Trouble getting a fish to eat

[Shilpan]

Hello everyone I wanted some advice on my Signatus doliatus (I think that's the name it's a doliatus rabbitfish AKA scribbled rabbitfish). I've had it for a week now. I notice it's still quite shy and too much activity causes it to change colour and hide. I've also noticed it gets easily scared when the other fish are around it even though it's the biggest fish in the tank.

It won't eat nori, it won't eat mysis and it won't even eat brine shrimp. It usually just ignores the food floating past at feeding time. I discovered however it goes crazy for chaeto, gobbles it all up. I noticed it during cleaning when I accidentally dropped some in the tank. It does also graze on my rocks from time to time as you can see on the photo I have mostly film algae not much macroalgae. Also no offence but it seems kinda stupid, when it saw the chaeto it took 30s to find it because it kept chasing the reflection in the glass of the chaeto which I've never seen a fish do before. But as chaeto on its own is an incomplete diet (right?), what can I do to entice it to eat other foods?

Thank you, also it looks fat and healthy, tummy bulge after eating, it poops but not heaps, no disease, fins and breathing normal, colour changes back and forth easily, sleeps and swims normally.

 

[jay0705]

Rabbit fish in general are skittish at first. Mine still is and I've had it 2 months. Honestly stock up on macro. Cheato, gracilla, calpura and feed that until he comes around

 

[lmforbis]

I wouldn't worry too much since his overall condition is still good.

I've had fish attack their own reflection thinking it is another fish invading their territory. People even use this to distract aggressive fish when adding new fish by placing a mirror on the side of the tank. They see their reflection as a bigger threat to their territory than the new guy. so they leave other fish alone. attacking a reflection of food seems reasonable.

 

[Shilpan]

Thank you for the advice jay, I'll continue with the macro until he starts eating the frozen food. Can I feed him every two days or do I need macro for him every day? It's just my nitrates are 5ppm these days since I started feeding a whole cube a day and I already feed nori every second day. Maybe just swap the nori for macro every second day? Don't wanna overpollute the tank.

And ahh ok I see imforbis, I guess it's fair enough its not like it's ever seen a mirror before haha. That's really interesting about the mirror trick

 

[jay0705]

The macro will only decrease your nitrate. So don't worry about having too much. I put about 2 qt of it in and its gone in 2 days. I feed it maybe 1-2 a month but its a treat all my fish eat frozen.
Imforbis is rt that it looks good and heathy now so every other day is fine.

 

[jay0705]

I should say tho cheato imo is the least appealing to fish so the fact he devoured it means he was hungry. Calpera and gracilla are more appealing generally

 

[geridoc]

Have you tried nori? Most herbivores will eagerly take this, and it is easily obtained and stored.

 

[florida joe]

Mix a cube of good quality frozen food (defrosted of course ) with some cheato make a paste and push it into the rock that he likes to pick at.

 

[Shilpan]

Thanks Jay, yeah he loves it.

Hey gerodic, yeah I have I usually feed it on alternate days but he ignores it for the most part.

Ahh that sounds like a good idea Joe! Thanks I'll give that a try

 

[2quills]

Does the Nori you use have the garlic extract? My fish love that kind much more so than cheato. My tang won't touch chaeto unless it's tiny pieces. If I try to toss small ball of it in the tank it freaks him out. He flashes his fins at it like he wants to attack it but won't eat it.

 

[Shilpan]

Nah I haven't I use the plain unflavored nori. Maybe I should try garlic soaking it or something.

I'm gonna buy some mysis today so maybe I'll pick up a packet of it if I can find it. Do you reccomend I try different colours or maybe an algae based frozen food or flake? So many options

 

[jay0705]

This is funny. I tried garlic enhanced nori, idk it had garlic til i opened it lol. My fish hated it. I usually feed Julianne sprungs purple and they like that.

 

[2quills]

The garlic is supposed to attract them (supposed to). May not hurt to try soaking foods in it if he's having trouble. Although it's probably still just getting used to it's environment.

I just get the Ocean Nutrition brand from my lfs. I prefer the red sheets vs the green. Less fillers and phosphate.

 

[jay0705]

Mine don't like red lol. Fish are weird purple and green they eat

 

[Shilpan]

Hey guys still no luck I tried some veggie flakes from Seachem and some frozen marine mix for herbivores but it basically ignores anything that isn't shaped like chaeto..

It tried nibbling a leaf then spat it out. Spoilt...

My LFS says since all my fish are healthy why not stop feeding for 4-5 days and then feed, he says they'll gobble up anything you feed them. Do you guys think that would work or is it just unecessary?

I haven't tried Joes paste idea yet, I'm wondering whether or not it'll work since it doesn't look like chaeto? That and he doesn't graze from any particular rocks frequently he said actually picking at the edges of the glass a lot I believe where some algae is growing

 

[jay0705]

Idk if i would not feed your fish. Its already not eating so not feeding isnt going to effect it. Stick with feeding it some macro and be patient. Large fish can take time to convert to standard aqurium fair

 

[lmforbis]

Down side to not feeding for a few days is some fish will nip at coral if they are hungry. Once they get a taste for oral they often won't stop eating it. Can't remember what you have for corals or fish. Dwarf angels will do this and I've seen fox faces do it as well.
Since the other fish are eating fine and the problem fish isn't I'm not sure it would help him as much as simply making the others hungrier.
Have you tried live food like brine shrimp. Not very nutritious but can get
Some fish to start eating.

 

[Shilpan]

Yeah good point the not feeding may just cause problems. I do have a foxface actually definitely don't want him liking corals!

Yup I've tried brine shrimp, seafood mix and mysis.

Ok I see cause it's large it's probably growing up eating macroalgae. I'll continue with my current schedule then, every two days I tear up chaeto into tiny bits and mix it in with half a cube of frozen meaty food, a pinch of flakes and a pinch of frozen herbivore mix.

My hope is that he'll get used to smaller and smaller bits of chaeto until he starts eating all of the mixture I feed him

 

[Shilpan]

Oh like live brine shrimp? Nah can't get that here in New Zealand unfortunately.

I suppose I should just be happy he's healthy and eating something and fat. I also soak in garlic in case that entices him.

Oh and he eats chaeto off the feeder clip. So tomorrow I'm gonna put a mix of nori and chaeto there and see what he does

 

[lmforbis]

That's a good idea.

Can you get brine shrimp eggs in New Zealand and hatch them. That's how I've always gotten live brine.