Veil Angels Growth + Picky eaters?

[abcdefghi]

Do veil tail angels grow slower than regular angels? I have 2 veils and both of them are much smaller than the 3 regular angels I have. They both go after food as much as the regulars, but do not appear to be growing as fast.

Also, are they picky eaters? sometimes I will put food in the tank, they swim right up to the food, look at it, and then swim off again. Meanwhile the 3 regular angels are hoovering up anything they can.

Thanks.

[Star_Rider]

they'll eat if they are hungry. I have never found much diff between veils and std..tho the veils may have more issue swimming to the food in relation to std.

angels usually don;t turn away from food..
keep an eye on them..
is this new food ?


what are you feeding?

[Draal5]

Do veil tail angels grow slower than regular angels? Yes and No you don't say what ones you have ie black,gold etc so I can't give you an answer. but golds will grow the fastest veil or not

Best way to get them to grow large is lots of PWC's good quality of food and varied with some live food ie brine shrimp black worms as a treat once and a while.

[abcdefghi]

I think they are marble veil (one is mostly black with a few lighter patches, the other is mostly white with a few black patches). I am feeding them flake, freeze dried blood worm, shrimp pellets and freeze dried krill. Usually they get fed twice a day and what they get each day varies. Trying to find out where to get some live food for them as a treat, and almost bought some frozen bloodworm the other day until I realized I had nowhere to keep it for 5 hours while at work.

I have seen the veils eating, its just odd how they sometimes swim up to food then ignore it.

[abcdefghi]

Is there a possibility that the angels have camillanus / capillaria? Compared to my other 3 angels they do not eat like they used to, they come to the front of the tank, see me putting in food, swim up to it, and either take some and spit it out, or just ignore it. I have seen one of them eat (shrimp pellets from the substrate) but the other I have not seen eat much (especially when compared to the 3 regular angels). When I feed them later I will pay special attention to them to see if they are getting anything.

Is it worth me treating the whole tank with something like jungle anti parasite? I have been reading a bunch of threads on here about angels lately being susceptible to the parasites I mentioned above, and if there is anything I can do to prevent this I would be happy to do so.

There are no other fish in the tank, only the angels, so if treating pro-actively for this parasite is a worthwhile idea, then I would rather do it now than later.

Edit: I should add that they both look fine, good color, flowing fins etc.

[Star_Rider]

spitting food out is just one Sx of parasite infestation.
have you tried thawed frozen bloodworms?

mine love them,

camillanus ans capillaria are two different interanl parasites.
I believe Capillaria is a flagellated Protozoa. Camillanus may show up as threadlike projections from the anus.(may appear eed is engourged with blood)

you can try jungle anti parasite..but it contains prazi and metro..both not very effective on these particular parasites..but it may improve feeding as it has some impact

[abcdefghi]

Thanks for the reply, there are no visible signs that there is anything wrong. Its just odd to me that I don't see them eating as much as the other angels. I have not tried thawed frozen bloodworms (yet), but will try to pick some up and see if that gets them eating.

[Star_Rider]

keep an eye on them..look also for clamped fins. darkening rapid breathing.they may or may not exhibit these.

if they start taking in food and spitting it out..then you may want to start looking.

FYI, a healthy angel that gets infected with these parasites can live for weeks with no food.

I had one go three weeks ...two after the meds kicked in.

[abcdefghi]

At the moment they are looking fine, fins spread out nicely, slow breathing, bright colors, active all over the tank......... when I fed them earlier they both came to the front of the tank and were in the midst of the frenzy, but after the initial swarm they ignored most of the food. I dropped in some shrimp pellets and have seen them pecking at these. I might try and find some live food tomorrow or some frozen blood worms/beefheart/brine shrimp

[abcdefghi]

Thought I would add a picture of the one I am most worried about......

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/8108/fishsp9.jpg

[Star_Rider]

that is a young angel..

get the frozen blood worms and maybe some brine shrimp and see if it goes for that.

it look healthy other than what you mention about not eating.

I suspect it may have gotten use to a type of you are not feeding.

I just found some live brine shrimp and fed it to my fish..they loved the chase.
my wild angels displayed the ambush tactic of slowly moving near the food than a quick strike.

[ct-death]

I have 3 Veil Angels myself (2 I've had since they were quarter-sized). In 6-7 months they have grown to well over 8" (fins) and a body size of around 4" in diam.

Mine have never been shy about eatting. My usual feeding routine is, but it varies week to week TBH:

Monday - flakes (regular)
Wednesday - veggie flakes
Friday - bloodworms/brine shrimp
Saturday - (50/50) cichlid sticks w/ reg. flakes
Sunday - bloodworms/daphnia

I feed all of the fish the same in my 90G, but my bottom dwellers get additoinal supliments obviously (var. wafers, shrimp pellets and veggies).

[abcdefghi]

I picked up some frozen bloodworms yesterday, thawed them in some tank water and put in a small amount, at first none of them paid much attention (I think they were unsure what they were) and they sank to the bottom (crap, I had just done a PWC and did not really want to do another!) a few minutes later I see them all eating them, and soon no more bloodworms on the substrate.

I also saw the white one eat both flake and bloodworm yesterday, so hopefully it was just being a little shy/picky. I feed them flake, freeze dried bloodworms, shrimp pellets, krill, and now frozen bloodworms. I think I will pick up some veggie flakes and brine shrimp at some point and then just vary what I give them each day.

[Star_Rider]

it'll fogure out what is good to eat and hopefully be the pig that they all are.

[abcdefghi]

Thats what I am hoping for........ there is already a visible amount of growth on the others, and I think that the 2 veils may be pairing up (they hang out a lot together, although I am not sure if this is just because they are the 2 veils).

[Star_Rider]

keep an eye on them..less dominant angels will get less food and will of course be smaller..they may also get picked on more.

if you have a pair forming watch closely as when this happens the other fish (particulalrly angels) will be targets of aggression.