Chocolate cichlid doesn't like it's food anymore...

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Jglenn213

Jglenn213

Exodon
MFK Member
Aug 27, 2016
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Anyone ever have problems with a fish stop eating any particular food? The past few days my chocolate cichlid won't eat either of the pellets that I feed my tank in rotation. It shows interest and pulls the food in its mouth but spits it back out. It then proceeds to go around the tank and goes up to the pellets in other places and either does the same thing or get close to the pellets then backs off. I feed Hikari Bio-gold and Excel. Fed the tank the same rotation of food for the past 5 years. Haven't noticed any other behavior changes other than this. Full grown Chocolate, had it around 3 years I think. Nitrates were a little higher than I would have liked them before I started a water change. Was around 40 ppm, Pushed the water change a few days longer than normal. Any ideas? Should I be worried about the possibility of a developing sickness?
Any help would be great!
 
My wife's Choco used to eat Jumbo-min and a bunch of other wafers and sticks, now it only will eat Grand Sumo flowerhorn pellets.
 
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Stress from poor water quality will sometimes cause them to fall victim to hexamita, intestinal flagellates that cause them to stop eating. Water quality issues can also lead to internal bacterial infections.

Keep the water pristine for a week or so and see if anything improves. Try feeding a treat like live earthworms or frozen bloodworms and see if it eats that. If it spits out all food, even live or frozen, I’d be concerned.
 
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My Chocolate was crazy for frozen krill, but I worked freeze-dried meal worms into his diet for the first time a few weeks back and now he barely touches the krill--goes crazy for the meal worms, throws a tantrum on days he doesn't get them ... though he still eats what I offer on those days. He will attack some of his food and then spit it out, but he usually goes back for it or settles on another morsel that I assume is tastier. I think they can be very temperamental.
 
Jglenn213 said:
Anyone ever have problems with a fish stop eating any particular food? The past few days my chocolate cichlid won't eat either of the pellets that I feed my tank in rotation. It shows interest and pulls the food in its mouth but spits it back out. It then proceeds to go around the tank and goes up to the pellets in other places and either does the same thing or get close to the pellets then backs off. I feed Hikari Bio-gold and Excel. Fed the tank the same rotation of food for the past 5 years. Haven't noticed any other behavior changes other than this. Full grown Chocolate, had it around 3 years I think. Nitrates were a little higher than I would have liked them before I started a water change. Was around 40 ppm, Pushed the water change a few days longer than normal. Any ideas? Should I be worried about the possibility of a developing sickness?
Any help would be great!
Click to expand...

I have a Petenia Splendida which i haven't seen eating since his buddy (Cichla Kelberi) died around 8 weeks ago because he decided life outside the tank would probably be more interesting. He was always the first to eat silversides/smelt when i tossed them in, now he doesn't even look at them and leaves them for the other fish. I haven't seen him eating any other foods for months as well but it's still a nice healthy looking chuncky fish with normal behaviour.
 
Jglenn213 said:
They get fed once a day at the same time daily.
Click to expand...

At 3 years old, I've found larger fish easily get turned off by the same food when fed everyday. I skip 2 days in a row for larger fish that are this old. Don't worry about it too much, it will eat when it is sufficiently hungry.
 
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