African Shell Dwellers not eating?

[TylerAquatics]

I got three multifasciatus shell dwellers for my 20 gallon long yesterday but when I fed them that day they weren't eating. I fed them this cichlid delight frozen food that contains spirulina, daphnia, and turkey heart. When I put it in the tank they would put it in their mouths and then spit it out. I haven't fed them yet today. What should I do?

 

[JuiceBox52]

Try soaking their food in garlic juice, it should increase appetite . Also look at their poop, is it white or stringy? That may indicate worms. If you just got them it may be stress and should go away once they're settled in

 

[TylerAquatics]

Try soaking their food in garlic juice, it should increase appetite . Also look at their poop, is it white or stringy? That may indicate worms. If you just got them it may be stress and should go away once they're settled in

Thank you for replying. I've only been in the hobby for around 4 months so I'm can't really identify any poop anywhere. I'm using a whiteish sand mixed in with a lot of crushed coral, so I'm not sure if what I'm looking at is coral, sand, or poop. I'm preparing frozen food right now to feed them. Maybe they're not eating because I'm preparing it wrong. I put a whole cube in a glass with no water and wait for around 10 mins until I'm able to crush it with a spoon. Then I put it on the spoon and put it in the tank. It's probably just a stress issue though. I'll update you how it goes after feeding

 

[TylerAquatics]

Try soaking their food in garlic juice, it should increase appetite . Also look at their poop, is it white or stringy? That may indicate worms. If you just got them it may be stress and should go away once they're settled in

Looks like they're still not eating. I'll wait another day hopefully nothing bad will happen

 

[Crispii]

Just give them some some time. They're probably just getting used to the tank. Also, multis do best in a group of 6 or more.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Fish can live almost 2 weeks without food, so a couple days after transport will be ok, as long as there is nothing underlying wrong with them

 

[Circus]

When I got my shellies, they didn't eat for about 3 days after purchase. Also make sure you have at least 2 or 3 shells per fish in the tank, the more places to hide they have, the more comfortable they will be.

 

[Colin_T]

Make sure the water quality is good (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, less than 20ppm nitrate).

Make sure your water chemistry is similar to the shops. Shell dweller cichlids come from Lake Tanganyika and do best in water with a GH above 300ppm and a pH above 7.8.

Don't feed raw poultry products to fish because they are usually contaminated with drug resistant bacteria.

Don't use terrestrial animal meats for fish because fish don't normally eat those types of food.

Feed the fish on marine organisms like shrimp, squid, fish, daphnia, brineshrimp, mysis shrimp, rotifers, microworms,etc.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Usually if the fish spit out their food, it could mean the food is too big or too hard for them to chew/eat.
Try to soak the food in water to soften it or break it into smaller pieces.

From my experience with most South America dwarf Cichlids(might be different from your African Cichlids), they prefer smaller or fine food.
I find that Dr Bassleer Biofish Food Regular M size pellets are mostly eaten by all my Cichlids.
Even my picky Apistogrammas and Blue Rams will eat this food.
Also, my 4" Geophagus prefer this M size pellets which is about 0.5-0.8mm in size.

https://www.aquarium-munster.com/en/products/food/dr-bassleer-biofish-food-regular/