I have 3 peacock bass in a 20 gallon aquarium, (grow out tank) 2 of them about 2 1/2 inches long and one about 1 1/2 inches and I’ve had them for about a month maybe, and I’m feeding them bloodworms everyday, but the smallest one won’t eat them anymore. At first he was the only one that ate them, now only the 2 larger ones eat them. He is very very shy and I don’t know what to feed him. HELP!
Peacock Not Eating!
- Thread starter LoganBrigs
- Start date
What’s your water like? He could also be being bullied by the other two. Baby bass seem to sometimes just “give up” and slowly pass away too. I make a point of rarely if ever buying bass under 5” because they’re so unpredictable. But if you want them to grow out quicker I suggest upgrading them now. They’ll fill their adult tank in no time whereas after 3”-4” that 20g may hamper their growth.
He goes up to the glass like he’s hungry and wants to eat some food, but then when I put it in, he just sits there and acts like he doesn’t want it. I’m confused why.
what he said.... ^^^^^^^^^
bigger tank - happy healthy fish... clean water....
20g - good for guppies or fry...
GL !
what’s your temp look like in the tank? Increase it to 88/89 degrees add salt make sure you have plenty of aeration feed 3-4 times a day maybe more if they will accept more, increase water change intervals to every other day minimum 50%. I have grown most of my bass if not all from 1.5-2.5” I have never looked or wanted to purchase bass a 5” or more, they are much easier to pellet train at smaller sizes. If you need to add a partition in the tank to get smaller bass to bulk up to the same size also any dithers in the tank? Maybe add some small dithers in there to help with competition for food and spread out aggression (swordtails, Mollies, they will be eaten when bass get some size but they serve a purpose). If you add partition to separate smaller bass make sure to add dithers in with him. Good luck
edit: most of my bass if not all started in a 10 gallon then to 40-75-180 then to 600 gallon
The water temp stays between 83 and 85 which is what I found on the internet to be the best for them. I haven’t seen the two bigger ones bullying the little one at all yet so idk if that’s it. They were all the same size when I got them but the one that are bigger now have just grown more because they eat a lot more. The little one also has darker colors than the larger ones, I don’t know if that indicates anything but I thought I’d say that just in case.
That’s almost exactly what I’m planning on just not exact I’m going 20-75-600 but I’m waiting to upgrade till they grow about another half inch just so they don’t get pushed around by my 4 inch Oscar in my 75 because depending on what’s in there he can sometimes get a little aggressive.
83-85 degrees is great for adult and juvenile bass but baby bass do better in higher temps and grow faster it simply increases the metabolic rate your initial complaint is that you have one not feeding well If you raise the temp it will increase appetite salt helps with overall health of the fish gill function etc. I guess you can just keep your temp where it’s cross your fingers and see what happens or as suggested by another member baby bass just give up and die....
Yeah I saw someone else’s reply about temperature so I put it up to 87 degrees. He still won’t eat the blood worms I give him, but he’ll eat little pieces of nightcrawlers which are worms which I know are really fatty and maybe not the most healthy thing, but it’s the only thing he will eat. Do you have any suggestions about what he might eat instead that’s a little healthier?83-85 degrees is great for adult and juvenile bass but baby bass do better in higher temps and grow faster it simply increases the metabolic rate your initial complaint is that you have one not feeding well If you raise the temp it will increase appetite salt helps with overall health of the fish gill function etc. I guess you can just keep your temp where it’s cross your fingers and see what happens or as suggested by another member baby bass just give up and die....