New to Cichla.. what have I got?

[cjdesmit]

I have frozen mysis shrimp that I tried initially and they all ignored it, which is when I went to frozen bloodworms. Hoping he eventually just comes around. I ordered some hikari carni food sticks that should be here tomorrow so I'll be starting to try and get them all on pellets here soon.

 

[cjdesmit]

I have frozen mysis shrimp that I tried initially and they all ignored it, which is when I went to frozen bloodworms. Hoping he eventually just comes around. I ordered some hikari carni food sticks that should be here tomorrow so I'll be starting to try and get them all on pellets here soon.

 

[cjdesmit]

Good news, the smallest of the five finally ate for the first time today. They are still on fresh shrimp and rejecting pellets. The struggle continues...

I'll try and post some pics soon.

 

[cjdesmit]

Quick update, all appear to be doing well. They are still eating pretty much nothing but raw shrimp, however one of the bigger ones ate quite a few hikari food sticks for the first time today. Hoping the others begin to catch on. What temp should I be keeping these guys at? I've had them at 80F but may bump it up a bit?

 

['Merica]

You can bump it up a little bit if you want. Sounds like they are doing great! I’m glad your fifth started eating.

 

[cjdesmit]

Another quick update.. I am down to 4. Came home the other day and one somehow managed to jump out the back of the tank. Out of the 4 I have now, 3 are eating pellets ravenously, the fourth however is the runt that took forever to eat anything and is still refusing everything but shrimp. I've pretty much all but stopped feeding shrimp in order to try and convert them all to pellets and by doing so, the runt is now way undersized compared to the others. Not sure how much longer he is going to make it.

 

[TheWolfman]

Keep giving the runt and only him shrimp during feeding. Sneek pellets in the shrimp he’ll come around and catch up.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

In my group of three, I had a runt that refused to eat. I found out that it was actually just too timid to eat around the two larger ones. Once I separated it into its own tank, it ate very well. It was doing great on its own and putting on size, that is, until my endli that shared its tank decided it was food. The bass was almost 4” and the endli was about 7”. I thought they would be fine together, but the endli got him.

If you have a small tank that you can put the runt in, try separating it and seeing how well it feeds once it gets settled in.

 

[cjdesmit]

The day after I posted my last update the runt decided to finally start eating pellets. I've been breaking them in half for him to make them a bit easier to swallow. Hopefully he starts to put on some size before he becomes bite size for the others.

 

[cjdesmit]

Well, just got home from the gym to find the runt beat and belly up on the substrate. It appears the others ganged up on him so I am officially down to 3. Hopefully no more fatalities as these three have been doing well from the start. I'll try and get some pics up so we can perhaps get a positive ID on the species.