Feeding babies

[black_sun]

I work at a local pet store and our wholesaler has been sending us several bichirs that are under 3". They won't eat and they're starting to look thin and sickly. Frankly, my manager is fine with this... he says they normally starve to death at that size and it's not worth the effort to care for them. He says the same for the small knife fish and peacock eels, those however, I've been able to nurse back and get eating.

These little bichirs though, I can't get them to eat anything. Is there something specific I can try to get them to eat? Is their diet different than the juveniles and adults? I've gone through our freezers from small bloodworms to cut up pieces of silversides. I even tried a few live feeders, but they won't touch anything.

 

[angryinsect]

have you tried brine shimp or live worms of any kind? mabey try using some garlic guard or entice on the food

Cheers,
Jordan

 

[GarNiac]

how long has they been introduced in their new tank?did u mix them with any other fish?
otherwise check the water parameter.

 

[estuary]

blood worms worked for me took them a few days but finally started eating

 

[JamesF]

I'd try earthworms if you can get them.
When I first got a zebra moray ell the only food he would eat was lobster. I was quite glad when he started taking shrimp. Might be another one to try though.

 

[RLHam3]

try live invertebrates. ghost shrimp work fairly well and are pretty accessible (for me at least). But if you can i would suggest worms. earth worms pretty easy to get. black worms and bloodworm work really well too.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Brine shrimps like some people said.

 

[black_sun]

I've been trying frozen things (we don't carry live food except for comets/rosies), I'll stop by one of the LFS and pick up some live stuff. In the interim, I'm move some of the ghost shrimp we have into their tank to see if they'll go after those.

 

[blksubykid]

At 1" mine started eating pellets (I know lucky me) Hes staple consists of shrimp pellets and sinking carnivore pellets. A few times out of the week he will get shrimp or blood worms. He went from 1" to 4" in about 2 months. The ones at the LFS where i bought him are still around 1"

 

[Sidrock]

I got a couple of Dels and one Endli a couple of days back. The Dels are about 3-3.5". The Endli is about 4".

The Dels have started eating bloodworms. The Endli hasn't eaten anything in my presence. I had put these three guys in a 1ft tank for taking pictures. There the Endli "hunted down" a 1.5" Tiger Barb and tried his best to swallow it.. (but failed).

I am really looking forward to all the advice people are giving on this thread.

Good luck to both of us (OP and me),

Sid