Fish don't like Hikari staple

[Aaronb]

I've got new world cichlids and had been feeding flakes, shrimp pellets, tetra color granules, and frozen shrimp and blood worms. They devour all those foods quickly. I bought Hikari staple because I heard how good they're supposed to be. The fish seem really uninterested in it. The oscars slowly grab them and eat a little and have a lot come out of their gills. Then while the food is sinking after it comes out of their gills the other fish will eat it. I tried presoaking the food in aquarium water before putting it in and only feeding a small amount of staple with no other food for a few days and still didn't seem to make a difference. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for them to eat less of the Hikari food than they would eat of the other in a few minutes. I even took out the Hikari food and put in other food to make sure they were hungry one day and of course it disappeared quickly. Any suggestions on how to get them to eat it or of another good food they might enjoy? Thanks.

 

[Fishguy2727]

Staple is hikari's lowest quality food. If you want to stick with hikari get the bio-gold.

If you want the best diet possible feed new life spectrum exclusively. It is the best diet out there I have seen. It is also your best bet at avoiding head and lateral line erosion, something Oscars are very prone to. Diet along with keeping the water quality as good as possible will give them the best chances of avoiding the illness.

 

[HUKIT]

What size are the oscars? What size pellets are you feeding them? I have had better success with New Life Spectrum in terms of color and health for my adult oscars. If they are hesitant to eat the pellets starve them for a few days, then feed the pellets and I promise you'll get a different reaction. As far as the food coming out of the gills oscars are big messy fish, so my advice for that is use a smaller pellet they can swallow instead of chewing. I feed my 14" pair NLS 4.5mm and 7mm floating.

 

[Aaronb]

They're 6 & 8 inches. The pellets are probably like 1/8 inch diameter. I'll try the new life spectrum. The bigger Oscar eats the frozen shrimp and blood worm gum drops whole. Thanks.

 

[Aaronb]

What would best new life spectrum food to feed? I have the 2 Oscars, a jack dempsey, flowerhorn, midas, and green terror. Except for the Oscars the others are only about 3 to 4 inches now.

 

[HUKIT]

NLS is just about the same basic formula except for Thera which contains garlic. My oscars will NOT take a sinking pellet to save their lives but the rest of my fish are fed with sinking pellets. So depending on their size and floating/sinking preference just pick the correct size pellet for them. I use 1mm cichlid and thera+ for africans, 3mm sinking for my Honduran Red Points and Festae's and 4.5-7mm for the oscars.

 

[Fishguy2727]

All NLS foods contain garlic, the Thera+A does have significantly more garlic (enough to kill some parasites).

If they all eat off the surface feed the regular formula that is 4.5 mm and floating, the 'Jumbo Fish Formula'. If they will eat sinking foods feed an appropriately sized Thera+A.

 

[discusdude]

my discus WILL NOT eat the NLS at all. For juvies (3'') which should i be feeding them? sinking/floating? size? I have the small pellets... maybe ill try starving them.

 

[Fishguy2727]

I would feed the Thera+A. They are prone to parasites so it can help prevent that. The 1mm would probably be best for 3" discus.

Have you ever tried bowl feeding? You literally put a bowl in the tank (either an actual salad or soup bowl or a reptile feeding dish). Once they associate it with food it makes changing the diet much easier. To put food in the bowl just use a 1" diameter clear tube used for undergravel filters.

 

[discusdude]

how do i get the food it the bowl once its at the bottom of the tank?

 

[mfdrookie516]

how do i get the food it the bowl once its at the bottom of the tank?

Just like this...

To put food in the bowl just use a 1" diameter clear tube used for undergravel filters.

That's actually an interesting concept, but seems logical. I've seen people make mention of bowl feeding fish, but never really thought about it like that.

 

[Fishguy2727]

It is a great way of feeding many types of fish. I had a tiretrack eel that would always be the first to the bowl. He would actually sit at the bowl waiting for the food drop down the tube. He would stick his nose under it and pop it up to get food before everyone else. He went from 6" to about 20" in about six months doing that. It is a great way to convert fish like discus, stingrays, etc. to the food you want them to eat.