Mokelembembe bichir not eating

[Dsoars]

I got an 8 inch moke bichir about a month ago and I’ve only seen him eat one piece of fish that floated right in front of his face. I’ve only seen him swimming around maybe 3 times, he spends 99% of the time in a hollowed out piece of driftwood. Nobody picks on him but my gold dust likes to squeeze in next to him in the driftwood sometimes. I keep the lights very dim and the water flow slow, and feed at night a lot of the time as well. Still he has never once come out to eat food, not that I’ve seen at least and I’ve sat on the couch watching the tank for awhile after feeding everybody at night and still nothing. I’ve tried getting pieces of food to drift down into the entrance of his log and it will land maybe 2.5” away from his face but he won’t eat it. He was overweight when I got him and appears maybe maybe a little bit slimmer but he’s definitely not skinny. Any tips or advice?

 

[tlindsey]

I got an 8 inch moke bichir about a month ago and I’ve only seen him eat one piece of fish that floated right in front of his face. I’ve only seen him swimming around maybe 3 times, he spends 99% of the time in a hollowed out piece of driftwood. Nobody picks on him but my gold dust likes to squeeze in next to him in the driftwood sometimes. I keep the lights very dim and the water flow slow, and feed at night a lot of the time as well. Still he has never once come out to eat food, not that I’ve seen at least and I’ve sat on the couch watching the tank for awhile after feeding everybody at night and still nothing. I’ve tried getting pieces of food to drift down into the entrance of his log and it will land maybe 2.5” away from his face but he won’t eat it. He was overweight when I got him and appears maybe maybe a little bit slimmer but he’s definitely not skinny. Any tips or advice?

It's possible the Moke is mature and won't eat as often like a younger one. I feed my larger Polypterus every other day and their just fine.

 

[kno4te]

Mine around that size wouldn't much and was a picky eater at times.

 

[Dsoars]

Mine around that size wouldn't much and was a picky eater at times.

The weird thing to me is the person I got it from said he only fed all his bichirs pellets, and I feed the same kind of hikari pellets along with big variety of other foods like fish worms tadpoles shrimp etc. So I figured he wouldn’t be picky. The other two bichirs I got from him that were only on pellets were also really picky with everything I tried to feed but they’re eating good now

 

[Joshuakahan]

The weird thing to me is the person I got it from said he only fed all his bichirs pellets, and I feed the same kind of hikari pellets along with big variety of other foods like fish worms tadpoles shrimp etc. So I figured he wouldn’t be picky. The other two bichirs I got from him that were only on pellets were also really picky with everything I tried to feed but they’re eating good now

I had a similar concern with a weeksii and I would just put food in after lights out, never saw it eat, but I know it was. Maybe trying that will help with yours

 

[Dsoars]

I had a similar concern with a weeksii and I would just put food in after lights out, never saw it eat, but I know it was. Maybe trying that will help with yours

Good to know. That’s what I’ve been doing so hopefully it’s getting a few peices