My Emperor needs food

[revgeoff]

My 3 inch Pomacanthus imperator finally figured out that food goes in the mouth end. I was feeling embarrassed for the little guy, my tuka anthias were swiping his food as he "hunted" it.
Anyway, although I have been keeping marine fish for several years, this is my first large angel. I understand that the colour of the emperor angel, when it changes to its adult form, can be very pale. I am currently feeding a mixture of frozen food: spirulina brine, mysis, hikari mega marine angel mixure and sometimes large mysis or plankton. I soak this in selcon and garlic before feeding (oh, and of course green seaweed).
Can anyone who has kept this fish give me some suggestions on something to feed him/her so that he will be healthy and colourful when he becomes an adult?
Right now he is living in a 120gal that is slowly being converted to a reef tank (yes I know the risks of angels with corals...I am just stupidly hoping that if he grows up with them then he won't eat them when he is larger).
Thanks for any suggestions!

[Ruth]

I have not never kept an emperor Angel fish but perhaps TomR can chime in here. I do however have 1 larger conspic Angel and one growing Goldflake Angel. Neither of them really nip at coral (yet). My Conspic angel will not take any free floating food. The only things I have had success getting him to eat is Nori (as long as it is on a clip and not free floating) and clams (the kind you buy at the grocery store) on the half shell. Both of these he eats with gusto. The goldflake eats anything I feed. I feed the tank a mixture of homemade frozen "goop" that I make out of clams, scallops, prawns, squid cyclopeeze, garlic, nori, flake and pellet (Ocean Nutrition) and selcon - this mixture changes depending on what is available. HTH

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

TomR has 2 Majestic angels, not Emperors/Imperators. Was just there tonight with Snappy

Large angels need some food with sponge in it, because sponge makes up the bulk of their diet in the wild, I believe.

My Queen angel & Koran angel were raised mainly on Nori sheets & PE mysis.

I have also read several accounts (yes, including from the creator of the food) that NLS pellets are also very good for raising healthy large angels. (New Life Spectrum). I've been feeding this to my fish, & they really like it & stay nice & fat & colourful on NLS pellets.

Anthony

[kellehar]

I'd have to go with anthony on this as I have flame and koran angel and they both love mysis. I do find it wierd that your angel wont eat flakes? As mine eat anything I put in the tank. Hopefully this has been some help and good luck with your angels


Justin

[mwarf]

My Emperor won't take Mysis at all, he does eat NLS pellet and I'm hoping that product will enhance his colour. He's just starting to morph now.

M.

[Skimmerking]

Originally Posted by revgeoff

My 3 inch Pomacanthus imperator finally figured out that food goes in the mouth end. I was feeling embarrassed for the little guy, my tuka anthias were swiping his food as he "hunted" it.
Anyway, although I have been keeping marine fish for several years, this is my first large angel. I understand that the colour of the emperor angel, when it changes to its adult form, can be very pale. I am currently feeding a mixture of frozen food: spirulina brine, mysis, hikari mega marine angel mixure and sometimes large mysis or plankton. I soak this in selcon and garlic before feeding (oh, and of course green seaweed).
Can anyone who has kept this fish give me some suggestions on something to feed him/her so that he will be healthy and colourful when he becomes an adult?
Right now he is living in a 120gal that is slowly being converted to a reef tank (yes I know the risks of angels with corals...I am just stupidly hoping that if he grows up with them then he won't eat them when he is larger).
Thanks for any suggestions!

When i had my 170 FOWLR I had a 7" Koran in my tank and he loved Nori i would go thur 4 full sheets per day with him and the other tangs in the tank.

The pale color will go away too. once he is comfortable in the tnak he will color up mne used to swim upside down in the tank waiting for food and would feed out of my hands and let me pat him.

HTH mike....

[revgeoff]

I'll try the pellets, hopefully I will have better luck than with flakes. If my big tang will eat it then everyone will, if he doesn't then everyone stays away.

Now that my emperor understands that the food goes in the mouth end he eats really well...I'm just worried about his colouration in adult form (his juvie colour is great!). The "Mega Marine Angel" frozen food does have sponge in it so at least he is getting some food that he would in the wild.

[Tom R]

I have 3 angles in each of my tanks and have never had a problem feeding them. They have not pick on any of my corals or clams. They have a tendency to pick at a new coral when it is first introduced to the tank but within a day or so they move on to other things. I believe they are just very inquisitive and want to know what the new thing is. They will nip at the odd zoo though. I feed them every day. I mostly feed them pellets (Ocean Nutrition) with brine shrimp and mysis once or twice a week. I like Ocean Nutrition pellets as they are a complete diet and are quick and easy to feed. The larger angels like the large pellets, I feed them one or two pellets at a time a total of 6 or 8 per feeding. They come right to the surface and virtually take the pellets from my hand. I feed the smaller pellets to the smaller angels and they have to be quick as the anthias will pick up the majority of the pellets before they reach the bottom of the tank. The cherubs and flame angels are quick enough to get ensure their fair share.

[revgeoff]

Thanks for the info. I haven't picked up any pellets yet but I will try to two types that have been offered as suggestions. Hopefully the rest of the gang will like them as well.

[Tom R]

When you start feeding pellets take it very slow. It takes a while for the fish accept the pellets in their mouth. I only feed 6 to 8 large pellets to my large angel once a day. I feed a small pinch of small pellets to the others dropping 10 or 12 at a time, twice a day as the antheas require more frequent feeds.

Tom R