Baby Endli not eating :(

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Sidrock

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 20, 2009
579
3
48
Bombay, India
Hi guys,

I got a 4" Endli (along with a couple of 3.5" Dels) on Jan 3, 2011.

The baby Dels are eating bloodworms (which is what they were fed at the store) and occasionally nibble on Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets dropped in the tank. All this looks very promising and I hope to soon wean these guys off live food to pellets.

However, I have had no luck with the Endli. He occasionally snaps and even catches one of the Tiger Barb in his tank, but does not manage to swallow it.

I have tried:
1. Live blood worm
2. Freeze dried blood worm
3. Hikari pellets (Cichlid Gold Sinking)
4. Shredded, tiny pieces of shrimp

He has not eaten any of this in my presence in the past 2 days.

Do you guys have any advice?

I am considering getting tiny feeders (goldfish) as a last resort.

Please Halp!

Sid

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Is he being bullied by his tankmates? Try moving him into a tank alone. That would work, no bichirs would starve itself to death on purpose.
 
I just waited and eventually he started eating fresh shrimp, and now he eats pellets like the rest and is usually the first one there! However don't give up it took over 3 weeks before my little endli ate anything. Over 5 weeks to get him on pellets. I fed them shrimp once he started eating it every 4-5th day, then he started eating pellets randomly. Just don't give up and not a reason to panic yet. There are a lot of people on this forum that have had similar problems and poly's refusing to eat up to a month can be fairly common. Just keep at it, he'll eventually catch on and eat food.

Whatever you do, don't go feeder fish. Goldfish of any kind are bad feeders, they contain high amounts of thiaminase which breaks down thiamine (vitamin B1) which can already be hard enough to supplement in a diet. Feeders in general are terrible quality to begin with and usually have diseases you don't want to introduce into a tank (you are what you eat is very true. don't feed your fish garbage if you don't want them to be garbage health).
 
Thank you gentlemen for the advice..

I saw him poop this morning.. And was relieved to know that he is eating something even if not in my presence.

Then tonight (a few hours ago), I put shredded (fresh) shrimp in the tank and the baby Endli and the baby Dels gobbled it up :)

I am really glad I got some good advice from you guys which kept me clam and patient and didn't lead me to resort to feeders (goldfish.)

Cheers,
Sid
 
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