KELBERI PEACOCK BASS NOT EATING -.-

[Mihajlo525]

Read the whole thing before posting. I got a 7" Kelberi peacock bass a week ago and all he's eaten are a few rosy red minnows... The owner I got him from fed him 2 earthworms a day in his 75 grow out. He's wild and I bought him from the guy for $100 and when we were trying to get him from his tank he started panicking and has a small bruise on the tip of his jaw and it hasn't healed too much over the week. I keep him in a 120 gallon with a 5" wide reticulated stingray, a 13" oscar that doesn't touch him, 12" pleco, 11" brown bullhead catfish that I'm getting rid of soon, and three 6-7" goldfish that stay in my 7ft wide fountain for half the year. It can't be water quality since I have 240 gallons of filtration and do water changes 1-2 Times a week. I tried E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!! I tried night crawlers, small whole frozen shrimp, store bought shrimp, red wrigglers, feeder goldfish, and rosy reds which he's only taken a few of. and most of the time he'll chase after them then when he finally catches up he just stops and looks at them like a moron. He really has no reason not to eat the water's fine, he has plenty of space, and the temp is fine. The guy I bought him from kept him in 88 degree water and he was a little more active when I did raise my temp to 88 degrees. Can anyone please tell me why this fish is deciding to be stupid and not eat. Hell, even my stingray was picky and wouldn't eat a thing for a while, but ATLEAST HE EATS NOW -.- Can anyone please tell me why this bass is being such a stubborn ass?

Here' a picture of him and the healing bruise on his snout on the one to the left, and the one to the right is the pick the owner took before I bought him.

 

[REDTAIL1928]

Hes probably pissed off. What size tank is he in now and did he have tankmates before? If his environment has changed, he may be in some sort of shock and needs to chill out. Also, if I was u I would isolate him in his own tank and treat him with good water, temp at 88 and add some salt to help him heal and it will add electrolytes as well to give him some energy. Sometimes fish get upset and become stubborn. Try moving him to his own quarters and see what happens. Do the salt treatment and get him healthy again, good luck!!

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[blackwolf911]

you have had the fish for a week only.. just wait on him. he will definitely eat..you also put him through a temp change after putting him in a new tank which some fish don't deal with too good.. also the bass is 7 inch and your feeding him minnows which people feed them when they are like a inch and half big.. some fish won't bother with stuff that is too hard to catch and is too small.. try bigger goldfish and give him some time.. also be sure he isn't having issues with the oscar which is very possible.. fish know when you are in front of their tank and act differently.. you may not be seeing the fighting.. his lip may not be healing because he is lip locking the oscar

 

[Mihajlo525]

you have had the fish for a week only.. just wait on him. he will definitely eat..you also put him through a temp change after putting him in a new tank which some fish don't deal with too good.. also the bass is 7 inch and your feeding him minnows which people feed them when they are like a inch and half big.. some fish won't bother with stuff that is too hard to catch and is too small.. try bigger goldfish and give him some time.. also be sure he isn't having issues with the oscar which is very possible.. fish know when you are in front of their tank and act differently.. you may not be seeing the fighting.. his lip may not be healing because he is lip locking the oscar

I can assure you he's not fighting the oscar, infact I've never seen my oscar lip lock any fish ever. And I did try larger goldfish but he didn't even look at them. Also the temperature change fi it did anything was make him more active because he was alot more darkly coloured and inactive when the tank temperature was 82-83 instead of 88. And could you maybe give me a time range on how long he will take to mellow down a bit enough to be comfortable to eat? Thanks for the input though.

 

[Mihajlo525]

Hes probably pissed off. What size tank is he in now and did he have tankmates before? If his environment has changed, he may be in some sort of shock and needs to chill out. Also, if I was u I would isolate him in his own tank and treat him with good water, temp at 88 and add some salt to help him heal and it will add electrolytes as well to give him some energy. Sometimes fish get upset and become stubborn. Try moving him to his own quarters and see what happens. Do the salt treatment and get him healthy again, good luck!!

