Fattening Up My Cupids

[karin]

Two of my five new cupid cichlids have sunken bellies. I did a course of API General Cure (Mitrondizole) and have observed some poo that seems normal. They all are active and very interested in food but I noticed that the really skinny one will take in flake food and spit it out. They all seem to like small sinking pellets but the really skinny one doesn't seem to have the best hunting skills. Now frozen blood worms are a different story. They love them and this is what the supplier told me that they were fed. I've watched the two skinny ones feed on blood worms. Brine shrimp also seem to work okay.

To see if I can fatten them up, I was going to feed bloodworms every day for a week or two. I will also throw some flake in to distract the tetras and maybe a bit of sinking pellets to try to interest them in other foods as I'm not too keen on bloodworms every day.

Any problems with this idea?

 

[hamfist]

Just to fatten them up, I think 100% bloodworms will be fine.

Just not long term, as you seem to agree with already.

 

[markandhisfish]

feeding bloodworm every day isnt ideal. for 1 thing they are not actually that great nutritionaly and also , you may well find the fish become "addicted" and refuse to eat anything else. taking in food and spitting it out can be a sign of internal parasites. is the fish showing any other symptoms , such as listlesness , hiding away , stringy/mucusy poo etc?

 

[star4]

Soak the bloodworm with a little garlic, garlic helps the immune system and increases appitite which should make them eat other foods too.

 

[karin]

They all seem to act normally. No hiding, moving around alot interacting. The poo on the really skinny one this AM looked normal. Altho before the medication it did seem a bit stringy on the other skinny guy. The only odd thing is the really skinny one seems to be so excited that he can't focus on food well, now this is not true with bloodworms, he was right in there competing with the tetras and angels. He actually seemed to be the most assertive of the cupids.

I just want to see if I was inadvertantly starving these two fish, that is if they are already addicted to the bloodworms from the supplier side of things. How about if I do bloodworms every other day and in between flake and sinking pellets and the brine shrimp replacing a blood worm day once a week?

How quickly do they fatten up? I suppose it just may be that the skinny guy or both the skinny ones may have some other problem and will fail to thrive too.

Soak the bloodworm with a little garlic, garlic helps the immune system and increases appitite which should make them eat other foods too.

Just mash some garlic and mash the food in there?

 

[markandhisfish]

the stringy poo can be a bit deceiving as fish will also produce this if there stomachs are very empty. which is why its good to check for other symptoms before rushing into a diagnosis i think stars garlic suggestion is a good idea

 

[hamfist]

If they're eating bloodworms well then I see no problem in a short term diet of 100% bloodworms.

Many cichlid breeders in the far east feed all their fish and grow outs on 100% bloodworm, and they seem to do OK. I guess the bloodworms are probably the cheapest way of feeding their fish. As I said, I wouldn't recommend it long term, but it would certainly tell you whether there was anything further wrong with the skinny cupids or whether they were just fussy eaters.
If, by chance, they are already "fixated" on bloodworm already then you will not be fixating them any further by feeding it exclusively to them.

 

[snowflake311]

They are wild caught right? Because it will take a little bit of time to get them on to flakes or pellets. IF they are eating the blood worms just feed them everyday and try to add different food as snacks. Fatten them up and then try some other food.

My discus get Blood worms and Beefheart mix as their main food I feed pellets and flakes as snacks. They are doing great and the skinny always fatten up with time in these diets. it takes a week or 2 depending on how skinny the fish is. IT could take a month to get them looking 100%. I have a bad habit of buying reject skinny discus at the pet store and fattening them up.

good luck.

 

[karin]

Yes they are wild caught. I'll go with the bloodworm diet and snacks of pellets and flake soaked in garlic.

Thanks folks. I'll report back.

 

[markandhisfish]

good luck with them .