Fish Not Eating

[DebraAustin]

Hi,

I have had my fish for one week now. They are dwarf sunset platys (2) about 1.25" long. I have a ten gallon tank, with a few plants. Water stats yesterday morning were ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10 ppm (haven't done them this morning). My question is that they both seem to have stopped eating. They are active, have good coloring, they both pooped yesterday and they don't show any other signs of problems (that I can see). However, the last three times I've fed them they have taken the food in and then spit it all back out. I cut them down to one feeding per day, thinking I was giving them too much and they were just full. This morning I fed them and it was the same thing. They went wild for the food, but didn't keep any of it down. As a matter of fact, they would swim up to the food, look at it and swim away. I am feeding them Tetrafin and tried a few freeze dried bloodworms yesterday, but they still didn't want any of it. Any ideas?

Debra

 

[Bloo]

They might be used to a different brand and it will just take some time to get used to Try feeding a variety, but feeding once a day is absolutely plenty enough. Sounds like they are otherwise healthy and doing fine

 

[DebraAustin]

They might be used to a different brand and it will just take some time to get used to Try feeding a variety, but feeding once a day is absolutely plenty enough. Sounds like they are otherwise healthy and doing fine

They ate it voraciously for the first five days...Unfortunately it is quite a drive to a lfs so they'll just have to eat it until I can get to the store again. Talk about picky eaters! I'll keep an eye on them and make sure nothing else shows up.

Debra

 

[Bloo]

They might very well just not be hungry then ! Keep an eye on them and the colour of their poo and the regularity. You can feed them bits of finely chopped blanced vegetables too just not too much or else it will polute the water.

 

[DebraAustin]

They might very well just not be hungry then ! Keep an eye on them and the colour of their poo and the regularity. You can feed them bits of finely chopped blanced vegetables too just not too much or else it will polute the water.

Which kind of vegetables? There are a lot of them out there. Should I stick with green leafy types or what?

Debra

 

[Bloo]

Take your pick - you name them (i.e just about anything)! Peas (take the skin off), cucumber, courgette, carrot, snippets of salad etc. etc.

Some people blanch them lightly (boil / microwave for a few second), cool then feed to fish.

You can even try pieces of fruit too, such as apple, banana, grape etc.

You could even lightly boil some, then mush it up in a food mixer - mix with a bit little gelatine and water and freeze it. Once frozen, cut small pieces of frozen cubes and feed to fish

But never leave any uneaten vegetable in the tank for longer than a day, as it may pollute the water.

 

[DebraAustin]

Take your pick - you name them (i.e just about anything)! Peas (take the skin off), cucumber, courgette, carrot, snippets of salad etc. etc.

Some people blanch them lightly (boil / microwave for a few second), cool then feed to fish.

You can even try pieces of fruit too, such as apple, banana, grape etc.

You could even lightly boil some, then mush it up in a food mixer - mix with a bit little gelatine and water and freeze it. Once frozen, cut small pieces of frozen cubes and feed to fish

But never leave any uneaten vegetable in the tank for longer than a day, as it may pollute the water.

Thanks for the information. I didn't know fish could have such a varied diet. Can I feed them the vegetables raw or is blanching better? Also, do I put them in there in big pieces and let them bite it off or should I cut them into tiny pieces (my fish are very small)? If I need to cut them up how small should they be for fish that are about 1.25". I know that platys like green stuff, but didn't really know how to get it to them. Now I do.

They are happily playing right now. They don't lack any energy that is for sure.

Debra

 

[Bloo]

Fish generally seem to eat the vegetables more easily if it's lightly blanched - but not quite fully cooked and really soft, as it loses some of it's nutrition as opposed to raw veg. You should just try it out and see what they like, but it might take them a few days to get used to any new foods.
Peas in particular are said to aid digestion a great deal and helps with constipated fish.
Small fish will quite happily pick at big pieces of vegetable, so you don't have to dice it too small.

 

[DebraAustin]

Well I don't have any peas at the moment, but I do have zucchini and leafy greens, maybe I'll give them a try over the next week. I want happy fish. I'll get some peas the next time I go shopping. Frozen should be OK, because then they are already blanched and all I'd need to do is thaw them (and of course peel them).

Debra