I have had maybe 3 or 4 fish that wouldn't eat pellets no matter what, but I didn't let the fish die, I just gave in and decided I'll feed them frozen for the rest of the fish's life
Any Failures with Eat or Die?
- Thread starter KelberiFishLover19
- Start date
Eat or die always works its only a matter of time and patience. When the fish is stubborn and wont eat pellets dont offer anything other then pellets soaked in juice from what they are used to eat. Had a snall datnioid that it took three months of starving before it caved in to pellets. Even with small pigs like raypups and baby cichlas in the tank.
Not all species of fish will eat pellets in captivity. Not all freshwater species, and not all marine species.
Yes I think one has to be careful when they choose an eat or die approach, I have trained a LOT of fish over the years, from numerous species, many wild specimens, to fish imported from Asia that were raised on bloodworms, and not every last fish on the planet will give in and eat pellets. Some hold out for weeks, some months, but there are species, or individuals of species, that just won't do it. They will become malnourished and over time become ill and whither away. It's not a common scenario, but it can certainly happen. Nothing wrong with feeding fresh/frozen supplemented with vitamins for those species that don't typically accept pellets in captivity.
Well spoken rd. IME datnioids are stubborn as hell on pellets. Most cichlids ive kept are easy and same goes with rays. Ive got two bichirs that refuses pellets 9 out of 10 feedings. And they can refuse food for weeks then suddenly eats again.
Short story from me on this.
Recently lost my JD who had tried unsuccessfully to swallow a 5" syno cat. He had always been reluctant to take pellets, preferred live or frozen. He ate quite a few of my tetras and rainbowfish, but i eventually got him eating pellets using the "eat or die" method. He put on some healthy size for a few months, but then abruptly stopped feeding one day last week, then lo and behold the next morning i found him dead with the syno tail hanging out his mouth.
I guess old habits caught up with him.
Recently lost my JD who had tried unsuccessfully to swallow a 5" syno cat. He had always been reluctant to take pellets, preferred live or frozen. He ate quite a few of my tetras and rainbowfish, but i eventually got him eating pellets using the "eat or die" method. He put on some healthy size for a few months, but then abruptly stopped feeding one day last week, then lo and behold the next morning i found him dead with the syno tail hanging out his mouth.
I guess old habits caught up with him.
I too have found datnoids are really stubborn when it comes to eating pellets, I've managed to get them to eat frozen though. I usually take a silverside and jam pellets into it and they don't notice the pellets most of the time.
Mixing pellets into tilapia and gradually reducing the amount of tilapia helped me get a dat onto pellets.
