good idea or bad?

hey guys its been quite some time since i posted, after i lost my ray i kind of lost enthusiam as it was a hard loss. buy i am slowly gaining momentum again and have decided to steer away from the predators, so last month i bought a saddle back puffer and another 60lbs of rock. so now i come to the reason for the post and that is i bought 4 prple queen anthias yesterday and a cleaner wrasse, now the wrasse i know can be a problem but this one does eat prepared food and did do today quite a lot actually. now the anthias have just hid all day i have tried small portions of pellets, flake food and frozen foods but they have a bit of a look but thats all, am i being impatient or was it silly to get these fish. my signature is wrong but the tank is about 12 months old is FOWLR and has a fuge with millions of pods and plenty of greenery, all my parameters are within acceptable ranges.

 

Anthias are notorious for being hard to get eating, and I think I've read the purple queens are some of the hardest anthias to keep. It's good you got a group, that should help them with confidence.

Anthias like strong water currents and also like to chase their food, so it's good to squirt their food into strong flow. Just keep trying different foods to see if anything gets their attention. Try garlic in the food too. A food that's supposed to be good at tempting fish to eat is frozen cyclopeeze.

Also, anthias eat pods, so as long as they have those to eat, they can go for a bit without eating prepared foods.

Good luck!!

 

Hey thanks for the reply I did read that about them but such a colourful schooling fish was to tempting, I am mixing garlic extreme with the foods and I do have good circulation. I have been trying to avoid the tank other then feedings so hopefully they start to venture out from the hiding places soon

 

Sounds like a nice tank. I would not be too concerned if they are new, sometimes they just take a while to acclimate and get comfortable. It has been my experience that once they begin to feel comfortable they are out and about more and eat with enthusiasm. I bet they are pretty;D

 

Anthias are also accustomed to eating zooplankton in their natural environment so if you can get a hold of some that might help out.

 

If they never see you besides at feedings, it's possible they are too afraid to eat when you are there. I would think it would be better if you were often near the tank so they see you as a normality.

 

They have slowly been coming out into open water but still haven't taken to the food thing, I shall jump online and grab some plankton and try that tomorrow, and as soon as they come out from hiding I shall take some pics

 

Either will work. If they only see him right before and during feedings, they'll consider him their food source and come out when they see him.

 

Ok so 1 died after a day so I am assuming the stress was to much, but the others are out almost most of the day but still won't eat anything I throw in, so my question is now are they doomed or is there anyway they could be feeding off live food in the tank

 

Purple Queens are one of the most difficult anthias to get to eat. KC was right on when she said garlic, and fast current. That food moving fast gets them to react on instinct.

Cyclopeeze
PE Mysis
brine shrimp
Arcti-Pods

I used all of these to get mine to eat. Once eating, they eat anything that hits the water.... it is just getting them to take that first bite.

Best of luck to you.