I've got a Venezuelan pike cichlid in my grow out tank. He's been there for roughly 2 weeks now and the only time he eats is when he notices my bichir has a cricket in its mouth, in which case he bomb rushes the bichir and steals the cricket. Then after everyone else has finished eating he gets pissy and starts attacking my Silver Dollars. Has anyone had any issues with a picky eater and found a way to get them to eat other things, specifically pellets?
Not eating
- Thread starter SMSChris
- Start date
Softening the pellets helps with the acceptance. Since most pikes are wild caught they are not used to eating "rocks". I've found that soaking in defrosted blood worm liquid or liquid from defrosted fish fillets helps soften the pellets enough to where the pikes will eat it. This is how I trained my johanna. I currently have a red atabapo that will eat New Era pellets due to it being soft, and will spit out other pellets.
I have used earth worms and nightcrawlers in progressively smaller pieces until they are pellet sized. Then soaking the pellets in worm juices will get them interested more than dry pellets. It may take a minute , but eventually hunger wins. Pieces of chopped frozen feeders work the same way. I have put pellets inside the pieces just to get them to get used to the taste of them. I got my dog to eat only turnip greens without seasonings, but it took a few weeks. Lol. Kidding.