true perc isnt eating

[ChrisB]

i just got a true perculas clown yesterday from the local fish store. i acclimated him for about an hour with the drip hose and net caught him and started him in a 10 gallon quarantine with pipes and some black construction paper on the outside so he cant see much motion (not all the way around). I didnt feed him yesterday but to day i fed him omega 1 marine flakes. i noticed all he did was follow his reflection ( like he does all day) instead of eat. every other fish ive put in there have eaten fine the first time i fed them, but this guy wont. is this just new tank behavior or do tank bred percs need special food at first. i just saw it put its lips up to a flake but it didnt eat it.

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

you could try more temptong foods such as brine, just to see if he's eating brine tends to lack nutrtional value, but since he's only been there a few days i wouldnt worry yet, keep an eye on him try again tomarrow, if by the 4th day he dosent eat then i would start to be concerened

 

[ChrisB]

i have plenty of frozen food: squid, marine cuisine, brine shrimp, and something else, so which would be best. And also, ive put frozen food in a quarintine before and the ammonia and nitrites went up a little ( i will admit i added a little to much, it doesnt look bad till its in the tank) so a little careful when addind anything but flakes. of course frequent water changes ( 2-3 days ) are done so if it did spike i would have some aged water going. I may, when i put some frozen in the big tank take a couple little pices to see what he does but thats all ill do unless he eats them fast. Well if it becomes a bad problem ill report back later

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

sounds good, frozen is easy to overfeed on be careful, i personaly, would try the brine, even though its unnutrtional it is a good way to see if hes eating, my second choice would be the marine cusine it has some variety, but the pieces are usually large GOOD LUCK

 

[ChrisB]

by the way would you recomend thawing the food in a cup of the aquariums water before putting it in, just seeing if ive been wasting my time

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

yes i would i do that to spread the food more evenly

 

[phases99]

by the way would you recomend thawing the food in a cup of the aquariums water before putting it in, just seeing if ive been wasting my time

Yes, thaw the food in a cup of aquarium water and then discard the pack juice. This becomes a fuel for algae and you don't want to add it to your main tank, for QT it doesn't really matter.

 

[moejoephd]

hey if its been just a couple of days i wouldnt really sweat it. When i first got my nemo's they didnt eat for about four days, then all of the sudden bam eating like little piggies!! From what ive heard they take alittle bit to get over there shyness

 

[blorkiemom]

I've got two in QT and they must either be friendly or piggies because they ate like nobody's business 15 minutes after I got them in the tank! They were skittish for a couple of days, though--like little bottle rockets in the tank. Except at feeding time!

 

[fishman]

Chris
Might also add garlic extract to their frozen food too...helps with the appetite..just a couple of drops will do the job.

 

[revhtree]

Ya my perc was the same way. It's fine now.

 

[ChrisB]

now mines eating. It wont eat flakes but iot will eat frozen food, and ill try with the garlic extract if that ever happens again