clam, shrimp, squid, adult brine, frozen plankton) were offered attached to rocks and smeared on coral skeletons as paste. Dry food was offered sparingly. The copperband ate so much it vomited at some point. Meyeri showed no interest whatsoever, no pecking at all. As lights went off I removed it from the tank and force-fed.
Days 2-5-the same. Swimming back and force along the tank, no pecking at all. Force-fed in the evening. Sometimes it vomited some of the food, sometimes not. On day 5 deterioration in condition noticed (the skull protruding/nape area becoming thin).
Day 6-7 force-fed twice a day, morning and evening.
Day 8 fed in the morning than live open brain coral was introduced. The fish packet at it sluggishly a few times. This was the best and the only feeding response I was able solicit from this fish. I did not feed in the evening hoping to preserve feeding response and avoide stressing the fish.
Day 9. No longer interested in the coral, fed twice a day but condition worsened. Feces were examined under microscope-food appeared similar to what went in. The fish was unable to digest the food!
Day 10-the same
Day 11-The same, the fish died during the night. Autopsy in the morning. Digestive tract contained some food, which appeared unchanged throughout. Unfortunately I was unable to examine the condition of the intestinal wall as magnification I have at home is too low. No parasites found on the fish.
Conclusions: the fish was unable to utilize the offered food, the amount injected should have being more than enough to sustain it. It expelled some, but probably no more than half of what was fed at any feeding, and at least in half of the feedings nothing at all. I do not believe in existence of an ex-chemical (some sort of chemical only present in corals that the fish needs), because obligate coralivores have being kept for years without. To me if even a single fish of the given or closely related species survives for 2 years on clam-any similar fish should be able to do the same, and this was done before. I do believe in existence of a specific attractant chemical that triggers feeding in such fish. Some of it probably can be found in the open brain coral mucus.
What remains is the fish's inability to digest the food. It is possible that cyanide capture damaged the digestive system, inability to digest food is a well-documented effect of low doses of cyanide on fish. It is also possible that not being able to feed for at least 2.5 weeks (during shipping and at the shop) caused the intestinal wall to be damaged. It is known to occur in birds and reptiles, but is reversible. No idea about such phenomenon in fish.
So that’s it. I hope it helps someone to make more progress next time. I also hope they report the details so that farther progress can be made.