cdw79
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
As a longtime lurker on this forum, this wasn't how I expected to finally make an account, but I'm hoping someone can help me.
I've just about finished cycling my tank as of yesterday (0 ppm ammonia, .1 ppm Nitrite, 25 ppm Nitrate, 1.026 sg) and went to an LFS to pick up a fish to keep the tank going. I specifically wanted to go this one as I learned they strictly QT all their livestock, something I had never seen when I was previously in the hobby as a kid, so I figured something from there would be particularly resilient.
I was hoping to snag a Bangaii Cardinal, Chromis, or something else that would be especially hardy, but they literally had either a $150 1" platinum clown or a long nose hawkfish. Since the latter has been on my stock list for some time now, I went with him. I know he has been through a 14 day medicated quarantine and had been for sale for at least a further week and a half (I saw him when I came to buy a replacement heater), so I was comfortable he would be a decent candidate given my options. I also made sure the person working there fed him, and he ate their blend of frozen food pretty voraciously.
Fastforward to now, and I've still not gotten him to eat much at all. I tried pellets with no luck, and also tried a good chunk of thawed RODI's. He ate one, after watching it a long time, but otherwise let the rest swirl around him. He seems to see it, and he'll sometimes swim out to have a closer look, but will turn right back around to perch on his rock or two that he's picked out as his territory. I tried again just now to feed him (bought him at 5:30 last night, tried feeding at 10 pm, now tried again this afternoon) and nothing. He will sometimes show a little interest, but didn't go for any of the pieces.
Besides feeding, his overall behavior is fine- normal breathing, perches high seems alert (compared to past forums I've read where the fish would end up sitting on the substrate and acting unusually), always looking around, etc. My only even slight concern is he doesn't move around the tank much. He stays on one or two different spots and will sit there for 5 minutes or more on end before adjusting, moving a few inches, etc. I know this is pretty standard hawkfish behavior, but just trying to give the full context here.
Overall I'm hoping things will turn around. He's the first fish in there and might still be adjusting to his surroundings. I'm just concerned that because I haven't been able to seed my tank with pods yet (hopefully will be here Thursday / Friday from AlgaeBarn) that he has no microfauna to snack on if it's just a matter of not liking the food I have available at the moment. If anyone has any ideas, advice, or similar experiences, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
As a longtime lurker on this forum, this wasn't how I expected to finally make an account, but I'm hoping someone can help me.
I've just about finished cycling my tank as of yesterday (0 ppm ammonia, .1 ppm Nitrite, 25 ppm Nitrate, 1.026 sg) and went to an LFS to pick up a fish to keep the tank going. I specifically wanted to go this one as I learned they strictly QT all their livestock, something I had never seen when I was previously in the hobby as a kid, so I figured something from there would be particularly resilient.
I was hoping to snag a Bangaii Cardinal, Chromis, or something else that would be especially hardy, but they literally had either a $150 1" platinum clown or a long nose hawkfish. Since the latter has been on my stock list for some time now, I went with him. I know he has been through a 14 day medicated quarantine and had been for sale for at least a further week and a half (I saw him when I came to buy a replacement heater), so I was comfortable he would be a decent candidate given my options. I also made sure the person working there fed him, and he ate their blend of frozen food pretty voraciously.
Fastforward to now, and I've still not gotten him to eat much at all. I tried pellets with no luck, and also tried a good chunk of thawed RODI's. He ate one, after watching it a long time, but otherwise let the rest swirl around him. He seems to see it, and he'll sometimes swim out to have a closer look, but will turn right back around to perch on his rock or two that he's picked out as his territory. I tried again just now to feed him (bought him at 5:30 last night, tried feeding at 10 pm, now tried again this afternoon) and nothing. He will sometimes show a little interest, but didn't go for any of the pieces.
Besides feeding, his overall behavior is fine- normal breathing, perches high seems alert (compared to past forums I've read where the fish would end up sitting on the substrate and acting unusually), always looking around, etc. My only even slight concern is he doesn't move around the tank much. He stays on one or two different spots and will sit there for 5 minutes or more on end before adjusting, moving a few inches, etc. I know this is pretty standard hawkfish behavior, but just trying to give the full context here.
Overall I'm hoping things will turn around. He's the first fish in there and might still be adjusting to his surroundings. I'm just concerned that because I haven't been able to seed my tank with pods yet (hopefully will be here Thursday / Friday from AlgaeBarn) that he has no microfauna to snack on if it's just a matter of not liking the food I have available at the moment. If anyone has any ideas, advice, or similar experiences, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
