i have 4 jack dempseys that i bought in january this year at about an 1" each and have been feeding them cichlid staple twice everyday and frozen bloodworms once a week as a treat. in the span of 3 months they have already grown to 2.5"-3" but had slowed down on their eating. they used to eat anything i put in the tank such as broken up arowana pellets, spectrum floating and sinking pellets(i did this to vary their diets)and now they dont eat anything at all besides the frozen bloodworms they're also havnt grown since this behavior which started sometime around may. i starved them for 3 days then fed them cichlid staple on the 4th day. thay swam up to the top of the water excited to be fed but as soon as i dropped in pellets they just sat there waiting for something else to drop in. some of them took pellets but not much and some of them take the pellet and spits it back out. they dont frenzy anymore when i feed pellets and i dont wanna keep feeding them frozen bloodworms because it gets expensive. any ideas?
need help... jack dempseys not eating
- Thread starter 180.5
- Start date
Stop feeding bloodworms as a main diet. Bloodworms are a fishes favorite food.
I mean, if they didn't look so nasty, I would eat them, they smell good!
Give it to them as a treat, like once a week.
I mean, if they didn't look so nasty, I would eat them, they smell good!
Give it to them as a treat, like once a week.
bluehairman;3185591; said:
initially, i wasnt feeding them bloodworms as a main diet until they stopped eating pellets. i only started feeding them bloodworms because they wasnt eating anything else. i gonna try to starve them a little longer and try pellets again.
My fish did this when I fed them twice a day and giving them blood worms a couple of times a week. I slowed down the feeding to just once a day and giving them blood worms just once a week. Now they eat the pellets a lot more often.
i find my jacks to be pretty picky eaters too. They will still eat pellets, but only at night. They hide pretty much all day long. If you want to get something somewhat cheap that they will eat, get a big bag of frozen cooked shrimp with no additives. I feed it to my jacks and they love it, instead of feeding expensive bloodworms that probably dont fill them up. Shrimp has alot of protein and helps them grow fast.
I had the same with mine, they used to eat like no ones business but it has also slowed down.
But they do still eat...
Just do as above have said - slow down with the treats and get them used to eating the pellets. When they're hungry enough they'll eat.
But they do still eat...
Just do as above have said - slow down with the treats and get them used to eating the pellets. When they're hungry enough they'll eat.
What i'm doing is just putting in several different kind of pellets in and turning lights off, checking back in 5 min, whatever is uneaten, is sucked up with the python. Thing is, it's all left it seems. I figure if I keep this up he will learn to eat what I put in there or he will starve. I won't give in 