Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid Feeding

[nadajdui]

So far all he eats is frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms. Frozen mysiss srhimp is tough anc go. Tried about 6 different foods from pellets to flakes, refused all of them. I understand he is a carnivore. I have no access to live food. I want him to have a varied diet, so aside from what he DOES eat, which I listed above, what else should I try?

 

[Tolak]

How long have you had him, and what are the tankmates? Many fish will be iffy with eating until they settle in, apistos need a tank with plenty of plants & caves for hiding places to feel secure.

Sometimes it takes them a while to get accustomed to new food, as long as they are healthy & eating the bloodworms & brine shrimp you may want to skip feeding for a day or two, then introduce some different foods.

 

[nadajdui]

This is his second week with me. he is in a quarantine tank at present, which is bare bottom. It's not the greatest habitat for him, but until I get my 22 gallon for him it will have to do. I understand what you're saying about feeling secure, but he has plenty of flower pots in there and some fake plants, and floating ones as well. It's all I can do for now.

 

[Tolak]

Try using only room light to light the tank. Dimmer lighting makes fish feel more secure.

 

[ox5477]

Fasting a fish will make them more "apt" to try new things as if they are hungry.. they will eat it....

But this doesn't always work so if they don't eat it right up after you fast them for 2 to 3 days then you know they won't eat that.

 

[BigIan]

try adding a floer pot or just some freshly cleaned stones or plastic plants to the quarantine tank to make him ffeel less stressed and safer?

 

[nadajdui]

He has some plastic plants in there, and 2 full flower pots, plus one broken one. He does have many places to hide, but I think he's still getting used to his new home. And he doesn't even know that he is going to be moved soon, poor guy. I'm just glad he's settled in enough to eat anything, though I'm sure very few fish will refuse frozen brine shrimp lol.

 

[Spank]

So far all he eats is frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms. Frozen mysiss srhimp is tough anc go. Tried about 6 different foods from pellets to flakes, refused all of them. I understand he is a carnivore. I have no access to live food. I want him to have a varied diet, so aside from what he DOES eat, which I listed above, what else should I try?

My cockatoo dwarfs fon't eat anything but frozen food. Everytime I try something new, they'll have a taste then spit it back out and will remember next time you put the same food in. I finally gave in and have been feeding them a pure frozen food diet consisiting of frozen daphnia, artemia and blood worm.

 

[blue acara]

So far all he eats is frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms. Frozen mysiss srhimp is tough anc go. Tried about 6 different foods from pellets to flakes, refused all of them. I understand he is a carnivore. I have no access to live food. I want him to have a varied diet, so aside from what he DOES eat, which I listed above, what else should I try?

My cockatoo dwarfs fon't eat anything but frozen food. Everytime I try something new, they'll have a taste then spit it back out and will remember next time you put the same food in. I finally gave in and have been feeding them a pure frozen food diet consisiting of frozen daphnia, artemia and blood worm.

i have a male sajica that was the same, couple of weeks ago i tried a new food-JBL Gala and he really likes it

 

[nadajdui]

What's JBL-Gala?

 

[blue acara]

its a flake food and its has some other stuff in it. sells on aquaessentials.co.uk

 

[Griz]

One thng not mentioned yet is Spirulina. The apistos I've kept all seem to like picking at Spirulina tablets. I really feed them for the other fish but these guys seem to like them too. I like to feed a wide variety of foods, all of which have already been mentioned. I think apistos are like kids - if you give them a variety of foods, they are more likely to try new things. They can also be easily spoiled.