Dwarf Gourami's Not Eating

[Shaun]

Hi, I have a new pair of Red Honey Dwarf Gourami's and i havent yet seen either of them eat. When i introduce food to them if they do go for the food they spit it out straight away. However they do appear to be happily swimming around.

Should i be concerned at this stage?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sylvia]

Are your fish honeys (Colisa chuna/sota) or dwarfs (Colisa lalia)? This common name you are using is very confusing. Forget about the color morph in future and just call the fish either honey or dwarf...

How long have you had them? What sexes are they? What else is in the tank and how big is it?

To be honest, I wouldn't worry. If they show interest in the food - even if they seem to be 'spitting' most of it out (they aren't actualy spitting it all out BTW), they are fine. Do try varying their diet a bit though - flake is fine as a staple but they need some live/frozen and veggie supplements as well.

 

[Shaun]

They are Dwarf Gouramis and i have had them for 2 days now, they are both males. It is a 22g tank with a small loach and obviousy the pair of gouramis.

What live/frozen food would you recommend for me to try? as at my local fish shop they have a wide range of frozen food available, which type would be best?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Tsi_User]

What kind of food are you feeding them right now? Luckily we haven't had trouble with getting our Dwarf Gouramis to eat.

Our Gouramis eat basic fish flakes, Loach food, Cory Cat sinking wafers, and every other day they get frozen Brine Shrimp and Blood worms.

I would suggest either trying to feed them Blood Worms or go to the shop where you bought the fish and buy what they feed their fish for the time being and slowly change their food over to the food you want to feed them. Good luck!

 

[Shaun]

At the moment im feeding them basic fish flakes, but i was going to give frozen food a try as it would be my first time. At my local fish shop they sell a wide range of frozen food in packets with about 12 cubes. Ive never used it before is it quite straight forward to use?

Thanks

 

[gsta13]

Ye frozen food is good mate, mine dwarfs like it, jus keep on vrying the food that way they dont get to picky but thye will eat eventually if there hungry! try asking what they usd to be fed at the place you got them from. I was thinking wenreading this i dont like sprouts but if i was starving i dont think i wuld have a problem

Greg

 

[Shaun]

How exsactly do you go about using it? Do you just drop the cube in the tank? Or is there something else you need to do first?

Thanks for your advice

 

[juwelfan]

How exsactly do you go about using it? Do you just drop the cube in the tank? Or is there something else you need to do first?

Thanks for your advice

Unless you have loads of fish i wouldnt drop a whole cube in. I just cut a chunk off while still frozen and use my fingers to hold it at the top of the water it it melts and they float away into the water. See if they eat it all, if not then feed less next time.

 

[gsta13]

i use kitchen tongs to hold the frozen cube and waft it around whilst the bloodworm dropped out, my dwarfs come up and even try to nic a little of the food from the tongs

i left one cube in a net in a bit of the water i took from the tank once and waited until it defrosted and the tipped the blood worm in.

Another idea get some live bloodworm. If you just tip it in the tank the worm will start to come to life when they come to the right temperature

 

[Shaun]

Ok, thanks for your help

 

[sylvia]

I actualy go about this a different way - I take a little cup-full of tank water and run some hot tap water round the edges to warm the water inside the cup up (only cause I'm impatient). Then I cut a little bit of cube off with a knife, put it in the cup and simply pour the whole thing into the tank as soon as the ice has melted - if I've cut too much, I keep the leftovers in my fridge until the following day and feed the rest then.

If you've onyl had them for 2 days though, this is quite normal and I'd just suggest patience

 

[Shaun]

Ok then thanks for the advice, I guess it would be better for their diet if i got a mixture of frozen foods rather than just one type?

 

[juwelfan]

Ok then thanks for the advice, I guess it would be better for their diet if i got a mixture of frozen foods rather than just one type?

Just like humans, a vaired diet is better than the same stuff everyday.

So how did u feed them in the end?

 

[Shaun]

They they actually seem to be eating some some bit of flake which is good as the first two days i didnt see them eat anything. At the weekend il get some frozen food from my LFS and try tht

They they actually seem to be eating some some bit of flake which is good as the first two days i didnt see them eat anything. At the weekend il get some frozen food from my LFS and try tht

Sorry to double post just tryed to edit tht 1 but it was exsactly the same. Its meant to be "Small bit of flake"

 

[gsta13]

lol if everyone went to change each spelling mistake i would take half an hour to mae every post, doesnt help on the laptop when some keys dont seem to be working unless i pound them!
lt us know how it goes matey
greg