Do you think a fish will starve itself to death?

[packer43064]

My smaller FLorida gar hasn't aten for 2 months now. All smaller fish are still alive and there is never anything on the bottom to scavenge on.

He won't eat the damn pellets. IDK yet if he will starve to death but he sure isn't eating.

 

[jdiidy271]

ya some might but i had an arowana that just didnt eat and it died.......

 

[Cdog]

I had a black Aro that just refused to eat anything other than live food or frozen. I tried and tried again to convert it over to pellets, but it refused and eventually died.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Fish that will starve to death most of the time when trying to get off of live.

Payara all species--
when young say under 3-4'' and when a few years in age. Basically a young payara and a old payara are more likely to die from starvation before they convert to what you want them to eat.

Aces species or freshwater barracuda's--
mostly when young , and under 3-4" and any that have been fed live for most of there life.

Hujeta characins--
I have had 3 that died from starvation. All around 5''.

Pickerel--
have read many many stories about them starving to death at all different sizes and with teacher fish. Some will and some won't convert.

Fish that will readily except live foods without long term starvation or other cruel and or unusual punishments.

Most cichlids--
I have not kept every cichlid species. But they 10 or so species I have kept ate dead foods with little to know starvation.

catfish --
Most catfish species will except dead foods as they are naturally scavengers at times.

Sunfish species--
They usually will except dead foods right away after acclimation from the wild.

Gambusia species--
All I have netted have ate flakes right out of the bag.

Puffers (gsp's, fahaka, pea puffer)--
All have excepted dead foods with no problem.

 

[skiptomyzoo]

it depends upon the type of fish, there are fish that will refuse to take food and attempt to hunt for food even if there is little to hunt. these fish are rated as difficult and only for advance hobbyist. a example of a fish that will starve itself is a mandarin dragonet. some people get them to take food, but some fish are stubborn.
a cleaner wrasse is another example, with the difficulty of geting it to accept flake or frozen varying between species.

that being said i encourage everyone to move over to formulated or frozen food if at all possible. probably 99% of fish species in the hobby will switch

+1
First two fish that came to my mind actually.
First example being a real tragedy. Many won't take anything but live pods, and therefore are recommended in larger established setups where these pods live in sumps and liverock. They are however excellent for nanos, only if you can find one eating something other than pods. As a result, most come in to stores half-starved, and then eventually starve to death refusing everything else, as beginners purchase them.

 

[snyder810]

why would one allow a fish to starve itself just because one doesn't want to offer a food? that just seems irresponsible to me. a lot of fish can be switched without starving and by offering the prefered food more frequently along with an accepted food every few days.
this may not work on picky preds but it's worked for me with aros, rays, pbass, clown knife, catfish, fie eels, dats, water cow... not huge preds but can be picky eaters and turn into targets for some to starve for weeks at a time. i have gotten them all to take my prefered food for them without starving for over 3 days. some were reluctant but eventually took my prefered food along with what they wanted to eat and then switched completely

 

[snyder810]

and for those fish that are known to only take live foods, the owner should know that when buying and be prepared to offer said foods. just my opinion

 

[swede]

fish are ultimate survivalist when it comes to food. many fish are omnivores, and almost all pellet foods contain protein which are pleasing to both omnivores and carnivores. eventually, any HEALTHY fish will give in and eat. there are exceptions like with anything, but this is the rule

 

[swede]

obviously, you need to use sense here. if you try feeding bottom feeders floating pellets, you can't expect them to adapt to gulping at the top for example

 

[swede]

i also think that fish that tend to be wild caught species are of course going to be more difficult to give non live food