Pellet training

I have a small 2-3 inch Indo dat and I have had him for around 2-3 weeks now. He has grown and he has also been feeding well and seems to be very happy. Right now he eats Fathead minnows as treats and an assortment of frozen food like Bloodworms and brineshrimp etc.

He totally ignores the Shrimp pellets I feed to the bichirs, and also ignores floating pellets.

I would like to know how to get him onto pellets, should I wait til he hits 5-6" or is it better to start early?

The tank has lots of hiding spots with driftwood rocks and fake plants, If I was to remove a lot of the decor would this promote him to go after floating pellets? Or would he just cower in the corner?

So there is no way he would starve himself to death as long as I am offering food?

okay thats good news then thanks, il keep feeding nothing but shrimp pellets until he is interested in them. I also have some hikari gold that I might try

I Put some hikari gold in, just 2 pellets my ornate bichir ate one. which is shocking. not sure what happened to the other but I guess either the dat had it or the bichir did.
2 questions:

1. Should I add something that will feed from the top for the dat to copy? If so what?
2. How long should I "Starve" him before it becomes dangerous?

Shall I just throw about 4 or 5 in there ? the bichirs seem to be growing quite keen of them, so when i put one or 2 in they are gone instantly