Question about new fish

[Maxkolbe]

I recently purchased an electric ahli for my lake Malawi tank and when I tried to feed him a pellet today he either ignored it or nipped at it but didn't swallow. I was wondering, is this species a picky eater or should I try a smaller pellet size.

He ate the day before though so it could be that he simply wasn't hungry.

 

[Maxkolbe]

Just tried feed ing him a flake, didn't even look at it though my OB zebra seemed to enjoy it.

 

[joel618]

How often do you feed? What do you feed? Has he been acting reclusive? How long have you had him?

 

[Fishie]

Mine eat pellets. How new is he to the tank? Maybe try other foods.

 

[Maxkolbe]

I got him yesterday. Like I said it's probably that he's not hungry. I'm going to feed them now so I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Maxkolbe]

He just looked at it. I think I might try blood worms and try to wean him on to pellets, how would I do that?

I hear bloodworms are bad for mbuna, would it be Ok to try feeding him some?

 

[joel618]

He may just be acclimating still. Once again, what type of food do you feed? My mbuna are on top of all food I give them, I would think it would be hard just to feed him without the others getting in on it. I don't feed for a couple days after adding fish to help keep stress down.

 

[Maxkolbe]

Ha ha , I think I figured it out. The pellets were too large I think. He ate 1 of the blood worms but had no trouble with eating one of the smaller pellets. I'll continue to feed him those until he gets a little bit larger.

 

[Maxkolbe]

He may just be acclimating still. Once again, what type of food do you feed? My mbuna are on top of all food I give them, I would think it would be hard just to feed him without the others getting in on it. I don't feed for a couple days after adding fish to help keep stress down.

Technically I don't think he's a mbuna but his tank mates are 3 zebras and a BN Pleco and I feed him Omega one protein pellets. I don't remember the name of the smaller pellets but it said they were for cichlids.

 

[joel618]

Technically I don't think he's a mbuna but his tank mates are 3 zebras and a BN Pleco and I feed him Omega one protein pellets. I don't remember the name of the smaller pellets but it said they were for cichlids.

You are correct, he is a hap. Im not sure what the protein % on that is. If it is above 40% I would suggest you stop feeding the protein pellets immediately. Malawi bloat sucks, and by the time you realize they have it, it is often too late to save them. I feed new life spectrum thera a and cichlid formula.

 

[Maxkolbe]

The container says
Max crude protein 35%

Is it ok to continue feeding it to him? I try to make sure that he mostly eats pellets and the mbuna mostly eat spirulina enhanced flakes though they do eat whatever he doesn't. Does that sound like a good diet?

 

[Maxkolbe]

Found the other food. It's aqueon cichlid pellets mini size, and the crude protein says min. 42%. I assume this means I should stop using it but what should I do if he won't eat the other pellets?

 

[joel618]

You will be fine with the omega one. Aqueon is prolly ok buy I wouldnt feed it every day. I bought some when I first get my mbuna and lost a couple to bloat so I switched I also lost a couple to bloat on nls too though.

 

[Maxkolbe]

I think you may be right about him still acclimating so I'll monitor him for a few more days. You don't think the zebras could be stressing him do you?

 

[joel618]

I think you may be right about him still acclimating so I'll monitor him for a few more days. You don't think the zebras could be stressing him do you?

Could be. They establish a pecking order. How big is he compared to the other fish? How big is the tank? You have alot of hiding places? Tank pics?

 

[Maxkolbe]

Since he seemed to like the sinking pellets more than the floating I'll pick some up while we're out. Hopefully it works.

 

[Maxkolbe]

The tank is sixty gallons and the zebras mostly leave him alone. Here's a photo. The second photo is of the fish. In regards to size he is either the largest or second largest fish at about an inch and a half. However while at petsmart where I bought some sinking shrimp pellets, (going to try them tonight ) I finally found a good syndontis species. I bought a beautiful feather-fin syndontis and am acclimating him right now! I'll let you know how he reacts to the shrimp pellets.

 

[Maxkolbe]

Ok, after watching the fish very closely during feeding I believe I have found the problem. It appears that he has a mouth injury, possibly from a lip locking fight with another cichlid, that prevents him from opening his mouth all the way. That means he can only eat very small foods.

Any ideas on how to treat this or will it heal by itself? I had an idea to try and cut some pellets in half, do you think that would work?

 

[joel618]

Ok, after watching the fish very closely during feeding I believe I have found the problem. It appears that he has a mouth injury, possibly from a lip locking fight with another cichlid, that prevents him from opening his mouth all the way. That means he can only eat very small foods.

Any ideas on how to treat this or will it heal by itself? I had an idea to try and cut some pellets in half, do you think that would work?

Not sure about the mouth injury thing. Keep clean water and add some aquarium salt, I use about half of the recommended dose, I would think it heal up but Idk.

 

[Maxkolbe]

Fish died today. I put him in the freezer just be sure that he died and isn't lingering.
I think the problem was internal and he had it when we got him.

I guess I have to buy new fish now...