View Full Version : Paratilapia Bleekeri
I have a full grown P. Bleekeri and all it has ever eaten is earthworms. It wont take feeders or anything non-live. What does everybody else feed theirs? Any suggestions on getting him to take other foods? Its weird, a cichlid this size being the most difficult fish to get to eat. I just can't figure it out I have had him for over a year and seems to be happy and healthy. Gets extremely aggressive at feeding time, as long as its worms that is. I am pretty sure it came from the wild but it seems like by now I could get it on something else. I have a lot of experience in keeping fish, fresh and salt, and I am completely stumped on this one! Any help would be appreciated.:)
I had two pollenis that'll eat anything.
just starve it dude.
Carg R
05-17-2006, 12:55 AM
" tetra cichlid jumbo sticks"-though messy may do the trick
It went on a 2 month hunger strike and came down with a massive case of ich when I brought it home, this leads me to believe that it may have come from the wild, also the colors are extreme which also leads me to believe that. How long could it be safely starved for? It took two months of trying just to get it to eat anything at all.
throttle
05-17-2006, 7:49 PM
I have a small polleni that will eat hikari carnivor pellets. They aren't his favorite but he will eat plenty when thats all that there is. He nails nightcrawlers like theres no tomorrow, so I feed them sparingly to keep him eating other foods.
YOOPER
05-19-2006, 12:16 AM
I doubt the bleek is wild caught. You can still get nice spotted ones from Rapps. To change the diet just starve him. When he is hungry he will eat.
scat66
05-19-2006, 3:50 AM
mine eat cichlid pellets, bloodworm,flake, mealworm... its just what they get used too.
Dude, I realize starving him should work but he did not eat for 2 whole months and still no results!
cichlid savage
05-19-2006, 7:30 PM
Mine eats whatever i put in the tank. Pellets, Tubifex worms, Flakes
YOOPER
05-19-2006, 11:27 PM
Is he alone in the tank? If so he might not feel any pressure to eat when he has no competition. Try some giant dannies along with the starvation, he might come around.
USMCtanker
05-24-2006, 10:08 PM
u might haft to starve him a little and mix something with the worms,
I think I will try the gut-loading idea. It seems like a lot more work than just throwing them in though.:ROFL:
riversting
07-20-2006, 5:48 AM
Is he alone in the tank? If so he might not feel any pressure to eat when he has no competition. Try some giant dannies along with the starvation, he might come around.
ive actually used thids strategy and it worked.
mine is also an adult polleni which i acquired just recently. He only eats superworms, atleast once in 2 days, and definitely no good since that will result to deficiences later on.
i tried fasting him for days that turned weeks and still he wouldn't touch anything, only superworms. that was when he's all alone in his tank.
i tried adding a tankmate, a tinfoil barb, known target / dither fish prowess, (in his 35 gallon tank) that would eat the pellets that i drop.
slowly for about 2 weeks,the tinfoil's eagerness made my polleni try some pellets, only to be coughed out a second later. i succesfully had him tried and eat the pellets when i finally transferred him to a 75 gallon tank with 5 tinfoil barbs, 5 inchers, and a pair of loiselle, 5 inchers too. competition to get food was to stiff that it prompt him to eat whatever brand of pellet i drop. it moved his instinct to compete.