Spotted African leaf fish, eating?

[briemol12]

So I got this amazing spotted African leaf fish 3 days ago. I put him in the tank and added flakes but did not eat. Read that they like real food so I went and bought blood worms and hasn't ate. The blood worms won't sink and all the other fish eat them first. How can I make him eat I am scare that he will die of hunger.
Any tips will help.
Thanks
Bri

 

[mikem691]

Did you get freeze dried or frozen? Frozen would be better and if you defrost them in a container of tank water they will sink. I don't know if the leaf fish will eat them though I have never had one.

 

[treemanone2003]

From any readings I've done in regards to them, flakes will only be consumed in a dire need circumstance. One thought I do have is are you missing any fish ? If they're small enough tank mates, you may see numbers go down since they eat anything that'll fit in the mouth. As for the worms, if freeze dried, I would say to pre soak them so they'll sink. I'd also look into live white worm or micro worm cultures in order to give it a good chance of surviving. You could try crickets in the mean time as live food is generally considered to be something that has a heartbeat.


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[briemol12]

Did you get freeze dried or frozen? Frozen would be better and if you defrost them in a container of tank water they will sink. I don't know if the leaf fish will eat them though I have never had one.

From what I ready any kind of worm or shrimp he would eat. But I don't know :/

 

[briemol12]

From any readings I've done in regards to them, flakes will only be consumed in a dire need circumstance. One thought I do have is are you missing any fish ? If they're small enough tank mates, you may see numbers go down since they eat anything that'll fit in the mouth. As for the worms, if freeze dried, I would say to pre soak them so they'll sink. I'd also look into live white worm or micro worm cultures in order to give it a good chance of surviving. You could try crickets in the mean time as live food is generally considered to be something that has a heartbeat.


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They are dried blood worms, maybe I need to soak them and put it where he hides and hope he eats them. All my fish are a bit too big to fit in his mouth even my neon tetras are pretty big for him to eat. I still have all my. I think my mystery snail is missing :/

 

[Mattfinn]

Get some Guppys let their fry be the food. Harsh but affective

 

[Pimp My Fish]

They really don't eat freeze dried food, get some frozen ones, mine loves them!


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[RackinRocky]

There are so many frozen foods to try. Brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, daphnia, krill, beefheart, Emerald Entree, Tropical Formula, bloodworms, etc. The question is, will he eat frozen, or will he starve to death because he's not getting live food? Was he fed live food before you got him? That could be the problem--he's expecting live, and doesn't recognize the freeze dried as being food. I would definitely try soaking the freeze dried until it's soft. Think about it, that freeze dried food doesn't look appetizing, or anything like food to a fish. I wish you luck! I love leaf fish.