Red Devil Cichlid Not Eating

[spoonman]

Maybe sounds like a stupid question, but have you tried soaking the floating pellets before feeding? Just put a few in a bowl of water and let soak for about 5-10 minutes to soften up. I have a few fish that wont eat the floating pellets when they are fresh and hard, but will eat them when I soak them and they are soft. Just an idea.

 

[Jason7894561230]

How big is the tank? Just love the fish awesome colour on it

 

[HUKIT]

How big is the tank? Just love the fish awesome colour on it

He's in a 54g corner tank.

 

[mikeybabs]

Okay so, Bubba's still only eating crickets and worms, he never refuses them... I've tried feeding him the medium sinking pellets that the fish store fed him and he ate one then it it seemed like a little bit of it exploded out of his gills... i read that this happens to oscars when they're not fond of the food?

he still doesnt really care about the fish food pellets that the LFS fed him...

however i noticed that he prefers sinking pellets opposed to floating, because i tried the 3mm sinking NLS and he bites at it then spits it out... he will rarely go after the floating ones...

should i continue to feed him crickets and worms for awhile to keep him healthy then go back to starving him and try introducing the 3mm sinking NLS?

What feeding frequencing should i use and what should i be feeding him? my thoughts are that he's spoiled and addicted to live foods, because the LFS owner said he would feed him large crickets.... are worms and crickets a good diet for him?

Really hoping I can get him addicted to the NLS like my other cichlids!

Thanks!

Mike!

PS. I got an amazing new 48" light for my 55 gallon mbuna tank, it makes the cichlids so much more vibrant now! its actually a salt water light but its amazing, is this safe to use?

Thx

Mike

 

[mikeybabs]

I fed Bubba this rainbow shark one week ago... and I found him like this stuck to the filter today...

lol...

I think he's 2x more badass now that he only bit his head off and left him like that to stuffer

 

[HUKIT]

Crickets and worms are good as supplements but he really needs more nutrition long term, if he's settled in now and the other concerns with the temps are good I'd start starving him again, feeding nothing but pellets. Once they get in the habit of eating one food it makes the switch that much harder. This time I would really go a little longer and don't supplement anything until he's on pellets as a staple, then weekly crickets and works are ok. Try soaking the pellets in garlic as well and this stimulates feeding.

As far as the light it's fine, I use actinic bulbs in all my mbuna tanks to enhance the blue. I don't use them in the SA/CA since they lack in certain colors and in those I use a 10k and Colomax bulbs.

See isn't this more fun than stupid tetra's and stuff, you gotta love fish with attitude.

 

[mikeybabs]

Crickets and worms are good as supplements but he really needs more nutrition long term, if he's settled in now and the other concerns with the temps are good I'd start starving him again, feeding nothing but pellets. Once they get in the habit of eating one food it makes the switch that much harder. This time I would really go a little longer and don't supplement anything until he's on pellets as a staple, then weekly crickets and works are ok. Try soaking the pellets in garlic as well and this stimulates feeding.

As far as the light it's fine, I use actinic bulbs in all my mbuna tanks to enhance the blue. I don't use them in the SA/CA since they lack in certain colors and in those I use a 10k and Colomax bulbs.

See isn't this more fun than stupid tetra's and stuff, you gotta love fish with attitude.

Thanks!

Here's an update though, I'm kind of nervous, ever since I fed him the rainbow shark a week ago i've been seeing little tiny hair like threads in the water and after looking more closely at them they appear to be tiny worms in the water... im assuming this came from the rainbow shark after he bit his head off... is this anything to worry about?

 

[HUKIT]

The worms are probably Planaria which are harmless to the fish, but could be a indication of poor maintenance, to much leftover food in the substrate. A couple of good substrate vacs and water changes will clear it up. Try to avoid overfeeding, I know it's been a tough go for a while with him so just watch for leftovers. What kind of substrate are you using?

 

[mikeybabs]

The worms are probably Planaria which are harmless to the fish, but could be a indication of poor maintenance, to much leftover food in the substrate. A couple of good substrate vacs and water changes will clear it up. Try to avoid overfeeding, I know it's been a tough go for a while with him so just watch for leftovers. What kind of substrate are you using?

im using large natural rocks... its been tough vacuuming cuz he gets so feisty when i do the vacuuming, but i will do a more thorough job when i have an extra hand... i found a trick, if i take the algae magnet and distract him i can vacuum, i just have to have someone help me lol...

there have been a lot of uneaten food that i have to vacuum,
im glad that they're harmless! i thought it was from the internals of the rainbow shark, but i will do a water change then wait a couple days and do another thorough vacuum and water change


thanks!
just wanted to make sure its not a parasite or something harmful, thx again

 

[HUKIT]

At some point I would recommend switching to sand, it's better looking, certainly easier to maintain, and the RD would love digging as well.

 

[mikeybabs]

bubba update

At some point I would recommend switching to sand, it's better looking, certainly easier to maintain, and the RD would love digging as well.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'd really like to, but at this point is seems like a major hassle, and something I'm definitely going to have to put off for the future, but possibly some day! Plus I really like the natural large rocks, they look better than the typical small gravel that you get...

Anyways here's a small update on what's going on with bubba...

