Picky Boesemani Rainbows

[beard514]

I bought two boesemani rainbows about a week ago. They look healthy but only one is eating. I have been feeding them NLS flakes. The female will eat some (not nearly as much as my other fish) but my male wont eat them at all. He will put them in his mouth and spit them right out. I tried putting a piece of lettuce on the bottom of the tank since the are omnivores and they simply ignored it. Do you have any suggestions for my picky Rainbows? Any Help will be appreciated!

 

[zer0signal]

Hi! Had the same problem with mine. Only they wouldn't eat anything other than brine shrimp and blood worms. What you can do is give them some shrimp, they will 100% go after and it eat (unless they really are ill) once you see them eat, dont give them the shrimp. Feed them very tiny pellets. If they won't give it another 24hrs, repeat. Eventually there eyes will be bigger and eat it.

Also, they have very tiny throats so keep the pellets small. NLS sells slow sinking pellets 1mm in size, mine act like savages now when its feeding time.

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[beard514]

Thanks I'll give the pellets and shrimp a shot and see if that works. Do you feed yours vegetables? If so what kind and do you need to prepare it in any way?

 

[zer0signal]

Nope only worms/shrimp (every few days) and pellets in between. From what I read in natural habitat they feed primarily on insects, larvae, worms, and occasionally duck weed. The pellets will supplement the missing vegetation, and worms and shrimp give the natural protein.

If you have the right tank I recommend 5-6 of them. They're a great fish to have around.

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[NigelK8485]

My rainbows were all the same way. I've got eleven right now, looking at adding a few more. Mine would only eat frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. I started thawing the cubes out and soaking the NLS Thera+ pellets in the liquid from the cubes to give them the same scent. It took a few tries but after a couple of curious ones began eating the pellets the rest joined in. Mine do seem to prefer the NLS flakes over the pellets though, maybe give those a shot.


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[zer0signal]

@Beard actually I believe @nigelk was the one that helped with this problem when I started with them

@nigel 11!?! What size tank?

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[NigelK8485]

It's a 150 gallon


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[gilpi]

I don't know, every rainbow I had was a ferocious eater and would eat just about anything dropped into the tank unless one would get sick and stop eating.


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[zer0signal]

My issues were during new home adjustment, took about 2 days of giving pellets before the warmed up and dully accepted them.

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