Ivoryhead Molto not eating

[mjinxed]

A couple weeks ago I got an Copadichromis trewavasae and recently noticed him getting skinnier lately so I started keeping an eye on him. He's quite active, fins look perfect and no signs of abuse, loves digging in the sand and swimming around with all the other fish but come feeding time, he grabs food like all the others but keeps spitting it out. I feed New Life Spectrum pellets along with algae wafers. He ignores the wafers. Any idea why he would be spitting the food out, any recommendations?

 

[SherLar]

It's a bit more carnivorous than most Malawi cichlids. If you can isolate it somewhat, you could try some brine shrimp or bloodworms, but you'll want to make sure you feed a lot of veggies with them to prevent bloat. Instead of algae wafers, try seaweed sheets. Thanks to a recipe from nirbhao, I now make my own cichlid veggie chips using frozen spinach, green peas, zucchini, and nori, blended together with gelatin and frozen. My cichlids love it.

 

[Bubba643]

A couple weeks ago I got an Copadichromis trewavasae and recently noticed him getting skinnier lately so I started keeping an eye on him. He's quite active, fins look perfect and no signs of abuse, loves digging in the sand and swimming around with all the other fish but come feeding time, he grabs food like all the others but keeps spitting it out. I feed New Life Spectrum pellets along with algae wafers. He ignores the wafers. Any idea why he would be spitting the food out, any recommendations?

Not unless "he" is a "she" and is holding maybe? I'm sure you might know that's not the case 100%. Your description on digging in the sand and swimming with tank mates, added with the got skinny all of a sudden and then not eating just sounded a lot like breeding behavior when put in that order. Just thought I'd throw it out there just in case.

 

[mjinxed]

While it is still young and hasn't developed its blue yet, it was sold to me as a male and does have a white blaze. Am I correct that only the males develop the blaze? Those things aside, definitely not holding. I have a different female holding and can definitely tell the difference. Also, as far as I know, holding females don't eat. This one does take food into its mouth several times each feeding session but then spits the food back out much like any other fish does after snatching up a piece of poop.

 

[mjinxed]

Here is a pic

 

[SherLar]

I think it's likely that it just became picky for some reason. I have that happen sometimes to one fish or another, and usually, feeding them a special treat will put them back on track.
It's possible that it's also constipated. If this is the case, feeding a high veggie diet should help clear it up. Typically, when a fish is badly constipated though, it will show a slight bulge in the belly, which I don't see in the pic. White, stringy feces is also sometimes an indicator of constipation, but could also indicate something else, like a parasite.
I would still advise you to isolate in, in a quarantine tank if you have one, and try a special diet until it gets back on track.

 

[mjinxed]

Feeding him Omega One flakes seems to work. I don't like feeding flakes but at least he will eat it. He still spits out any NLS pellets he grabs.