New Fish Feeding

[Joe Fish]

I have 3 new fish in QT that are being picky... They aren't eating Formula 1 or 2. The cardinals are going after it, but just spitting it back out. I'm having a little better luck with frozen "marine cusine" which has brine ,mysis, etc. The goby is starting to eat this, but the cardinals still spit it out. Any ideas what I can do to make them eat? I've tried soaking the cubes with garlic with no luck.

 

[Lotus]

My banggais don't seem to like anything other than straight mysis. They'll eat brine shrimp, but of course that's not very healthy for them. Mine have never eaten flake or pellets, even the babies! They also tend to be a little shier than other fish, so it may take a few days for them to eat.

You could ask the store what they were feeding, in case there's something they were eating there.

 

[Fuzz16]

at work we soak flake food in with some mysis to try to get them to eat it, its some some health benefits for them frozen doesnt

 

[Joe Fish]

I hope I can find plain mysis tomorrow...

 

[Joe Fish]

I tried mysis, but didn't have any luck. They went after it right away but spit it right back out... HELP! I haven't heard back from the LFS yet.

 

[Lotus]

How long is it since they ate (assuming they were eating at the store)?

I remembered that mine also eat frozen bloodworms, but I'd see what the store was feeding before getting more stuff they might not eat.

Are there any live foods available to you?

 

[Chris_A]

Could try chopped Scallops, Clam, Squid or Octopus. I buy it for $6/1lb mixed bag in the grocery store. If nothing else it gives you a few options to try them on.

 

[Joe Fish]

Well, I ordered them online so i have no way of knowing. They do have a 15 day guarantee so I'm assuming they didn't send me crap fish. I do not have any live food available so I'm out of luck there. What about these instant baby brine shrimp or a hatchery? I could get one shipped up overnight or something like that.

 

[Lotus]

Mine never showed much interest in baby brine as adults, so I doubt that will really work. Keep trying, they may still just be settling in.

They're also naturally nocturnal, so you could try feeding after lights out. It's always worth a try.

 

[Joe Fish]

I tried feeding after the lights were out for a while last night. I'm not sure if they ate or not as I couldn't really see. It looks like they might be eating the smaller pieces of mysis. Do you think it would be worth getting frozen brine?

 

[Lorna]

my cardinals are not so picky they eat anything and I have even seen them eat flake. The baby, well not. He just picks at the cycopeeze or mysis that I spot feed him in the sump.

 

[Joe Fish]

I will not give up! Maybe they will take a bottle? I've been feeding a little mysis or marine cusine twice a day and the goby is loving it.

 

[Joe Fish]

Will cardinals starve themselves? Occording to the LFS where i got them they were eating mysis and I'm not sure why they won't take it. I know they are hungry as they eat it right as i put it in the water. Then they spit it right back out. I might try brine shrimp... I don't have a way to get live though. Brine shrimp are smaller, right?

 

[captbill]

I got a picky clown rite now only 2 days in tank he eats brine and spits out then got some mysis and spitting out I figure when hes hungry he will eat...just like my kid they will eat sooner or later!

 

[Joe Fish]

I hope that true. I just got some brine shrimp and they might be eating it.

 

[Joe Fish]

Well one is starting to eat brine. The other hasn't eaten yet or at least not that I could see.

The other is starting to hang out on his own during the day. At night they hang out together though. Maybe they already mated???

 

[Lotus]

Check the one not eating to see if his jaw looks swollen. It's possible they're a pair and have already mated. Males holding eggs won't eat at all (and will show a swollen jaw).

If no swollen jaw, often once one of the fish starts to eat, the other one follows the lead and starts to eat too.