Quoyi parrot long term success

Rory · Jul 11, 2018

I have had mine a few weeks now and its eating like a pig! He hammers Nori and Mysis shrimp and never seems full. He does graze on my rockwork and I noticed yesterday that some of my acros have tissue missing at their base. I think he may be foraging along on their plugs and is biting the acros too to sample. There are no other new fish or corals in my system and you can see literally chunks of coralline gone from the plugs. I know they are rock biters but from what I have heard that are "reef safe". Not sure if I agree with that now. He hasn't touched anything but a few of my acros (green slimmer, green acro and a bonsai).

LesPoissons · Dec 13, 2018

I had mine about 3 months. Ate everything all the time. Easiest fish I ever had. Yesterday he was hiding in the morning (rare, he's always front and center) but he came out and ate later. He was dead this morning. No idea, he was eating great, fat, happy and acting fine. 220g tank,plenty of algae, reef tank with fish and coral, all other fish fat and happy and healthy, no one picking on him and he didnt bother anyone. He was treated with metro/focus. So upset. I loved that fish.

Maritimer · Dec 13, 2018

Very sorry to hear that, Maya Ybry-Yagy . . .

Not the way I'd have liked to welcome you to Reef2Reef, but welcome, nonetheless.

~Bruce

saltyhog · Dec 13, 2018

Maya Ybry-Yagy said:
I had mine about 3 months. Ate everything all the time. Easiest fish I ever had. Yesterday he was hiding in the morning (rare, he's always front and center) but he came out and ate later. He was dead this morning. No idea, he was eating great, fat, happy and acting fine. 220g tank,plenty of algae, reef tank with fish and coral, all other fish fat and happy and healthy, no one picking on him and he didnt bother anyone. He was treated with metro/focus. So upset. I loved that fish.

What Bruce said! Welcome to R2R, so sorry about your Quoyi! Just about my favorite fish ever. I keep telling myself, one of these days I'm gonna get one again.

GoldeneyeRet · Dec 13, 2018

Welcome Maya Ybry-Yagy. Sorry about the loss of your quoyi. I love this fish but there are just so few long term success stories I'm not trying one yet

nicodim55 · Dec 13, 2018

I'm on a hunt for one of these, why are they so hard to keep, if that's the case I might just leave them to the expert. Can someone chime in plz?

ca1ore · Dec 13, 2018

It’s unclear why they are hard to keep long term. Most sellers list them as intermediate but I don’t think this is correct. They can be difficult to get eating, and even if they do, equally often just show up dead one day. I had one that ate well, but died for no apparent reason after about 6 months. I have one currently in my big tank and am feeding it algae max pellets in the hope of meeting it’s algae requirements. It’s too timid to battle the tangs for nori.

nicodim55 · Dec 14, 2018

ca1ore said:
It’s unclear why they are hard to keep long term. Most sellers list them as intermediate but I don’t think this is correct. They can be difficult to get eating, and even if they do, equally often just show up dead one day. I had one that ate well, but died for no apparent reason after about 6 months. I have one currently in my big tank and am feeding it algae max pellets in the hope of meeting it’s algae requirements. It’s too timid to battle the tangs for nori.

Thanks for that information, I was under the impression that they are just like any wrasses. Well, so far I haven't found one but if I do I'll make sure it's eating before I even try to take it home.

Rory · Dec 14, 2018

I wanted to post an update... my Parrot after having it about 6 months, all of a sudden stopped eating anything. I tried all sorts of different things and he just slowly withered away and died over about a 2 week period. No idea what caused it. After that experience, I will leave keeping them to the experts.

Maritimer · Dec 16, 2018

Sorry to hear that, Rory.

That sort of thing is a mystery I wouldn't mind getting to the bottom of . . .

~Bruce

AbnormalReefer · Dec 17, 2018

I am by no means an expert reef keeper, however, I have kept so called “difficult” or “expert-only” fish and have conquered their unique feeding challenges. I have weaned lionfish, trained so called “expert-only” leopard wrasse and am keeping acropora with success. The only things I can’t keep are mandarin gobies (due to the lion-fish) and leather corals (don’t ask, I just can’t; water too clean?) I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered them, however. For example, I’ve heard lions can stop taking their frozen feed all of a sudden.

However, time wise I believe that I have the time required to successfully dedicate care to such a beautiful creature. Please let me know if you guys think this is the right choice for me. I have a 180 gallon reef.

ca1ore · Dec 17, 2018

I am an expert reef keeper ..... at least I regularly tell myself that. I’ve kept, and killed, more than most over my 30 years in the hobby so I have a particular perspective on the matter. Fish designations of difficult or expert only are certainly useful, but ultimately superficial. I’ve created my own categories:

D1 - difficult to acclimate, may be disease susceptible, but not food problematic - most leopard wrasses, pencil wrasse, Achilles tang, certain angels like regal and potters as examples.
D2 - may or may not be difficult to acclimate, but significant feeding challenges - some of the smaller anthias like Evansi and princess; most obligate coralivores, mandarins/pipefish and the quoyi as examples
D3 - almost impossible to meet feeding requirements - tuka anthias, many cleaners as examples.

I have a number of D1 fish, just the quoyi as D2 and won’t even attempt D3.

TheRealDmorty217 · Dec 17, 2018

Lost mine after a year to velvet about 4 years ago. I believe that most are lacking adequate algae in their diets. The one I had that was doing well ate nori and loved NLS pellets

CincyReefer07 · Nov 23, 2021

I’m bumping this thread to see if anyone since this thread kind of died out has had any successes or new people that have come to r2r have had successes with this fish. Longerish term like 2 or more years.

James Martz · Nov 24, 2021

Just lost mine. Stopped eating after 2 years.

CincyReefer07 · Nov 24, 2021

James Martz said:
Just lost mine. Stopped eating after 2 years.

dang sorry to hear… that seems to be like a normal thing it seems from reading, after 1 or 2 years they either stop eating or just pass away out of nowhere without any signs.

I guess maybe one of those fish not suited for captivity??

whitelightning77 · Nov 16, 2022

I think mine going through that phase now. After over a year and a half. Noticed it losing weight over the last few weeks. Today i noticed it hiding more than usual. Still came out to eat but not acting normal. I fear it will be following suit shortly with all the other experiences you guys have been having.

cdnco2004 · Aug 12, 2023

whitelightning77 said:
I think mine going through that phase now. After over a year and a half. Noticed it losing weight over the last few weeks. Today i noticed it hiding more than usual. Still came out to eat but not acting normal. I fear it will be following suit shortly with all the other experiences you guys have been having.

Did your Quoyi survive past this?