I did a very THOROUGH cleaning of the tank... i did about a 60% water change, and I switched the bad filter that wasnt doing that great of a job, i put on an aquaclear 70 on bubbas tank that i took off my mbuna tank, this was swapped with a biowheel 200 which is only rated for 30-50 gallon i think, and the aquaclear 70 is up to a 70 gallon tank and does a much nicer job....

i found a trick for vacuuming the gravel since bubba likes to bite my fingers at every chance he gets lol... instead of vacuuming from the beginning and distracting him with a algae magnet, i wait until the water is about 40% emptied then i start vacuuming, this lowers the water level and lets me push down on the siphon without exposing my hands under water, i wish i thought of that to begin with...

the problem was ever since i got him he just wasnt eating anything i put in the tank, and a lot of food has sunkin to the bottom since i got him which i havnt been vaccuuming up... but i did a thorough vaccuum and water change and put a 2x better filter on... and the tank looks really nice and clear now... and he seems happier, his color slightly improved, it was getting whitish probably due to stress and water conditions, but it improved... almost ALL of the "planaria" was removed... and GET THIS! when i switched the biowheel 200 filter from bubbas tank to the mbuna tank, a lot of the planaria was still trapped in that filter, so as soon as the filter started, there was a good ammount of planaria that escaped into the mbuna tank, and you should of seen those malawi cichlids devour them! it was really fun to watch, i felt good afterwards, like i cleaned them up, theres not a trace of them anymore in the mbuna tank and theres barely any left in bubbas tank, and im sure they will all be gone by tomorrow since ive only had the aquaclear 70 running for an hour and a half so far and bubbas tank looks greatly improved. i plan on doing another 50% water change within the week just to lower the nitrates even further...

but back to his eating

im not going to spoil him anymore with worms or crickets, im going to go back to starving him, and instead of feeding him sinking pellets im going to stick with the floating pellets...

i have not tried your trick of soaking the pellets in garlic before feeding, but that sounds like a really good trick and i will try that... i will stop posting on this thread as soon as bubba is in a routine with his staple diet...

thanks so much for following up on this, i really appreciate it, it's great finding people with similiar interests, and great experience who can help you out

 

[mikeybabs]

I have really good reason to believe that bubba is eating the NLS Floating pellets now because everytime I put 4-5 pellets in the tank and come back hours later they are gone...

HOWEVER I have never caught him in the act of eating one and keeping it down instead of spitting it out.... So I'm goin to try to watch him for longer periods of time to see if I can witness him actually eating them. Because everytime I initially drop in a few pellets he could care less.

I did a float/sink test with a pellet and I filled up a glass with water and put a pellet in and it did not sink when I left it over night. Which indicates that the pellets are not sinking and going to the bottom when left in for long periods. So he must be eating them? It's a mystery... I still need to get my hands on garlic...

What do I do to soak in the garlic? Just cut up the garlic and soak it in water with the food?

Can I use garlic powder???

Thanks!!

 

[HUKIT]

NLS has a large amount of garlic already, I'm sorry the recommendation for garlic was the other pellets you were trying, I wasn't clear enough.

 

[mikeybabs]

NLS has a large amount of garlic already, I'm sorry the recommendation for garlic was the other pellets you were trying, I wasn't clear enough.

Ah ok. Gotcha. If you don't feel soaking extra garlic in the NLS won't help then I won't bother to give it a shot

Let me know. I don't mind buying some garlic to try it. But if you feel like it has enough then that's cool too

On a positive note all my new fish like the NLS but the Apollo shark is still having a hard time. He never goes for the 4.5mm floating although he did eyeball it a bit but he did go for the 3mm sinking... He chewed it and spit it out... But my burleyli did the same thing and on his second attempt he chewed and kept it down. So I will try again the sinking for the Apollo tomorrow. It just sucks when it falls to the ground

 

[HUKIT]

No I wouldn't soak the NLS, when doing that it leaches vitamins and nutrients from the pellets.

 

[mikeybabs]

Success!

After 1 month and 3 days of trial and error, and a bit of learning, I have finally witnessed him eating a 4.5mm floating NLS pellet...

At first he went for it, spit it out, then began chewing it again, and he chewed it much longer the usual, and he never spit it out! Very happy feeling, I think he is finally transitioning into the pellets... No more worms and crickets!

I just did a 50% PWC, and the nitrates are now under 10ppm, after the PWC was when I introduced the food, and he went for it in under 3 minutes, and then kept it down! So i'm hoping he starts craving it more and more

His color has became noticably faded from when I first got him, however I'm hoping his environment becomes more stable for him and he gets use to it and hopefully in 2-3 weeks of eating the NLS everyday he will regain his color...

He could have possibly ate the NLS awhile back, I just never witnessed him...

once they are hooked on NLS they shoudn't be spitting it out then eating it again, right?

How many pellets is a good ammount to give to him eat time? I put about 4 or 5 in at a time, is this too many?

Thanks a ton for all your help, I think we can finally bring this topic to a close... haha

 

[mikeybabs]

Ok so he definitely likes the NLS pellets now, i just put in 7 pellets and he ate them all

Very happy, hopefully in a few weeks his color will come back?

 

[mikeybabs]

The big guys are up to NLS 7.5mm floating. I get soaked everytime I feed them, they go crazy at feeding time so much I need to watch my fingers.

This is truly awesome, maybe this will be the future of my new 125 gallon tank I'm getting next week... I'm very excited! what kind of fish should i get? the previous owner is willing to sell me these:


5 clown loaches - $50
6 odessa barbs - $10
1 polypterus delhezi 5-6 inches - $20
1 yellow bullhead - $5
1 bala shark 4-5 inches - $5
2 blue dwarf gourami 4 and 5 inches - $10
1 bristlenose pleco 4.5 inches - $3
1 common pleco 5 inches- $5

or i could go my own route.. what do you think is the best?

 

[HUKIT]

It really depends who's going in the tank, are the JD's and the RD going in?

 

[mikeybabs]

It really depends who's going in the tank, are the JD's and the RD going in?

No, I'm leaving them out, I don't want to make it a cichlid tank anymore... im going to buy all the fish from this guy and stock it with those