What do you feed extremely Finicky Angelfish?

[WendiDell]

I have had my Angelfish set up for almost eight months. But after having Mbunas that will eat anything and everything the Angelfish are kind of discouraging when it comes to feeding. I finally bought NLS Finicky Fish Food and they are eating it better than anything else I've tried. But it's pretty costly, it was $23.99 for 150g/5.3oz.
What do you all feed your Angelfish, that they like to eat?
These are pics. of 3 out of 6 of my picky Angels. I have had to replace 2 of them so far because of not eating, I really don't want to loose any more. Other than this eating problem they are really healthy and growing well.

 

[TigerBarbs]

If you could get your hands on small live foods i think that would work. Like bloodworms or somethin. Maybe even frozen.

 

[toddnbecka]

Frozen bloodworms, but that can be a hassle if they get spoiled on them. Garlic will also encourage picky fish, try briefly soaking regular NLS pellets in garlic juice. Guppies or endler's are also a favorite food if you have a spare tank to breed feeders.
At that price ($4+/oz) frozen bloodworms may actually be less expensive. I but NLS in 5 lb buckets, much more economical that way (less than $1/oz with shipping included.) I do have 13 tanks and hundreds of fish though. If you don't need that much try organizing a group buy and split the bucket up.

 

[jetajockey]

I feed my angels anything, they go after NLS pellets (I only have one kind, the bucket of 1mm thera+a), flakes, bloodworms.

I usually feed them once a day, but have noticed that if they aren't actively pacing the tank like hungry sharks then I will hold off on feeding for a day, that gets their appetite going every time.

I also have some that are in a mixmatched community setup, and they are even more aggressive feeders because of all the competition.

 

[LyndaB]

wendii, how often do you feed your fish?

 

[WendiDell]

wendii, how often do you feed your fish?

I feed my 6 Angelfish, 7 Hi fin Black Skirt Tetras and 3 long Fin Albino BN, approx. 30-40 pellets every evening between 7:00-8:00 pm.
The Tetras are great eaters. They'll eat what ever goes in the tank. But both they Angels and the Long Fin Albinos are insanely picky. The Albino BN won't touch the NLS wafers, but they will eat the NLS Grow and NLS Cichlid formula.

 

[LyndaB]

That's a lot of food, unless they're micro pellets. It may be that you are creating finicky eaters because they are overfed. Just a thought.

 

[BillD]

I have yet to see an angel that won't eat anything or at any time. When you say you had to replace 2 of them for not eating, did they die? If so, it wasn't from not eating. If they weren't eating they were sick, and even if they showed no signs of it they were doomed.

 

[WendiDell]

I have yet to see an angel that won't eat anything or at any time. When you say you had to replace 2 of them for not eating, did they die? If so, it wasn't from not eating. If they weren't eating they were sick, and even if they showed no signs of it they were doomed.

They never ate very much to begin with, just like the others. Then about 5-5.5 months apart they stopped eating at all. Then without any other signs or symptoms of anything they died in about 6 weeks after they stopped eating.
By that time they were paper thin from not eating.

With each of them, I moved them into QT as soon as they stopped eating. Then I treated them for Bacterial/fungal/parasite infections. I treated for all of them because there were no symptoms to go by to diagnose anything. Nothing helped, they never ate again and then they died.

It may have been some illness but I have no idea what fish disease/illness that doesn't kill the fish a lot faster. It's usually a few days and once in a while a couple weeks, but what takes 6 weeks to kill a fish?
Anyway all the fish in the tank are eating the NLS Finicky Fish Food now. And the Tetras have eaten everything I've tried with the Angels. The Long Fin Albino BN are also incredibly picky. The only food they will eat is the NLS Grow & Finicky Fish Food and the Algae they find in the tank.

As far as feeding them live food I don't have room for another tank to hold any feeder fish. I already have 4 tanks and other than the QT tank, they are full. Plus I really don't want them to get used to eating live food all the time.