Not sure if my Red Devil is eating (slightly concerned)

[bluehighways]

I have had an 8" male Red Devil for about a month now, housed in a 40 gallon breeder with a common pleco and several danios as dithers. Substrate is pea gravel, very natural looking in the brown spectrum. He has plenty of cover, tall plastic plants and a 'parthenon' decoration. He rearranges his plastic plants and makes a little 'fort' to hang out in.

He appears healthy in every way. He is active, curious about who's watching him, and even a little aggressive toward me when I have to reach in his tank. He doesn't swim away and hide from me at all, rather he'll come right up to my hand to check me out, and a few times I thought he might even take a swipe at me.

His water parameters are perfect. Zero ammonia, zero nitrites, nitrates at around 15-20ppm thanks to an Ehiem canister filter, with regular 10% water changes twice a week. So here's the deal:

I can't tell if he's actually eating or not. I have never seen him eat anything. I offer Hikari cichlid gold pellets, tiny shrimp, dried krill, and an off-brand pellet that has been the liking of other cichlids I've had.

He will get curious about his food, swim up to check it out, but then decide not to eat it. He will repeatedly check it out but not take it in. If I leave the room for a while, some of his food appears to be gone but I can't be sure it's him eating it. I know that pleco likes cichlid pellets and even the danios can chip away at them until they're gone.

I'm pretty sure I'm not overfeeding, either. I only offer a few pellets or shrimp each day. I'm hoping that hunger wins out and he gets over his pickiness. Any suggestions or feedback from other cichlid keepers?

 

[Aquanero]

What temp is the water?

 

[Aqualoon]

Some of my fish won't eat when I'm near the glass. So when I want to watch them eat I'll give them their food and then back at least 5ft away from the tank. I then get to see them attack the pellets

 

[bluehighways]

What temp is the water?

Holding fast at 80 degrees fahrenheit. This fish really baffles me because I've had SA cichlids before, just not a midas. He is super aggressive and has a lot of personality, but I've never seen him eat. I just got home from work and one of the dithers is beat to hell, torn flesh and barely alive. He will be euthanized in short order. It is obvious that the midas killed him, and yet I can't witness him eat a simple pellet. Strange.

I just hope that he is eating enough so he doesn't die. I really like this fish.

 

[Aquanero]

Are you using sinking or floating pellets? The reason I ask this is because pea gravel is large and sinking pellets can get lost in it, it also mekes it more difacult to determine if the food is being consumed. I would think that after a month, if your not noticing any weight loss and it's acting normally as you discribed, it must be eating somthing. If they are sinking pellets try floating pellets. Another trick that has been sucessful in getting these guys to eat is raise the temperature in the tank, try setting it at 84-85 for about a week and see if that doesn't get it going. The increased temp kicks up the metabolism and the aggression (so be advised) but sometimes is what it takes to get them eating.

 

[smitty03281964]

If he appears healthy I probably would not worry since he will not let himself starve.

 

[bluehighways]

If he appears healthy I probably would not worry since he will not let himself starve.

Good point, and thank you for the reassurance. One of my co-workers is a fish keeper and stated that if he hadn't eaten by now he'd be dead.

 

[cacichlids]

Fish can go about a week or two without eating... but he won't starve himself to death if there's food available.

If you want to see him eating drop a dozen live ghost shrimp in his tank. I still haven't found a cichlid that can resist them.

 

[Aquanero]

Good point, and thank you for the reassurance. One of my co-workers is a fish keeper and stated that if he hadn't eaten by now he'd be dead.

If your staisfied with this, that's fine. If he's not eating or not eating much I would suppose you haven't had a chance to check his poop to see if it looks normal. Most 8" RD's have ravinous appatites as they should be continuing to grow and if your fish is only taking in enough food to stay alive it doesn't mean it'll grow or contunie to act normally, fish can go for long periods of time without eating much and showing no signs of anything being wrong untill it's too late. If I feed my RD and didn't see him eating like I haven't feed him in a week I'd be concerned his tank is kept at 82 and of corse I monitor his intake and don't over feed him. I would double check the temperature with another thermometer and do as I suggested bumping the temp a few degrees for about a week and see if that doesn't make a differance. If it gets him eatting like he should be then check his poop to make sure it looks normal or if you see a sign of IPs or internal infection (white stringy poop), however I suspect the issue is temperture related. I've seen this several times before. One of the members on this forum has a Midas that didn't eat much for a long time untill one day about a year ago a heat wave set in and if I remember correctly the AC wasn't working anyway the temp in the tank went up to like 86 and bang like a switch he started eating. You can take my advice or not it's up to you.

 

[bluehighways]

He is eating. I sat in wait in the dark tonight after work and witnessed him chomp a bunch of pellets. He also killed a swordtail that was in the tank with him and his poop is dark. He just likes to be shy. If he knows you are watching, forget the show, but if he can't see you at all he goes about his business. He splashed the surface water a few times, ate some pellets, took a swipe at the 16" pleco (which is a joke because Pleco could clean his clock) and then mouthed some gravel. I think it must have been an adjustment period thing. He's fine and his water is perfect.