Juvenile Smooth Trunkfish Not Eating

[TheFishLG]

Hey, I caught a juvenile smooth Trunkfish two weeks ago at the Destin Jetties in Florida. I caught him about 20 feet down while freediving. He is not eating anything I am trying to feed him, Frozen Mysis and Brine, live Brine shrimp, nothing, not interested. He is picking at the rocks and the walls of my 10 gallon, getting algae and copepods, but so is my mandarin. I am worried that he will die if I don't get him to eat soon. I am 13 BTW and have been keeping saltwater tanks for over three years now, I may seem like an idiot for trying to keep a Trunkfish, and yes I know they can release a poison that will kill everything. He does not looked stressed at all, my water parameters are all perfect, Salinity sg: 1.026, Temperature: 76, pH:8.4, Ammonia >o.1 ppm, Nitrates and Nitrites at zero. I have only two other fish in that tank, a Slippery D**k wrasse and a mandarin. My mandarin (named Jeffy) has lived and thrived in this ten gallon for two and a half years, even my lfs says they cant keep a mandrin that long lol. My Slippery D**k wrasse was caught the same day as the Smooth Boxfish, and he is fat every time I look at him. Thank you for any help, and sorry if this was long.

[ayrton]

You could to give him an opened clam placed on a rock! It works with many finicky eaters.
Worth to try!
Good luck

[TheFishLG]

Ok, I will try that, thanks ayrton!

[Martini5788]

Your tank is already overstocked. Take the poor box fish to a lfs and please don't acquire fish that you do not have the space to care for.

[ChimolaFish]

You said a 10 gallon? Those fish are unsuitable for a 10 gallon (with the exception of the mandarin if it is indeed getting enough food some how).

[TheFishLG]

Update Aug 2 2015: I got the trunkfish to eat frozen mysis, will try other foods soon. Moving slippery d**k wrasse to 55 gallon, and just bought some pulsing Xenia for my 10 gallon Trunkfish's name is now Finn, and I will not be taking him to my lfs anytime soon, I wanted to keep him, and I'm up for the challenge. Will update again if anything happens.

[Martini5788]

I had no hope that you would actually listen to advice. Stubborn children shouldn't be in this hobby.

[BlueMac92]

Best advice you could receive is to stop cramming fish into small tanks

[ChimolaFish]

Again, even a 55 is unsuitable for those fish. That wrasse can get over a foot and needs lots of room to roam. Think about the welfare of the animal before you think about keeping it in a small box it can barely turn around in.

[TheFishLG]

Ok, I will take my trunkfish to my lfs tomorrow, now realizing that I do need a much bigger tank for these fish, I am stubborn, but not stupid. If I can catch my wrasse, I will take him too. Thank you for the advice, and next time I catch something I will think about what you said ChimolaFish

[ChimolaFish]

If you got it from the ocean (assuming you live nearby?) why not put it back instead of putting it in the lfs?

[Martini5788]

He can't put it back, unless it was in a completely bare qt tank, it has been exposed to pathogens from other places

[hotelbravo]

Originally Posted by ChimolaFish

If you got it from the ocean (assuming you live nearby?) why not put it back instead of putting it in the lfs?

You never return a fish back to the wild after housing it in a home aquarium. Its introduced to many parasites/pathogens in your aquarium that are not present in the waters you retrieved it from. So introducing that new parasite, pathogen, or bacteria into its original habitat could be very harmful to the rest of the fish in those water