Whitley Boxfish - Feeding

BigFishy

Reefing newb
I have a Whitely Boxfish who is doing pretty good so far in my 70 gallon tank. He’s surfing around all the time just scoping things out. He was sometimes stressed in the beginning when people watch him, but now he loves his home.

Problem, I feed him Mysis which he goes nuts for. Recently, he decided that he’s too good for Mysis and doesn’t want them. I panicked since this was the first time I put food in the tank and he didn’t eat ALL of it. He barely ate any. So, I put in some brine shrimp and he gobbled those up. I know brine shrimp do not have good nutritional value, but can you keep a boxfish alive on brine shrimp?

Any other ideas for feeding a box fish?

I was thinking of buying some frozen Krill.

I assume that maybe he gets bored of his food. So a rotation in his diet is probably required (Brine, Mysis, Krill and ???).

Also, I feed my baby clown pellets once in a while to give him some veggies in his diet. Boxfish wont go near that stuff, but that's expected.


Thanks!
 
You can try table shrimp,scallops,squid,clams and krill...
personally i'd stop the brine and mysis ....
He's going to get BIG too....he really needs more than a 70 gallon
 
As of now he’s about 4.5 inches. He shouldn’t get much bigger than that. From what I can tell, he’s full grown. He was definitely underfeed before and abused. He fins were nipped down quite a bit and he his sides were con-caved (starvation). When I got him I was not betting on him living, but he’s pulled through and he’s starting to recover.

I’ll buy some squid and krill for him tonight. I’ll give that a try
 
Actually he should be ok in that sized tank. They only get about 6 inches. But you should rotate those foods like Nemo suggested. Variety is much more healthy and will help keep him happy.
 
I tried frozen Krill last night. The pieces were pretty big so I defrosted them and chopped them down to about the size of him mouth. He was interested at first, but didn’t eat them. This morning I tried Mysis and nothing. Then I tried Brine at lunch and of course he went nuts for them as usual. I’ve tried table shrimp once with him a while ago and he nibbled at those. Maybe I’ll try that again tonight.

The only thing left to try would be … clams and squid. No snails cause there are snails already in the tank and he doesn’t care for them.


Maybe I am just expecting him to eat and eat and eat … how much should I expect him to eat?

Also, I checked water parameters and they are good. I check every day now!
 
I dunno, i hand feed most everthing and keep offering food until they are done. So my cardinal eats about two mysid shrimp, twice a day and is quite fat.

Maybe try feeding two foods at once, so he will be more likely the other food with the brine.

Also if he continues to not eat much and is getting skinny i would consider finding a larger tank for him. It might say that they can fit in that size tank, but that fish may feel cramped like he needs a larger space.
 
I've never heard of them before. I just checked them out online and they seem do able. My guy doesn't like to nibble on things ... meaning, if it's bigger than his tiny mouth he wont go for it. So, I'll try my LFS's and see who has it.

Do you rinse them off and put them into your tank? Or do you cut them up?

Today I'm going to try to feed him a blend of food at once to see what happens ... brine, mysis and krill.

Thanks everyone for the info so far!
 
I just thaw them in a mug with some tank water and then I pull them apart with my fingers. I give my cleaner shrimp a head to eat while I feed the corals so he doesn't steal their food.
My eel takes down whole one, and the trigger will grab big pieces, but everyone else gets tiny pieces.
 
No scallops yet.

Just Brine, Krill, Mysis and Table Shrimp.

Everyday I'll try a new food. Today, Silversides! Tomorrow scallops.
 
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