my fish don’t seem to eat…ever!

[plymbloke]

Hello, Ive had my 6 celestials for about 2 months now, so I know htey must be eating something but they are looking thin and im worried about them! I try crushed flake, frozen and live baby brine shrimp, tubifex and finely crushed Prima granual food, but they shy away from it all. Help! I really want to breed them, but it would help if i could get them eating first!

thanks

Chris

[chr15_8]

just a few questions

are there any tnak mates in there (any another species)?
do you have any type of plants in there?
how big is your tank?

i havent tried to feed mine any other food except live brine shrimp (not baby brine shrimp)

chris

[plymbloke]

the tank is approx. 10 gallons, the only other living creature in there is a young golden pencilfish, that the celestials seem happy to shoal with etc, and its planted half with a grass type of plant and the half with cabomba and a big clump of java moss. If i can work out how to do it ill post a photo

I have tried larger brine shrimp – what i can only presume is adult, but they seem to be afraid of it – swimming up and having a quick look before hiding away again. They all seem healthy and full of colour (well the males) its just they seem to be getting thinner

[chr15_8]

are you sure there getting thinner?

have you tried daphina?

also can you see any of the bloodworn/brine shrimp left?

are they near anything that could set of vibrations like speakers?

what about kids, dog ,cat?

[atlantis_child]

I’ve have not seen mine eat while the food is coming down since they were in the community tank with fewer hiding places and plants, but they do pick things off the plants and sand. I’ve put a small ceramic bowl in the sand in my tank that while they also like to hide in I put the food in. It’s less messy and I can tell if they’ve been eating better. Maybe try something like that. Doesn’t work for live foods though…

[plymbloke]

Chris: i dont see any of the food left, but then the tank bottom is 90% covered in plant life, so any remaining food gets lost in there and i do a small water change every other day to remove any old uneaten food. the tank is in a bedroom where only i go to sleep and is left completely alone all day. there are no kids or other pets either. deffinately thinner than when i bought htem – and the fish shop only fed them on crushed flake food.

Atlantis: I think that (picking food off of plants etc) is how they are surviving to be honest – i’ll give your idea of the small bowl a go to see if it will work – how do you get the food to stay in there?

Thanks ot both of you for your help

[chr15_8]

well im sure brine shrimp need to live in salt water to survive (might be wrong though) however you will always see bloodworm due to the colour

is it frozen or live bloodworm?

[plymbloke]

well i have only tried bloodworm once, live. the pencil fish ate a few but nothing from celestials. i didnt put too much in as i find if the fish dont eat bloodworm then they bury in the sand and actually hatch. Yes brine shrimp live in saltwater but usually stay alive long enough in freshwater.

[chr15_8]

@plymbloke wrote:

well i have only tried bloodworm once, live. the pencil fish ate a few but nothing from celestials. i didnt put too much in as i find if the fish dont eat bloodworm then they bury in the sand and actually hatch. Yes brine shrimp live in saltwater but usually stay alive long enough in freshwater.

tell me about it

thought they would be alright without thinking what they turn into about a week later (i bought the big bloodworm and they were to big) guess what

they hatched and a i had about 15-20 bits on my arm (my tanks in my bedroom and my door is alway shut at night so i learned from that mistake.

when you put the adult brine shrimp in did you leave them in there or take them out?

chris

[plymbloke]

thankfully my bloodworm hatchlings have never escaped the tank, but i have found a few nyphs floating on the surface the following morning!

when feeding anything but bloodworm, which i clear away pretty sharpish if not eaten lol, i leave it for at least 10 hours before cleaning it away, and as i said, i always do a small water change every other day to get the bits ive missed.

[chr15_8]

i’d be tempted to leave the brine shrimp in the tank (adult) as im sure they will get use to them and start to eat them.

and if you do a weekly water change they shouldnt pollute the water in my opinion

however i dont do a water change on my tankas them seem very happy (and breeding)

good luck
chris

[atlantis_child]

@plymbloke wrote:

Atlantis: I think that (picking food off of plants etc) is how they are surviving to be honest – i’ll give your idea of the small bowl a go to see if it will work – how do you get the food to stay in there?

Well I give them pieces of shrimp (originally meant for human consumption). That is heavy enough to stay donw. To get it in I take out the bowl, refill, then lower the bowl it carefully and slowly. The shrimp is in pieces too big for the galaxies, but’s soft so they pick off pieces. The brine shrimp I give is frozen so I stick it in the bowl same way. It’ll melt and stay relatively down.

– Atlantis Child

[plymbloke]

nice one, ill give that a go

[katkin]

I’ve just discovered my cpd’s absolutely love Hikari Micro Wafers. I had some to try some of my other fish on and thought I’d put a pinch in for the cpd’s and they went mad darting about making sure they got every last one. They even braved the surfice to get those that had stayed floating, and I’ve never got them to the surface to eat before.
K

[Jimbo]

Going to purchase some of those katkin.

[Author]

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