[BettyL]

I just got an azure damsel because I thought this kind of fish was easy to care for. However, he doesn't seem to eat. He spends all his time backing in and out of a hole in the rock he prefers, or comes out just to hover around it. I tried two kinds of pellets - Dainichi Marine FX baby sinking, and Omega One small pellets with garlic. I also tried a bit of the frozen cubes for carnivores. Even when this fish is swimming a bit away from his rock, he seems oblivious to the food I am dropping in. How should I be delivering his food and what should it be?

 

[SaltyBiker]

Damsels in general arent picky eaters at all. Heck they normally devour plain ol' marine flakes as if it was the tastiest of brine or mysis shrimp and such. Did you just get it today? I would give it a couple days to acclimate and adapt to it's new home. As long as its not sick, diseased, and/or being picked on by another fish, odds are it'll come around.

 

[ornatebutterflycod]

Spiralina brine is a good choice for them. Are there other fish in the tank? is he smaller or last on the totem pole? Could he possibly be part of a mated pair? Any other signs of illness? What time or how close to lights out are you feeding him? Do you drop the cube in frozen or do you defrost it and then dump it in?

Can you send tank specs too
Size
Dimension
Parameters
Age of tank

 

[BettyL]

I'm new to this. The only other fish in my tank is a clown that I got at the same time. Both just 3 days ago. The clown does eat and doesn't seem to bother the damsel. I don't know anything about lights, since I don't have corals or a refugium the tank only sees room light. What type of lighting do the fish need for eating? Do I need to stop my pumps? (I tried that). When I added the frozen cube food I did defrost it in a little tank water first and then shot it in with a turkey baster. My tank is a 29 gal horizontal rectangle, started cycling in August, has sand bottom and BRS rock. Water is decent - pH 8.2, temp 79.7, ammonia zero, nitrites zero, nitrates 5ppm. I'm also worried about my flow. Maybe I have too much for the fish to swim through - 2 hydor nano koralias, one at either end pointing towards the rocks in the center, also I have a HOB Marineland filter for extra oxygen and using a carbon cartridge in it (no biowheel)

 

[Geoff]

i would start reading the Reefkeeping Made Easy thread. it will help explain a lot about what is going on in your system.

G~