Midas in Hunting Mode

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jrrlbds7

jrrlbds7

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2011
106
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16
Kingwood, Texas
I have a extremely aggressive Midas(F1) who will not eat--ANYTHING, but danios. He is in hunting mode, and by my calculations he's only caught one danio in the last week, and he has been starving for the past two....How on earth do I get my fish to eat? How do I get him out of hunting mode? He will not even eat his favorite food....

He's been acting so strange, hiding, digging, and swimming/'pacing' like a caged cougar. I recently switched him into a larger tank and ever since then he has been a completely DIFFERENT fish. I don't know what to do....
 
He may just need time to settle into new tank.how big is he? Tank size before,after? Filtration? New tank was cycled?

from cel
 
Often when you put a fish in a different (especially larger) tank they act much different. Usually more shy than usual though!
 
what did he eat before the move? many people suggest soaking food in garlic to get shy eaters to eat. also really good for the fish, i still havent tried it however lol
 
What size is the fish and tank? Was it with any other fish in its previous tank? It can be hard to house smaller fish (or even larger fish) with Midas. They are typically seen as prey and are killed and eaten. Midas can claim an entire tank as their own territory, even to the point of flaring and attacking the glass when people or animals approach the tank from outside. Your Midas may not accept tankmates. Danios aren't the most suitable tankmates for them. If it has acquired a taste for Danios, it can be looked at as being the same as feeding it feeder fish. It can be hard to break a fish from eating feeders. You have to feed it a pellet food exclusively. Soaking the pellet in garlic or some other frozen food like blood worms can entice the Midas to accept pellets again. This may require you to remove the Danios which the Midas sees as food. As long as it has an alternative food source such as the Danios, it will be harder to get it to eat pellets again.

Transferring him to a new tank can temporarily affect its behavior. It may need some time to adjust. But other things can cause erratic behavior like tank mates, temperature, and other water parameters. I've seen Midas/Red Devils kept in relatively small tanks act very aggressively but once moved to larger housings act much more mellow. The digging could be signs of it wanting to setup a territory for breeding. I've had both males and females do this when ready to breed. Many times this happens after a water change. Maybe moving the Midas to a new tank with fresh water triggered a desire for it to breed.
 
well, he was previously in a 75gallon all by himself and he ate NLS pellets exclusively. Now, he's in a 125gallon with a pair of Nics, some random Africans, an Albino RL pleco, and two danios that have managed to escape death....I just now tried soaking his NLS in bloodworms and he still won't eat. I have some Garlic Extreme...I think I'm going to try that tomorrow. Hopefully, he'll get out of this predator mode and come to his senses, but he's never been like this...

Oh, and he's 10 inches. I measured him the other day when I transferred him...
 
I had the same problem, eventually he well snap out of it. I would try a couple different kinds of food. My smaller midas would eat hakari bio gold and staple and My 13" midas will only enjoy eating algae Disk ment for plecos. And take three Danios out it will only enforce him to easy live food
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Just put my 8 inch flowerhorn in my 210 from a long breeding stint in a 55 and he was boss hog in that 55 now he's hangin in the corner like a punk. I think your fish just needs time to get comfortable. Sometimes the biggest fish in the tank isn't always the dominant one. He could be feeling out his tank mates and their territories. I think he'll come around.
 
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