CA cichlids not eating, WHAT ?!

[Exile]

I never thought I'd have trouble getting any cichlid to eat... but..

I got three 5inch Jack Dempsey about 10days ago and I have yet to get any of them to eat. I am providing them the exact same food the previous owner did with same lighting conditions and such. Did a big WC yesterday thinking maybe it would entice them to eat but no success thus far. They show no interest at all in the pellets.

Should I try adding some garlic powder?

 

[EvilKid]

try live or frozen foods- guppies, blood worms, night crawlers, brine or market shrimp or continue starving them for a few days then give it some time once your in front of the tank till they get used to you and drop some food in sometimes fish seem to not eat but if the food is disappearing then they probably eating it lol

 

[Exile]

Forgot to mention that I also put frozen krill and silversides in there. As well as another Hikari Sinking cichlid pellet...they touch none of this. The pellets don't get to float around for long, my other fish don't waste anytime snagging them.

My male Talapia eats so much that the pellets float out of his mouth and he has to chase them around. You'd think with all the other fish eating they'd feel hungry.

 

[Deaths Sting]

its common for newly acquired fish to refuse food for a period of time.

 

[fitznacio]

Make sure the other fish are not stressing them out competing for a territory or for food. If so you may have to either remove the dominant fish or the new fish inorder to give them a fighting chance.

 

[Aquanero]

I know you mentioned a male Talapia but what else is in the tank, how big are the other fish? Are these regular JD's or EBJD?

 

[thedarkone]

Try live insects like earthworms or crickets. Once you get them to eat that for a couple of days try the pellets again. Also get farm raised worms or crickets that way you know that they are okay to feed your fish.

 

[Exile]

Make sure the other fish are not stressing them out competing for a territory or for food. If so you may have to either remove the dominant fish or the new fish inorder to give them a fighting chance.

This is probably the issue. Two of them paired off and have established a territory in the tank and defend it. I rarely see them venture from their territory which is low under a plant, so they arn't close to pellets.The third one gets chased by the other two and particularly by my male Tilapia. I really wish I only grabbed two of the JD's not all three

I think I am going to change up the tank drastically so that my Tilapia and Frontosa's will have to change their territory....I will seriously consider temporarily removing the Tilapia pair if the JD's don't change in the next couple of days...

I know you mentioned a male Talapia but what else is in the tank, how big are the other fish? Are these regular JD's or EBJD?

I'm pretty sure they're regular JD's, they're far from vibrant like EBJD. They are on par size-wise with the other inhabitants. Slightly bigger than the Male Tilapia and just a bit smaller than my male Frontosa. The other fish in my tank (in my signature) don't bother them at all.