Anyone keeping splitfin flashlightfish (anomalops katoptron)

[ml708]

Its really active at night and hides in a cave I made in the day, so I doubt stress is an issue in terms of not eating.

I'm trying to feed mine marine snow which has zooplankton in it, and chopped up pieces of prawn but it just won't take it.

Anyone kept this fish before able to advise on its diet? I hear that mysis shrimp appears to be a real favourite, getting some frozen ones tmr. Or do they only eat live ones. Could you share where you got your live mysis from if its required for them to survive? Thank you!

[Terryz_]

Relatively easy to feed for my case but I think due to collection and handling issue, they dun come in very good conditions.. They took mysis within a week, I suspect there might be aggressive issue in a tank with limited hiding space as they congregate in hundreds in deepwater and white light is a big no for them even with caves for them as they practically dun have day and night in the deep..

[ml708]

I put in some live and frozen mysis, North Atlantic brine shrimp and cyclopeese to try to get him to it, but he seems spooked by the food. I didn't physically see him eat but he keeps playing with his reflection in the glass. Now almost all of the food I put in is gone, but it could have been sucked into my filtration system. However I did see him poop once, which could be a sign that he did feed. From your experience do they actively feed in front of you from day 1? How long can they go without food?

[Sengreef]

feel tat this fish can not see anything under bright lighting so the best keep at very very dim lighting tank ... when u feed with newly hatch live brine shrimp their mouth automatic will feed on it even they see nothing under bright light they can sense the food ...

[ml708]

I tried to feed this fish in complete darkness at around 10pm when all the lights were off. So yours just basically filter feeds I'm guessing?

[Terryz_]

Like I said they took around 1 week to start feeding actively and if it is out in daylight something is wrong with the fish.. they should be in the cave or back of rockscape in daylight.. Feed when the light is off after 1-2 hours or when they starts to venture out after lights off.. They dun even venture out in the open even when my blue is at 5%.. only when all lights is off including ambient lighting.. And as they congregate together in the wild,a small group would get them feeding quite readily..

[Terryz_]

They dun filter feed at all, they only go for mysis..

[ml708]

Yeah mine is only out in pitch black. I will continue offering mysis until it starts to actively eat. How many do you have and how big are they? And where did you source them from? I don't really think a.katropon grows to the size of 14in, that is prob some other deeper sea version. I'm getting 2 more this Tuesday hopefully.

[Terryz_]

Went from 3 to 5 to 7 to 10 but prove tank dun have enough hiding space and due to neglecting of tank, slowly dwindled back to 1 within a few months.. But all are feeding actively when I had them.. and all are in tbe open when all lights are out, but bad thing I lost some of them due to the light as it is not dimmable kind so the light come on 1 or 2 will get shocked and wonder blurry knocking into corals, rocks and wavemaker.. I got from iwarna and CF, a species tank or deepwater biotope is best for them.. that is why I am setting one up soon.. maybe around 10 again next time round.

[ml708]

Wow that's really amazing, 10 of them! Have they tried to breed? Can you sex them?

[Terryz_]

No lar.. cant sex them, let alone breed them.. lol.. just like them. .

[Sengreef]

me never keep b4 just saw it feeding at LFS ... look like they see nothing during full lighting cause they always knock at coral or LR when swimming but after light become dimmer with blue light only b4 light off, their eye started showing the white color and during tat time just feed newly hatch brine shrimp they will eat crazily and after few days they will feed on frozen brine ... they really need dim lighting to survive ...

[ml708]

Update: The fish still isn't feeding. I even saw a mysis fly straight into its mouth and it just spat it out (all this was seen under red lighting as it cannot see red). Thus I was forced to catch it out and force feed some clam max with a syringe. However it did spit out some of it but I believe most went into the stomach. I will keep trying!

[ml708]

Which lfs was this btw?

[Sengreef]

me not from local ... me from neighbour country Malaysia ...

[ml708]

Damn >_< haha

[Terryz_]

Soak in selcon or any strong smelling food soak..

[ml708]

I just got another 5 flashlightfish 2 days back and they are eating well! All 6 of them eat krill, brine and mysis. But judging from their activity, they seem to have a really high metabolic rate. Do they have to be fed several times a day? That is quite hard because I only see them eat at night!

[Terryz_]

At night would be good enough.. after a few months they will take pellets.. you can set a food timer for night time feeding if you feel like it. They prefer micropellets..

[ml708]

Yeah I saw one of them eat pellets. And you are right their mouth is tiny, they have problems swallowing small krill even, so need micropellets.

http://www.fishchannel.com/saltwater-fish/flashlight-fish.aspx

This is quite a good article, the author feeds them twice a day though.

[ml708]

Ok, as it stands, the 5 of them eat 32 cubes of frozen hikkari mysis a night to be full. The bulk of it is eaten by 2 really active and greedy ones. Seeing as how fast my stock is depleting, I'm looking at either of 3 options.

1. Stockpile vast amounts of frozen mysis.

2.Liquid mysis from jireh. Is it much more concentrated than frozen mysis? I noticed quite a fair bit of the cube is made of water.

3. Culture mysis. Could I know how to go about it?

Suggestions please!

[Terryz_]

32 is too much.. I only fed 10 cubes.. I think you bought those that are spoilt.. a good mysis cube is white and 10 cube can easily flood a tank..

[ml708]

Thanks Terryz_ for all your help! Really appreciate having advice from an experienced keeper such as yourself.

Was wondering if its normal for them to go on periods of fasting for a day or two? One of mine is currently not eager to eat any of the mysis I put in the tank at night, when yesterday he was eating voraciously. He does not switch on his light like the others either but apart from that he looks ok.

[Terryz_]

Thanks Terryz_ for all your help! Really appreciate having advice from an experienced keeper such as yourself.

Was wondering if its normal for them to go on periods of fasting for a day or two? One of mine is currently not eager to eat any of the mysis I put in the tank at night, when yesterday he was eating voraciously. He does not switch on his light like the others either but apart from that he looks ok.

Give it a few more days.. but a healthy one it should open its light.. unless it is being spooked by something or stressed or sick..

[ml708]

It had a sudden seizure and lost the ability to swim and died, while the others are still fine. Is this a sign of cyanide poisoning? This death is so sudden and unexpected.