Red tail shark wont eat

[beglely]

I know a thread was started awhile ago about how red tail sharks and rainbow sharks are more scavengers and that its not a big concern if you dont see them eating. However my shark has begun to look considerably skinnier and unhealthy and is a weaker swimmer now then before. Im not sure what to feed this guy to get him to eat. He completely ignores shrimp pellets now as well as freeze dried blood worms. Time of day doesnt matter either because he still seems to ignore them regardless. Any ideas before I lose a fish to starvation? I moved him to my new 20 long to lessen competition among the platies but im not sure what else to do

 

[drillsar2]

Try to put cucumber or courgette in

 

[mattman0182]

Maybe you could try live brine shrimp. Worked well for my frog who was also ignoring pellets.

 

[WhiteDevil]

X2 even frozen will spark his appetite.

 

[beglely]

what is X2?

 

[WhiteDevil]

It meant I agree with the post above mine.

Sorry its not some miracle food. I wish this hobby was that easy,eh?

 

[beglely]

haha yeah i figured just checking. if only it were that easy

 

[WhiteDevil]

How old is your shark?


Some fish stop eating for a while then will eat again months down the road, they eat enough to keep them alive but not enough to make them energetic. any tank changes? any heater issues? have it near a window and have a cold streak with the weather?

Did he eat alot then jsut stop?


I dont think captive fish do it but natural instincts might have kicked in as if he was wintering.

We had a few catfish do that this year at work, however it was their first winter in captivity too.

 

[beglely]

as far as I know he is still pretty young. Ive had him for about a month or so and usually he would swim around the tank and nibble on all the plants and would usually take pieces of pellets. I had a ghost shrimp die once and he tore it to pieces very quickly. But now he seems very lethargic and not as active as he used to be. He is about an inch long, give or take a little

 

[beglely]

well i tried frozen brine shrimp, but that doesnt seem to do it for him either. The fish store near me doesnt sell live brine shrimp unfortunately. Ill try cucumber next and see what that does. Ive also heard sharks will eat algae wafers? any truth to that?

 

[flip0204]

you could try feeding him ghost shrimp.... just gu the shrimp and dump him in if he enjoyed the first one he might like it. Although with red tailed sharks im not sure that is good enough to consider it a meal does he have hiding places... they need caves and such he could be just stressed

 

[beglely]

the original tank he was in when the problem started was heavily planted with plastic and real and had at least 2 caves for him. The new larger tank has several plants as well and at least 4 massive rocks with numerous hiding spots in them. I ensured that he could hide if he wanted and he usually does. I might try the ghost shrimp idea (have a few currently) but im not a big fan of killing them but we will see