feeding time

[ryan]

in my 50g tank i hav recently added 2 gourami 2 corydoras and 4 sucking loaches. none of which seem to want any food. i hav tried them on frozen foods flakes and even live foods none of which seem to entise them into eating. can anyone suggest a way of getting them to feed.

 

[CFC]

Corys not eating!!! Thats a sentance i never thought id see.

How long have the fish been in the tank? It could just be that they are freaked from the move and need a little time to settle in but if they havent eaten within a week id be worried. I presume that you tested the water before adding fish and that all the parameters checked out ok?

BTW you should really only have one sucking loach to a tank, they are territorial and will fight, often to the death. In a 100 gallon tank you might get away with 2 but 4 in a 50g is going to be war

 

[ryan]

in my 50g tank i hav recently added 2 gourami 2 corydoras and 4 sucking loaches. none of which seem to want any food. i hav tried them on frozen foods flakes and even live foods none of which seem to entise them into eating. can anyone suggest a way of getting them to feed.

they hav not eaten for over a week and are looking bad. there are no sign of disease and the water parameters are fine. whats happening?

 

[CFC]

Is the shop they came from in the same town as you? It could be pH shock if the lfs water is a different pH to youur tank water. If that isnt it then my next guess would internal parasites or a internal bacteria infection, do any of the fish look swollen at all or are they overly thin?

 

[Alien Anna]

Baby "sucking loaches" (aka Chinese Algae Eaters) eat algae, which might explain why they aren't hungry. However, when they do start eating food other than algae, they'll go for your gouramis and they'll definitely go for each other and will probably kill one another.

CAEs are vicious, territorial fish. You really need to take them back to the LFS - they can grow to a foot long!

 

[CFC]

CAEs are vicious, territorial fish. You really need to take them back to the LFS - they can grow to a foot long!

I am really getting fed up with seeing this day in day out. Not all sucking loaches are fish murdering monsters and very few ever reach the magical 12" mark in captivity. I have had a CAE for about 6 years, he is still only about 3 1/2" long and lives in a 30g community tank with tetras; dwarf rainbow fish; corys; a few small clown loaches and a school of pentazona barbs none of which he has ever harmed, he still eats a little algea and only ever shows the slightest aggression if one of the corys or loaches try to steal his cave. The biggest CAE i have ever seen was still only about 7" and i doubt many people have seen them that big or bigger, hundreds of people keep redtail and rainbow sharks; all maner of botia species; angelfish and tiger barbs all of which are just as aggressive if not worse than CAEs but they dont get witch hunted like the poor old CAE. Of course some will have bad attitudes but that can be the same with any fish, i had a female rosy barb once that attacked everything in the tank so badly that i had to give her a tank of her own, even in there she tried to attack her own reflection.

 

[Inchworm]

in my 50g tank i hav recently added 2 gourami 2 corydoras and 4 sucking loaches. none of which seem to want any food. i hav tried them on frozen foods flakes and even live foods none of which seem to entise them into eating. can anyone suggest a way of getting them to feed.

they hav not eaten for over a week and are looking bad. there are no sign of disease and the water parameters are fine. whats happening?

Hello ryan

While most fish can go a few days without eating, a week without food is something to be concerned about.

First, let me ask if you're really sure they are all not eating. I ask this because the corys could be eating at night when you don't see them doing it. If you think they're not eating, try putting their food in just before lights out.

Have you tried spirulina discs? Both corys and gouramis usually like them. (The loaches I don't know about.)

What do you mean by "looking bad?" Perhaps there is a disease in your tank and you are just not diagnosing it. How are the other fish in there?