My 11 inch 2 year old red devil

[Lucifer]

Lucifer is my male red devil I got him about 2-3 months ago second hand from a lady who was trying to keep him with her oscars but the red devil obviously didn't like the oscars after they got to size and lucifer was king of the tank she liked her oscars more and I had a 75 gallon already cycled waiting for a fish so I took him in. Since that day Lucy hasn't eaten or pooped he was In with a few assorted Africans but I removed them once I saw Lucy wasn't eating. I still try feeding him two months later and he hasn't eaten anything I've tried. Veggies multiple pellets flakes frozen live beef heart worms I just have no idea what else to do he is still soo agressive attacks any hand, net or gravel cleaner, I had to turn the red dot in the heater away from him so he would stop ramming it. Am I just being stupid and the fish is eating tiny pieces of food and organisms or can he go for months with nothing to eat. I still see no fecal matter maybe constipation but he swim fine and is the healthiest looking fish you have ever seen sorry for the rant but I'm just trying to show as much info as possible

 

[Mlani]

Aww..poor lucifer!! Do you know (or could you find out) what his diet was before you got him? Sometimes fish become accustomed to specific foods or routines and will almost pout/sulk if its changed. However 2 months is a long time to go without.

 

[Lucifer]

Yes of course, he was eating a mixture of nutrafin max cichlid spirulina sticks and his apparent favourite food frozen brine shrimp. I have obviously tried both. Also purchased different kinds of shrimp and different cichlid pellets and flakes I've spent hundreds on different goods for this guy and nothing even seems appetizing. He will kill fish but not eat them I even tried a frozen mouse warmed up like I'm actually lost for ideas I'm leaning towards an Epsom salt bath but I wanna make sure I've tried all options. Yes 2-3 months no eating but absolutely no weight loss or any bloating I just don't get it

 

[HUKIT]

Yes 2-3 months no eating but absolutely no weight loss or any bloating I just don't get it

If the fish truly has not eaten in 2-3 months then I would think he'd look DEAD, I've never heard of a fish that has gone more than 8 weeks without food. I've battled wild caught fish that simply wouldn't convert to commerical foods and after a few weeks the fish clearly looked emaciated and had trouble breathing, this lasted around 5-6 weeks or so before the cichlids passed. My bet is he's eating when your not around.

 

[Lucifer]

How come no poop, I got an Oscar that's like 3 inches and I see his poop all the time but I have never noticed the red devil feces

 

[HUKIT]

How come no poop, I got an Oscar that's like 3 inches and I see his poop all the time but I have never noticed the red devil feces

Is this fish alone now?

 

[gman42]

Have you tried feeding him with the lights off?

 

[Lucifer]

If he is eating when I'm not there it must be a minimal amount because if the food is there for 20 mins I scoop it out, also tried feeding at night just before lights out, a few hours into darkness, the middle of the night, first thing in the morning and middle of the day and it never makes a difference. I tried hand feeding. Tried an auto feeder to see if he just didn't like me at all and I alway count the pellets in and out. It's hard to tell with flakes or brine shrimp tho

 

[Lucifer]

Yes lucifer is alone now

 

[Mlani]

I haven't been able to get lucifer out of my head. I really think he has to be eating something even if you haven't seen it. There's no way he could live without something. He'd be dead not eating for 2-3 months. Maybe his behaviour is off because he's bored? I had oscars a long time ago and they would sulk for weeks after they killed all their tank mates. It wasn't until I threw a ping pong ball in there that they perked up again.

 

[Lucifer]

I still can't see why I see no fecal matter straight up it doesn't make sense but I've never heard o constipation lasting this long with no signs. My fish does not act weird he is perfectly fine but eats nothin and poops nothing. I'm sure you know with a cichlid this size you would see a log floating from time to time

 

[Lucifer]

Why a ping pong ball for the record?

 

[Mlani]

It was safe enough that when they got mad and tried to slam into things it wouldn't break my tank or hurt them. Plus I'm not going to lie it was humorous to watch them try and get their big mouths around it. Near the end they could and would hold it in their mouths and spit it out bouncing it off the top of my tank.

 

[Lucifer]

Do you know anything about the Epsom salt bath? Is it gunna harm my fish ? Like is it worth the try?

 

[Lucifer]

In this picture is the Red Devils anus which appears to have like a tail is that kosher or what cause I couldn't find any info on it

 

[Lucifer]

Here's just a cool pic of him he is super interactive.

 

[Lucifer]

He is a cool pick of him super interactive fish and is not one bit "dead looking"

 

[Lucifer]

He digs a lot too maybe finding nutrients in that? I added 1 1/2 5gallon buckets of rocks to his tank so he can play

 

[Aski247]

As stated its obviously eating when you are not paying attention. Also a lot of CA cichlids love to dig and will often scape the tank to "their" liking.

Try adding some live crickets. Them moving at the surface might spark a attack instinct. And they are a great food source. If it takes to that try sneaking pellets in the mix, then he should readily take to pellets.

 

[Lucifer]

I have tried crickets king worms, earth worms feeder guppies and feeder goldfish, large pond gold fish and nothing sparks interest except he killed the big gold fish. I know that feeders are bad for disease but I need to see this fish eat or poop and I will be content. Discus are supposed to be tough to keep but this red devil is the most stubborn fish I've seen