Black Crappie won't eat

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Guinness

Piranha
MFK Member
Dec 5, 2005
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Oak Lawn IL
I got a 2" black crappie about 5 days ago. It hasn't eaten yet. I haven't offered live food as I try to avoid it, but I think I have to. I've tried tetra color pellets and freeze dried krill. Any suggestions other than live foods. I think I have to give in tommorow because he's/she's just to small to hold out any longer.
Thanks
Guinness
 
I know its live but small crickets may spark his interest. they are also less likely to carry parasites. Once you get him used to eating you can mix pellets with crickets and ween him off.....if he'll take crickets even. you may even try the same thing with worms. try some chopped shrimp, or beefheart possibly too.
 
ya my blue gills when they were little had the same thing. it took about 2 weeks befor they would eat. a big thing was there was other fish going for the food as well and they were to scared i guess to go for it. so when i took other fish out they ate. but if thats not the case just keep trying they will eat sooner or later or then i guess they just didnt want to live
 
Crappie are notoriously picky when small, they feed almost exclusively on small insects, crustaceans, and worms. Tubifex, and blackworms as well as brineshrimp until it is used to being in the tank, (a couple weeks) then tiny crickets for a week, mixing in a few small floating pellets, use fewr crickets each day until you are feeding just pellets. It might stop feeding then but it will associate the pellets with food by then so you can let it go hungry for a week or two while offering them until it eats. They are wired to respond to movement, you have to get them to see those pellets as food. They can be weaned but live food is needed at the beginning to do so. Baby crappie are one of the fishes that will starve itself to death, once they get about 4" or so they are less picky.
 
awsome never new that thanks guppy
 
I agree. Your probably going to have to start with live crickets or worms, until he's bigger.
Then you should be able to ween him off of it.
 
I had two black crappies about the same size a few months ago. One died though of unknown reason and the other kept getting picked on by my LMB and was too streassed out and got disease and died also.

At first they did not eat but I guess after a while they started to eat, which I fed them rosy reds. Crappies are totally different though from other natives that I've kept. Their personality is totally different, they are shy and don't like humans. Unlike Bass and bullheads which to me has the personality of a puppy.

I think just give him time and eventually he'll eat. One other thing to consider too is they mostly feed at night in the wild so you might want to try to turn off the lights when feeding them minnows.
 
like everyone else said crappie are rather difficult to train. live foods are a must at first then you can attempt to feed them dead/frozen foods. live brine shrimp will probally be your current best bet.

your crappie should become less shy and used to your presence within a month or so. all the crappie ive kept so far tend to fear human presence at first but adjust quickly. o yea i highly suggest that you dont keep your crappie by themeselves, they tend to stress more and die easily when kept singley. they seem to adjust much better and faster to aquarium life in groups as well. youll notice a signifcant differnce in behavior and an increase in feeding agression when you keep them in groups. i would also remove the lmb, as you allready know crappie are pussies and wont defend themselves. same personality as a pickerel.
 
Hi everyone, it's my first post here!
I got my last Crappie going with very small worms. I can't remember where I got them, probably dug in the garden. Try to attach it to a thin monofilament line so you can tease him with it. Tie an overhand knot near the end of the line and then poke the line through the worm with the help of a needle. The knot will help it stay on the line until he bites it. Kinda like fishing!
Note though, I have never gotten ANY crappie to eat dead or prepared food! If you insist on prepared food, good luck, and definitely keep us informed how it goes. My favorite one, Slab, I kept for over four years and he was very friendly. My last one, Albert, was very friendly too, and he was named after the famous scientist cause he seemed so smart.
 
Hiya Pomoxis, welcome to MFK, crappie are picky little buggers.
 
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