a few things, but i am by no means an expert..... get into a routine, i always turn my bubbly powerhead off when i feed, and the fish have realized what it means, cause they go nuts when i turn it off, and i only turn it off so i can watch them eat, and it become the pre-feeding ritual ... always feed at the same time, and from the same place... if you drop the silversides, or shrimp or pellets in from the top, then start dropping the live goldfish in from the top 1 at a time, so they realize whatever drops into the tank from there is food, then they'll be more likely to try the nonlive food ... also tankmates that eat non live can help, so if the armatus is watching others eat the pellets he may get the hint.... mimicking a live bait via fishing line is a good aid as well as trying a variety of different dead foods, once he eats 1 he's hooked then you can hopefully feed him any dead food and he'll go for it.... lastly predators can go a long time without eating generally, and especially when their larger, so maybe you havent starved quite long enough.... i'm not suggesting starve him to the point of death, just watch the fish as the days go by, if he looks stressed, stop starving and feed him his normal foood, then try again.... i would say 2 weeks is a good starvation time before it starts getting more dangerous especially with small fish.... also only try the new food once every 3 days... so try it, if he refuses wait 3 days to try again, you may get an instinctive strike cause the fish is ancy to eat and will hit what falls in automatically not even looking at what it is as long as the fish has realized whatever falls in the tank is food.... and remember if he mouths the new food, your 95% of the way there, he will most likely evetually swallow it in the next few attempts... sorry that was long as hell, my fingers hurt! stupid tiny cell phone keyboards
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