how to get baby rhom on prepared food?

[jp80911]

my baby rhom starts to swim out of hiding a little even when the light is on, which is a good thing. (even is only when I'm not in front of the tank) how do I get him to start eat the fish filet I prepared for him? do I just have to starve him?? he did eat the black molly I put in the tank last night so he's eating for sure. he got fed squid at Aquascape, should I feed him that instead then slowly change to different food? or I should just wait it out?
if I do have to starve him, how frequent should I try to feed him with fish filet? or should I just keep using feeder (not goldfish feeder from lfs) until he get use to the tank??

 

[DrUgS]

He might be full from the molly. I would keep offering him whtiefish/raw shrimp until he takes it. Just cut them to a size small enough for him to eat. Give him time...

 

[jp80911]

thanks, the molly was from last night..oh well I'll just keep feeding it some prepared food until he takes it then.

 

[Ad@m]

don't feed him for a day then through in a small piece of fillet. leave it for like half an hour. and see if he takes it. if he dosn't take it out and try again the next day. he will eventually get hungry

 

[6 bar]

I have had tons of success with my small rhom eating prepared foods. It eats flakes, and floating pellets mostly. I'm currently feeding it omega one flakes 2x's a day and it's grown probably another inch and a half since I first got it two months ago when it was 2.9". I've found that when I fed with the lights out and walked away from the tank, it would then gain the confidence to eat.

At the LFS, it was eating feeders, but I fed it small pieces of market prawn which it ate on the first try. Then I experimented with different foods with the lights out and have observed that with my rhom, it will try to eat pretty much anything, but has really taken to the flakes.

Good luck with your rhom!

 

[Tango374]

What I've always done with my serras is not offer any kind of food for two weeks. Then once a day offer whatever prepared food you would like him to eat for a few days to a week, only leaving it in the tank for a few hours. Then go another two weeks and repeat. And repeat again if necessary.
Usually by the second go around they take whatever I gave them.
Its not unheard of for these fish to be extremely stubborn going months without food, so if he isn't going for it within a few weeks, don't sweat it. He'll come around.
With him taking squid, it will only make it easier.
Don't offer feeder fish. Especially gold fish.
If you would like to go with live food once and a while, I suggest setting up a breeding tank of mollies and platties. Easy to breed and you know you are not introducing any nasty things into your tank that you could with fish store feeders.

 

[jp80911]

Thanks for all the advices.
I left a piece of tilapia filet in the tank last night, when I took it out this morning I noticed a circular mark there, looks like a bit mark.
even he didn't eat a lot but I think he's taking it YAY

I'll try again with a small piece later today and see how it goes.

so excited

 

[jp80911]

once I receive the heater for my mini pond I'm going to put all the fish from my 10gallon in there and use the 10gallon as a breeder for molly/guppies.
give that little guy something to chase for once a while