I've had an 8" rope fish for about 3 weeks now. I've never seen him eat anything. I put him in a 210g a few weeks ago and he's active most of the time. I placed some bloodworms right on his head and he still wouldn't eat them. Is this normal behavior for rope fish?
I've never seen my rope fish eat anything.
- Thread starter asm129
- Start date
They'll be more likely eat if they see other ropefish or bichirs eating.
Don't worry about it, though. They won't let themselves starve. Just keep making food available for them, and they will eat it eventually. Mine held out for probably 2+ months.
Don't worry about it, though. They won't let themselves starve. Just keep making food available for them, and they will eat it eventually. Mine held out for probably 2+ months.
Why not just turn the light off and let it be there for complete darkness till. 3 weeks may still be settling in. Especially small ropefish. Another mistake that most hobbyist makes everytime and I read often when getting a new nocturnal fish. They like to see them eat during lights on. Once it get use to the tank more the surrounding even with light on it will eat.
Hao;4383096; said:2x I don't feed with lights on, well maybe living room light or sunlight from the window thats all. My bichirs seem to eat alot more and are less shy with less light.
Soon he will too eat with the lights on like mine use too,feed him at night will all the lights off. He will eat when he is settled down just give him some more time. He will learn eat when you put food in the tank no matter if the lights are on or off. It just takes time. Good-luck , let us no how it goes.
I had such a case, for about two years I had never seen him eating anything at all, apart from a piece of bloodworm that accidently floated into his mouth while he was yawning. But after the introduction of another ropefish, one that chomps heavily, I have finally gotten the chance to see my original guy eat, still rarely though. Both have been fine for two years now since their introduction, and thus I believe they have been eating.
jschall;4382611; said:
Yeah. They actually will sometimes. Especially small juveniles. It's fairly common for people to buy them small from the fish store and try to feed them flake and pellet without realizing they can be hard to get to eat prepared foods. And yes, they will starve to death after awhile, especially if they were already underweight.
Regarding getting them to eat, mine were in a large group and the first thing I put in that they ever took notice of was raw shrimp. One chowed down and then the rest joined in. A feeding frenzy will trigger others to eat, so it is easier to have a large group of them.
After that, they started to take notice of other stuff and eventually got on carnivore pellets. Once they start eating at all they're more open to different foods.
You can also try putting in stuff like ghost shrimp that will swim around and trigger their attention.
Keep in mind that they can take forever to find food and they can't see well (they mostly hunt by smell), so if you have them with fish that tend to snap up all the food first that is an issue.