Garlic extract question

[leafyseadragon]

I know that garlic soaked food is supposed to stimulate the feeding response in fish, but that's not my problem. I got a false percula clown last week, and he's not eating. I put some Marine Cuisine in the tank, he swallows it and then spits it back up.

So the feeding response is not my problem, it's keeping the food down. Will the garlic extract help, or is it supposed to?

 

[reefrunner69]

Sometimes fish will eat food soaked in garlic after turning their nose up and the same food without the garlic.

 

[cleantank]

Try and find out what the LFS was feeding, he's not used to that food. Try some frozen brine shimp plus or live brine. I'm sure he keep one of those down 8)

 

[leafyseadragon]

Funny you should mention that. I went back to the pet store yesterday to ask, and they said they feed their fish marine cuisine. However, I am not sure if the fish was in the store long enough to be fed at all. They get their new stock Fridays, and that's when I picked him up.

He ate the marine cuisine just one day, and then he doesn't anymore.

How long can he go without food, and will a fish refuse food until he starves?

 

[reefrunner69]

How long can he go without food,

Probably close to a month, alot will depend on the size and fat reserves of the fish.

will a fish refuse food until he starves?

Sometime, yes.

 

[jamal-188]

However, I am not sure if the fish was in the store long enough to be fed at all. They get their new stock Fridays, and that's when I picked him up.

I would never buy a fish that came to the LFS that day. I would also ask them to feed the fish while you are standing there to make sure it is actually eating and healthy. Some places will let you put a depost on the fish and pick it up in a few days/week if it's still healthy and eating. I've learned the hard way a couple times about picking up fish too early and not seeing them eat.

How long can he go without food, and will a fish refuse food until he starves?

Most fish if healthy will eat before they starve to death. I'd try a few other types of food. However I did have a yellow tang die after 10 days of not eating, tried every kind of food under the sun and he didn't even look at it.

 

[MACATUA]

Tyr some mysis, maybe soak that in garlic. All my fish love the mysis. Even my tang, so I feed the greens first so she eats that and leaves the mysis for the others, for the most part.

 

[snapcrackler]

You could setup a little hatching/growing tank full of live brine shrimp and drop them in there for your percula when they get big.

I have a hatchery hanging right in my 55, the shrimp hatch and swim out into the tank where they are promptly eaten by my pair of little true percs. They just hang out and snack on brine shrimp all day long.

When the clownfish get bigger I'm going to move the hatchery to a 10g brine shrimp tank and let the shrimp grow up a little first before I net them and drop them in for the percs.

I suggest that you get some phytoplankton if you're going to propogate brine shrimp, the shrimp eat that.

PS I also use marine Cuisine in cube form and the percs ignore it as it floats past, unless I forget to put artemia eggs in the hatchery for a few days.

So, the CBS and hermit crabs chow down all of the marine cuisine.

 

[BBReef]

Our true perc eats mysis and formula one. has since the day we got it and seems to enjoy it. try the mysis, they say its a good food for finicky fish.

 

[leafyseadragon]

jamal-188, I would have preferred to leave the fish at the LFS for a week. But that just wasn't practical. I literally had to wait three weeks for some false perculas to arrive at the LFS (I blame Disney, but that's another thread), so when they finally came in, I was afraid they would all be sold before I got there. They arrived Friday, all gone by Monday.

Here's what I don't understand: he was happily eating marine cuisine Saturday morning, no spitting up at all. He hasn't kept anything down since then that I can tell. If he never ate anything , that would be one thing, but I just don't understand why he stopped eating.

I will try the mysis with garlic tomorrow.