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I do sometimes add salt to the tank but i will do it more often maybe that will help heal the bruise thanks!
But do you know what their absolute favorite food is? I know that when I got my retic ray he didn't want to eat ANYTHING but when i got him black worms the ray started eating a few weeks ago, is there anything like that for peacock bass?

 

[blackwolf911]

that peacock bass will be eating soo much soon that your other fish won't be able to get a bite.. i got rid of peacock bass because they eat too much too fast and fish on the bottom can't get anything .. obviously i can't give you a time limit when he will eat.. the fish has already ate as you said.. i don't really know what your worried about.. again its only been a week.. i don't want to sound like a regular loser on this site but it sounds like you have plenty of fish in that tank.. 6 7inch goldfish in a 88 degree tank is crazy too they are cold water fish.. also what do you mean you have 240 gallons of filtration? with that amount of fish and the concern you show with them eating also makes me think that you really like feeding your fish which makes me think i don't believe you don't have water quality issues from time to time

 

[Mihajlo525]

that peacock bass will be eating soo much soon that your other fish won't be able to get a bite.. i got rid of peacock bass because they eat too much too fast and fish on the bottom can't get anything .. obviously i can't give you a time limit when he will eat.. the fish has already ate as you said.. i don't really know what your worried about.. again its only been a week.. i don't want to sound like a regular loser on this site but it sounds like you have plenty of fish in that tank.. 6 7inch goldfish in a 88 degree tank is crazy too they are cold water fish.. also what do you mean you have 240 gallons of filtration? with that amount of fish and the concern you show with them eating also makes me think that you really like feeding your fish which makes me think i don't believe you don't have water quality issues from time to time

I have two 70 gallon filters hanging off the back and a 100 gallon canister filter and I'm really paranoid about water quality, sometimes I'll change about 15-20% just after feeds. The reason why I'm so worried is because this fish was eating so well in his older tank. the guy I got him from was an experienced fish keeper with 3 black diamond rays in a 400 gallon and had past experience with KPB's and he got him at 3" so he was eating well in his 75 tank for sure. And since peacock bass are such voracious eaters I was worried because i thought he'd be eating a lot more. I didn't know PB took so long to adjust :/ The goldfish have done fine in tropical conditions for years. Anyways i do keep the goldfish in a 7ft fountain I have from mid spring to mid fall. My dad built the pond/fountain outside out apartment building on behalf of the manager (which my dad knows well) and he gave us money to go out and buy the 120 gallon for keeping pondfish and as a gift a few years back. Before that I had a 40 long tank and was moderately into fish keeping. And you may have misread XD I have >three< 6" TO 7" goldfish in my tank I realize my typo now sorry XD

 

[blackwolf911]

that sounds like a nice situation with the owner..don't worry about that bass and just make sure he doesn't have some kind of disease like ick or something.. this guy you bought him from may have been keeping him in 88 degree water for that very reason and could of been lying to you.. you don't see ick alll the time on the fish.. and 88 degrees is high and someone with experience would know that definitely

 

[Mihajlo525]

that sounds like a nice situation with the owner..don't worry about that bass and just make sure he doesn't have some kind of disease like ick or something.. this guy you bought him from may have been keeping him in 88 degree water for that very reason and could of been lying to you.. you don't see ick alll the time on the fish.. and 88 degrees is high and someone with experience would know that definitely

Can you tell me any early signs of ich in cichla? Well other than loss of appetite. But thanks anyways!!

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[blackwolf911]

its hard to tell when you can't see the white spots.. temps over 85 ich can't live in really but it could be in some dormant state.. a lot of people are all about quarantine .. i had a situation where a payara with no signs of ich started showing signs/white spots a few days later after i bought him and really badly .. the ich actually killed my black aro.. but these are smaller fish I'm talking about