Help with Flowerhorn being picky all of a sudden

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Nikkitine

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 5, 2010
21
0
0
San Francisco, California
Hello all,

I need some help with my Flowerhorn's eating habits =/ I've had him for a couple months now and he's been eating pellets fine until about a week ago. I feed him a mixture of Grand Sumo/Cich.Gold/Haifeng. I mixed all of them in a container and feed him twice a day. I know which pellets are which because of the difference in colors and pellet size.

So, apparently, when I throw them in, he grabs a mouthful but after a minute, will pretty much spit out ALL of the Haifeng/Alife pellets but eat the Grand Sumo/Cich.Gold ones. Luckily, my Bichir picks off all the ones he spits out but he was eating them fine before but it's still annoying.

Any idea what the problem could be? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Could be he just doesn't dig it anymore. Mine used to pout every so often and he wouldn't eat. Sounds to me like he may want more of a varied diet. Try some B-worms, lancefish, or krill. If it doesn't work. Try a little garlic extract in his food. Your LFS should have some in the Saltwater food section. It tends to increase their appetite.
 
not too much garlic...just a drop on the food. He'll be fine. FH's dont go hungry unless very sick.
 
My Flowerhorn does the same thing every once in a while. One week he will eat only flakes. The next he might want floating pellets, and the next only sinking pellets. He is by far the most stuburn thing I have ever seen. Of course I would get tired of eating the same thing day after day, so I can't really blame him.
 
Personally, I feel that FH's are brighter than the average fish. Therefore, they get bored more often.
 
Any idea what the problem could be? Any help would be appreciated.
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Given the opportunity most fish will choose certain foods over others.
It could be the overall palatability of the food, the size of the pellet, and in some instances even the color. I've seen some weird things over the years with certain fish. This isn't a case of boredom, it's a case of your fish being offered 3 different types of food and the fish deciding that it no longer finds one of them appealing. The last thing I would do with a picky fish is start offering bloodworms. That's like offering a crack head a choice between a bowl full of tobacco, or a bowl full of crack.

Personally I have yet to own a FH (or any CA cichlid) that became bored with their diet, and I feed them the same pellet food every day, for years.
Every last fish acts as though it's their last meal, with the larger fish slamming the lids if I don't feed them shortly after the lights come on.

I agree that larger CA cichlids are intelligent fish, so you can either train the fish, or allow the fish to train you. :)
 
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