Multibar success?

[Tyson]

I’m considering ordering a multibar, curious how successful you’ve been in the past, either with captive bred or collected? Getting them through your qt process and eating?

 

[Jasonak]

I got one from Dr Reef a few months ago and its doing great.

 

[Tyson]

Cool, good to know. Did you go wild caught or captive?

 

[ti_lavender]

I have a Biota (captive bred) Multibar and it’s doing great. Had it for 5/6 months now.

 

[Jasonak]

I believe wild, but right now I see that captive bred are cheaper.

 

[Tamberav]

I have a captive since Sept 2022, they come in absolutely tiny so you need to be ready for that. Crushed pellets and calanus... they can be easily bullied or out competed for food and needs to eat often.

 

[Tyson]

So I received a multibar from dr reef last week. I’ve got it in an observation tank with some live rock and pvc. It’s gotten much more comfortable over the last few days, and looks very healthy. However, I just can’t get it to eat. I know they’re tough, but looking for ideas if anyone has them.

I’ve tried frozen mysis, frozen spirulina brine, reef frenzy, SB angel/butterfly mix, mastic on the rocks and pvc, omega flakes. I’ve been dumping freshly hatched live baby brine in as well, but they’re very small, and it’s shown no interest.

Anything I haven’t thought of? The fish looks at the rocks, but hasn’t pecked at anything and it’s going on about 7 days now.

 

[Jasonak]

I got mine from him also, It was probably a month or so before I started seeing him come out and feed. I assumed he was just eating sponge etc from the live rock in my tank. I would not see him for days sometimes and when I did it was just a glimpse of him in my live rock. Now he is out all the time and eats like a piggy with the rest of the fish. Its was probably 3 months before he was comfortable being out in the open.
I did not QT him I put him right into my display.

 

[areefer01]

Anything I haven’t thought of? The fish looks at the rocks, but hasn’t pecked at anything and it’s going on about 7 days now.

As mentioned above by @Tamberav try crushed pellets and Calanus. While not a multibar I have a lot of fish from Biota and that is what I use with success. Most recent a Milletseed Butterflyfish that arrived maybe the size of a US $0.50 piece.

I used TDO x-small and small, Hakari S, A, and PE Mysis pellets all crushed a bit. I've found that TDO usually works. Frozen I feed LRS Nano and PE Calanus with success. This is for all new captive bred, raised, fish. I will feed small portions of dry hourly, frozen twice a day.

Depending on the fish comfort level, shy, I will pull up a bucket, drop some in, and observe. This way I can see what it eats vs strike showing an interest. Also I use my refugium 9 out of 10 times since I can take it off line and it has mature rock and corals to forage with more comfort. Also no fast fish in there to startle it. Works for me but understand it won't work for everyone.

Edit: if LFS doesn't carry what you want you may need to order online. Premium Aquatics does an amazing job at shipping frozen. Just need to get the order in by Monday as they ship frozen only on Tuesday. I had a box recently sent and it was 105 in California. Food was frozen solid and looked better than anything I could get local. Not pushing vendor just offering a place to find frozen if not found locally.

 

[Tyson]

Thanks for the thoughts, and I’ve got a camera on it that I watch a decent bit. Unfortunately, it hasn't shown interest in anything I’ve tried. TDO pellets included. I also bought a bottle of pods yesterday in hopes they might create some interest. I also recently added fresh clam.

I did order captive bred, but based on the size I assume it was wild caught.

I’ve been burned from other pre-quarantined vendors before (not dr reef), so not comfortable adding directly to dt without at least some decent observation first.

 

[Tyson]

Thanks for the thoughts, and I’ve got a camera on it that I watch a decent bit. Unfortunately, it hasn't shown interest in anything I’ve tried. TDO pellets included. I also bought a bottle of pods yesterday in hopes they might create some interest.

I did order captive bred, it based on the size I assume it was wild caught

 

[nursemegan911]

I got one from Dr Reef a few months ago and its doing great.

I’m in the process of looking to buy paired storm clowns. When I asked for a video the response time was immediate. Ive also gotten good feedback by members of my local reef group.

I’m considering ordering a multibar, curious how successful you’ve been in the past, either with captive bred or collected? Getting them through your qt process and eating?

I’m in the process of looking to buy paired storm clowns. When I asked for a video the response time was immediate. Ive also gotten good feedback by members of my local reef group.

 

[AJQ69]

I got mine over 60 days ago (small size). It's a cute little guy who has been doing wonderful, grazing on rocks, sponges, etc.