Firemouth problems

[NinjaSmurf]

I have my baby fire in a thirty with six male guppies and a bristlenose, along with a pretty decent sized piece of driftwood with some mad tunnels and hiding holes. the problem is, the tank is tall, the only cichlid food I can get is the floating type, and guess who refuses to come to the top? I've soaked the pellets in water so they'd sink, but then half the time he's so busy chasing tiny specks of nothing or hiding from me that he doesn't see the food, and then it either rots in the gravel or the guppies root it out. He's slowly starving to death. It's really annoying because I try to give him live food too, I've discovered some bloodworms out in a metal trough in our yard, and he eats them when he sees them, but again, most of the time he doesn't, and then they go to live in the gravel.

I was thinking I could try to hatch out some brine shrimp and then let them swim in the tank for him to eat as he sees them, but I don't think just a diet of those is going to help himm out too much.

I'm at a loss, I don't know if I should just continue trying different foods, or if my his problem is that he isn't secure enough and I should get some dither fish. Either way it's money I don't have, so I can't afford to waste any on something that won't work. I'm startinnng to think I should just give him to someone with the funds and the experience to deal with this, I've never had a cichlid that hid all the time and wasn't a complete pig before, I have no idea what to do.

Help!

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi there,

My own pair of firemouths (currently with over 100 2 week old fry) also refuse to take cichlid pellets/sticks (no problems getting them to the top of the tank though). Try some flake food, mine are approx 4" TL just now and are just as happy chasing flake as it sinks as they are chasing the frozen food I use as well.

Regards

Andrew

 

[isu_guy]

how long have you had the firemouth?
When I bought mine they took a bit to really adjust to the surroundings. Another thing to consider is perhaps he doesn't need as much food as you think. If you've only had him a few weeks and youve seen him eat here and there, then hes probably not starving. Most fish will overcome their skittishness when hunger starts setting in.

 

[dirtydogg]

My firemouth doesn't "prefer" the pellets, but he's in with a bunch of other fish, so I feed the other fish and he nibbles at the flakes and then I drop the pellets in after the others have eaten, he will then go about finishing off what is left, just make sure to clean up any left overs until you get used to his eating. Another thing that he loves is the Wardley Shrimp Pellets. they sink, but make a mess. I feed him a couple of those too, he makes a mess but then goes around basically vacuming the tank after I'm done feeding to get every drop.

 

[troutfly]

I have raised small cichlids before and have used several methods to feed them, I have used a worm cone that I have siliconed together and used it to hold freeze dried tubiflex worms under water at about 6" from the bottom, as the worms start to soak up water, they start to filter through the holes in it and allow the fish to feed from it, this also works well with frozen foods. Here is a picture of my BGK using it:

Some more tricks to use is just float small chunks of the worms on the surface and let them break apart and float down to the waiting firemouth. Also try and feed it with the lights off and see if that works.

One more thing, is your tank heavily planted or have caves in it, the reason I ask is because as a small fish they need a hiding spot no matter what their tank mates are.

 

[SarahBravo]

Easier way - check out www.aquatics-online.co.uk - tell me what sinking Hikari cichlid food you want, paypal me the money and I'll post you a supply. They may even post direct to the US. They are excellent suppliers - I use them all the time. Hikari cichlid food is excellent too - I use it for all mine.

HTH

Sarah

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Well, he eats flakes and pellets but he has a tendency to spit them out now. He's learning to come up near the top of the tank but he still isn't getting enough food. I gave him fresh shrimp tonight and he ate a chunk or two, but he spits them out after a little. It's really frustrating as hell.

 

[freddyk]

How long has he been at it like this?

 

[NinjaSmurf]

A couple weeks, maybe a month. He's all head and his stomach is sunk in. I'm not sure what his problem is, but I don't know what to do other than just keep trying to feed him. I figure he'll either get better or die, unless I give him away to someone with the know how.

 

[freddyk]

For now try fattening him up with fresh foods, like frozen or live bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and peas. If he takes these, then at least you can give him some nutrition before going back to working on the pellets and flakes.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

I'm getting some money tomorrow, I'll see how much brine shrimp eggs are. Other than that I'll have to dig through the mud and see what I can dig up blood worm wise. Thanks for the advice, I hate not knowing what to do.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Well, problem solved. I had some hikira (sp?) discus pellets left from a split open bag of them from a sample, it seems he loves these. They're the only thing he eats now. I figure discus are cichlids so this will be okay to eat for now till I can get him on something else.


Oh why did I end up with a picky fish!?!