I have one 10" syn and one 4" syn/fh hybrid and they are both scared as hell of eating floating food.. The big syn will slowly creep up to the top grab a pellet, then spaz out and jerk back down to the bottom, then repeat. The smaller hybrid does these lunges where half of his body shoots up out of the tank and half the time he totally misses the pellet.. Does anybody notice this with their vieja?
Are your vieja scared of the surface?
- Thread starter voodeezy
- Start date
Is your tank pretty low to the ground? That can make fish nervous. Haven't noticed this with my argentea or black belts. Also, they may just be settling in, how long have you had them?
They are actually in different tanks the big one is in a 110 on a wooden stand about 5' the hybrid is in 30 gal alone for now and it's about 4'... they live and eat with low light and they both are afraid of eating off the surface... I've had one for 1 1/2 years and one for 3 months neither is shy and the both demand food all the time idk why they are both like that in different tanks... I may take a vid when I feed them in the morning
IME vieja are very subject to tank size, being completely bashful in tanks that are undersized and fairly gregarious in ones that meet their spacial needs.
Most danger in nature comes from the surface, birds, koati's, etc, being afraid is a natural defense mechanism and survival technique.
I had two fenestratus (formerly vieja now paratheraps) and they had no issues eating off the surface. They were in with many other fish that were already established who fed off the surface, including a larger Midas and a school of silver dollars.