Blue zaire moba, help please

[neutrino]

Mine do well on NLS. At one point, I was trying all sorts of things trying to get some new wild Peru angelfish to eat (they ate almost nothing for over a month, then decided to get over it and started eating). I got some Northfin Bug Pro (or whatever they call it), hoping bugs would do the trick (it didn't). Once the angels started eating I used it up on the kaps. They ate it, weren't crazy about it but ate it okay. It wasn't great for their color, either, wasn't bad, just not as good as NLS or (former) Omega One shrimp or color pellets. (Don't know whether that means anything regarding other NF products.)

So, for years I fed NLS and Omega One, that after thoroughly testing a lot of foods. With the Omega formula change, I'm down to NLS.

...Years ago I ditched frozen foods, converted to freeze dried, personal preference, maybe, but I like it better.

 

[neutrino]

...Only add I'd make is sometimes a treat of freeze dried mysis or small, live fish (not lfs feeders, which I never use) can encourage the kaps to spawn. Some guys do frozen mysis, market shrimp or something similar. Haven't tried it yet, but when I use their current NLS up, I'm thinking of trying the Ultra Red on my breeding group to see whether it whether it's a better breeding staple.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

Hi guys I’ve tried the normal NLS and the omega one still not interested in the slightest, tried them both on multiple occasions in the last 48 hours and they just won’t eat it, have you guys heard of a food called Northfin Cichlid? I believe it’s a Canadian brand, I’m told it’s a very high quality food, was wondering if it’s worth giving a try, my friend also gave me some vitilus Cichlid and they won’t eat that either, they have been eating earthworms, chopped mussels and chopped prawns (all fresh not frozen) no problems so at least it’s a little bit variation in there diet

 

[RD.]

From what you describe, I doubt that they will eat Northfin either. I think that at some point you are going to have to give them some tough love and wean them off of the frozen/fresh and train them to eat pellets.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

From what you describe, I doubt that they will eat Northfin either. I think that at some point you are going to have to give them some tough love and wean them off of the frozen/fresh and train them to eat pellets.

Do you think it’s time to try and starve them for 2-3 days, surly they will take the pellets if there starving, there used to getting fed 3-4 times per day, so they should be very hungry after say 48 hours, never had this problem with any fish I’ve ever had, really want them on pellets for there growth and wellbeing

 

[RD.]

Presoak your pellets of choice in the juice of frozen bloodworms. Only feed in AM when the fish is most hungry, and do not offer any other food. Eventually most fish will slowly but surely start nibbling on the food. Once they are eating like gangbusters slowly over several days wean off of the presoaked food, and convert to 100% pellet. I have trained juvenile fish that were raised exclusively on bloodworms (so uber finicky), and had 100% success rate with this method. Good luck.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

From what you describe, I doubt that they will eat Northfin either. I think that at some point you are going to have to give them some tough love and wean them off of the frozen/fresh and train them to eat pellets.

Do you think it’s time to try and stave them for 2-3 days, surly they will take the pellets if there staving

Presoak your pellets of choice in the juice of frozen bloodworms. Only feed in AM when the fish is most hungry, and do not offer any other food. Eventually most fish will slowly but surely start nibbling on the food. Once they are eating like gangbusters slowly over several days wean off of the presoaked food, and convert to 100% pellet. I have trained juvenile fish that were raised exclusively on bloodworms (so uber finicky), and had 100% success rate with this method. Good luck.

ok thanks a lot got some pellets soaking in krill juice now for later on tonight going to want till around 10 tonight then they will not have been fed for around 24 hours that way, I don’t have any blood worms, people say they give your fish bloat, is that true in your experience, I’ve stopped buying them for that reason, thanks again.

 

[RD.]

That should work. I only mentioned blood worm juice as that’s what I have always used in the past. I never actually feed blood worms to my fish.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

That should work. I only mentioned blood worm juice as that’s what I have always used in the past. I never actually feed blood worms to my fish.

Just tried an hour or two ago, can’t believe it but they bloody still won’t eat it, I’m going to try again tomorrow morning then it will be 36 hours with out eating so fingers crossed, surely they must get to the point that they will have to eat, how long would you say they can go safely with out food? obviously don’t want to push them to far.

 

[RD.]

I would think that they would start eating within the week. I hate to hazard a guess as to how long they could go.