African Leaf Fish

[rob newland]

Ok around a month ago I bought 2, 1" african leaf fish. They are doing good in my tank - but I have 2 questions:
1. They do not seem to be eating - the guy in my lfs said to feed them bloodworm - which I do - but they ignore it and other fish eat it. What do I feed them?
2. When I bought them- they were both dark brown, but now one has gone a dark blotchy brown with red eyes, and the other has gone a very pale brown with normal colour eyes. Could one be the male and the other the female?
Thanks,
Rob

 

[three-fingers]

If you have had them for a month they must be eating something . Have you counted your other fish recently?

 

[rob newland]

Yep they are all there. Plus the leaf fish are probably my smallest fish so there is no chance of them eating anything...
Maybe they have been eating my plants, all my other fish do...

 

[nmonks]

Because they are stealth predators, they are very shy. They are also, if not quite nocturnal, then certainly fish with a distinct preference for dark and shady tanks. If they are in an open tank with larger, more active fish they may simply be terrified. What fish are they with? Could you add some floating plants, like hornwort?

Mine loved bloodworms. Just give it time.

They definitely won't eat plants.

Sexing them is tricky. I haven't heard anything about eye-colour. If I recall correctly, males have a patch of spines on the flanks that females lack.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[rob newland]

Ok I have a heavily planted tank with lots of hiding places - I researched into them before i got em and apparently they hide in these places to be invisible from prey. I will try feeding them at night.
Cheers,
Rob.