Loaches not eating

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K

KYeasting

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 12, 2008
314
2
0
Tampa, FL
I picked up a couple of loaches within the past couple of days. I have polka dot loaches and yoyo loaches (Petsmart doesn't believe me that its a yoyo loach...they keep insisting its a polka dot). I've tried a couple of different pellet foods, flake food that I soaked and put down to the bottom and no one will eat. I'm going to try feeding frozen blood worms and maybe some frozen beef heart in a day or 2 (I don't want to shove tons of food in there and make my fishies sick by ruining the water with food). Does anyone have any suggestions about feeding? They have a bunch of little hidey holes, lots of plants to scoot around through and a small tube for hiding as well; they should be comfortable with their surroundings. The water params look good too.

P.S. Any suggestions about keeping loaches out of external hanging filters? We've found 2 in there and don't like it one bit.

P.S.S One polka dot loach WILL NOT come out, even to investigate the new tank. It continues to hide and cower in the back of the tank. Is there a way to encourage it to come out and look around?
 
LIve black worms or live tubifex worms...maybe brine shrimp. They'll eat just give em time. They wont starve themselves. I have a raphael cat I never see. Unless Im up at 3am and happen to turn on the living room light and then i'll see him swimming around.
 
awault;2658441; said:
Just turn the light of and let them adjust... they should start eating eventually.
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Bloodworms in the dark should do the trick.
 
I think I had a 2 part problem: Numbers and sizes.

Numbers: I only had 3 loaches in my tank. I picked up 2 more today and VIOLA! everyone came out to play within an hour.

Sizes: The food pellets I was using were too big. I started dropping in mini pellets and they were scarfed up quickly.

P.S. The polka-dot loaches are beautiful but timid when alone!
 
Glad everything is going well.
 
I've returned the polka-dot loaches. They never came out and I had to sit still for 15 minutes after putting food in the tank for them to venture out and eat. They were just too shy. I picked up a couple of yoyos in their place. They all come out and play all day long! Yoyos are the way to go!
 
Sorry to hear the polka dots didn't work out for you. I just added three emerald green corys to my mix. Now my clowns are out constantly, schooling with the corys. They definitely feel safety in numbers.
 
My zebras and my polka dots are very active and they like to bicker amongst themselves on a regular basis. Almost all the CL's I've ever had seems to have a period where they don't eat when they're new. There seems to be a size to length ratio; the bigger they are, the longer they don't eat. They may have eaten in the dark, but not that I could tell. I picked up a 7 incher that was dropped off at the LFS that I did not see eat for about a month! None of them have seemed any worse for the wear.

I tend to avoid beefheart since it really mucks up the water. I feed...um...everything, so it wasn't for lack of trying! Things that usually tempt their taste buds that haven't yet been mentioned: For the little guys, Spectrum Tropical Community Pellets. They are TINY, but even the big guys will scout around for them. For the big guys, Hikari Carnivore Pellets, or Hikari Sinking Cichild Gold Pellets. I use the later as my loach staple.
 
I've always liked the Yoyos, it would be great to have a shaol of 50 of those.
 
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