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Originally Posted by TheRedWater  Matt,
Thank you very much for the lengthy response. Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to read your article. I followed your link but that is only a teaser of the full article. I don't believe that CORAL magazine is sold where I live up in northern Canada. Is there any other way I can get my hands on this article fairly quickly? |
You're welcome!
I'd contact CORAL ASAP - I don't think I can just send you a digital copy of the article yet (still has to run in other locations). I know they were offering it as a free download when you get a subscription. Or, you could order the back issue. I promise it's worth it! Not to over-inflate myself, but seriously, I wouldn't suggest that anyone go out and try the Harlequin Filefish without having read the article. My article wasn't based solely on my own experiences, but also information I gleamed in talking with other people who had been successful, as well as watching other people fail, and taking the time to figure out WHY their efforts failed.
I should mention, I get nothing more for telling people to go buy the back issue...as an Author you get a one time payment, that's that. So no vested interest in pushing you in that direction - it's a sincere recommendation. That, and I don't want to type 4000 words out here again, and in general, just like with clownfish breeding, when there's published info already out there, it's wise to read it and THEN ask the questions (otherwise, why did we bother writing it?
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Originally Posted by TheRedWater I do however have a new problem. I'm leaving for the weekend and I have no idea how I'm going to feed them while I'm gone. I can get a neighbor or something to do it, but is there a more automated way for frozen food? My other fish are fine, they're super social little creatures. My clownfish will actually stick his head out of the water to see me if I open the hood. I can feed it once a day no problem with any dry foods automated system. But, is there anything I can do for frozen foods? |
Get the neighbor to feed them, and pre portion the feedings. That's your best bet. Or put in more SPS and hope for the best. Seriously, they lose weight fast if not fed. This is NOT a good time to leave your fish unattended...I lost one of mine that had started eating explicitly because I was called away on business for 4 days..when I came back the fish was basically dead.
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Originally Posted by TheRedWater Last question: What should I feed it regularly? I've already described it's current diet and you've suggested some other foods. Unfortunately I don't have regular access to any sort of live foods. There is only one small store in town and it doesn't stock live food. Anyhow, what should I use as a food to feed them every day, if not brine? |
Long term, you should be able to get them to eat flakes, pellets, frozen mixes, mysis, everything. And long term, that's what you should give 'em. EVERYTHING. Mysis is far better than Brine Shrimp. I'd also soak your foods in Selcon. Frozen mixes should offer the nutritional diversity necessary..since we don't really know what the nutritional profile of coral flesh is, at this point, the best guess is to treat it as an omnivorous food source (coral flesh + zooxanthellae which is algae), so a well rounded, varied diet is probably the best. It's certainly enough to get my fish spawning with viable eggs, so, something is working right.
The basic method I used to train Files onto prepared foods was to coat coral frag skeletons with gel diets (i.e. Ocean Nutrition's Pygmy Angel Formula, or Rod's Food). It's a "natural presentation", and the fish pick at it, and eventually they're taking a much better food. But TIME is basically what it takes...when the fish learn to take food out of the water column, they become more apt to try other things, sometimes... Again, terribly difficult as a wild caught fish.
Good luck!
Matt