Fish are healthy and hungry but not eating...why?

[Smcoyle87]

Ok so i have cockatoo cichlids, one male and two female.

Everytime i feed them they come up to the surface all excited to eat. the only problem is that they dont eat! they just spit it all out. I've went out and bought numerous types of food and brands and nothing seems to interest them expect freeze dried bloodworms and i cant feed them those for every single meal.. any suggestions?

thanks
steve

 

[adeebm]

Sounds like you have picky eaters. Try adding garlic to the food, it can entice fish to eat. Get a garlic supplement to dip the food in, or get a piece of garlic, and smear the juice on some food. There are also some foods like NLS that come with garlic. Have you tried any frozen foods? They might go for frozen brine shrimp.

--Adeeb

 

[Smcoyle87]

I actually do have NLS and thats the one they spit out the fastest haha.
I mean i guess they do eventually scavenge off the substrate because they haven't starved and its been like this for a while. Im just curious because all my other fish (in other tanks) eat all the same food with not problem.

 

[Smcoyle87]

I need an everyday food too. Im thinking of not feeding them for a couple of days. And then that way they will eat whatever i put in there because the are so hungry...is this a really bad idea though?

 

[aqua_chem]

The NLS that comes with garlic is a specific garlic formula; it is not the normal NLS formula.

I think Kent Marine makes a garlic juice that you can use. I'm not sure what other brands are available.

 

[adeebm]

The NLS that comes with garlic is a specific garlic formula; it is not the normal NLS formula.

I think Kent Marine makes a garlic juice that you can use. I'm not sure what other brands are available.

Yep, I think it's called NLS Thera A+. It has extra garlic in it for picky fish. That or a garlic dip should help.

--Adeeb

 

[Smcoyle87]

Thanks guys, looks like ill be trying garlic.

 

[LyndaB]

You may just be feeding them too much and they're really not hungry. Picky eaters are made that way, not born that way. I feed all my tanks every other day and there's never a speck of food left afterwards. I vary the diet between flakes, pellets, frozen mysis shrimp or plankton, bloodworms, veggies, and algae wafers. Most often, I soak their food in tank water laced with Garlic Guard or Vita-Chem.

If I were you, I'd cut back to feeding every other day for a while and see how that works for you. And don't forget, freezedried food needs to be rehydrated PRIOR to feeding and bloodworms are too rich to be their sole source of food.

 

[Smcoyle87]

thanks LyndaB, I'll try that. And I only feed bloodworms every once and a while for conditioning.

Soak in Garlic and every other day.