New Neon Tetras wont eat

[gilbert126]

Hi Everyone,
Yesterday I went out and bought 6 neon tetras. I added them to my already cycled 55 litre/15 gallon aqaurium. They have now been in there for a little over 24 hours and I have two questions/worries. Firstly they aren't eating, I have special tetra micro pellets which I have sprinkled in but they wont got to the surface and eat them. Even after the food starts to sink the tetras dont seem interested. I know they are still getting used to the new aquarium but Im worried they will starve if they dont eat soon! Any ideas of what I should do? And the second thing is they seem to sometimes be a dull sort of colour but then they will turn back to their bright blue and red. Is this normal?
Sorry about the long post and thanks in advance!
-Gil

 

[dragonfisher33]

the change of color from dull to vibrant means that they're getting acclimated to your tank. some fish exhibit this behavior. even they lose all of their colors, they are either sick or stressed out. in this case i believe your fish were stressed out and are now getting used to your tank.

if your fish is not eat those food, live food is always intriguing to them. or you can switch the food to something else like the Tetras color enhencing flakes and what-not. plenty options out there with different nutritional value and food composition. but also again, if you starve them a little, they will start to eat

 

[dmolavi]

You could also ask the place where you bought them what food they used and pick up some of that. Some fish are picky eaters.

 

[gilbert126]

Ive had the neon tetra for 4 days now and im still finding it difficult to feed them. They will eat but only when the food sinks right past them otherwise they dont see it. When they do see the food they seem hungry and eat it pretty quickly but if they dont see it they don't seem to eat it. Am I always going to have to make sure the food sinks right past them or will they eventually find the food wherever I drop it?
Thanks

 

[Autumnsky]

Mostly the Neons are wild caught, sometimes with poison or shock, and then transported over seas, or to a wholesaler and then over seas, and then shipped to a middleman and or fish store to be in over crowded, and sometimes not very good conditions.

THAT is stressfull!

Wild fish don't know how to eat pelleted food, so it can take some time. If you can get a little brine shrimp or other live food try a little of that or just some frozen/defrosted blood worms. Try adding just a few worm pieces at a time near where they are and see if you can get them to eat.

Then after they realize you are feeding them you can add a few pellets too and they will start to see the connection. Then just start using less blood worms every time until its all pellets.

They will turn completely pale when they are resting /sleeping at night and will brighten up after some activity.

One thought on that is as protection, they turn pale so they aren't as conspicuous to predators.

Try to keep the water quality well inside the safety zone and give them some time to get used to things.