pirate perch food?

[dpiddybgt]

Just pulled a pirate perch from my minnow trap the other day. he's very skittish when i come in the room and can't get him to eat when i feed my black banded sunnies. i was thinking of trying frozen food cubes of some kind? any ideas?

 

[Noto]

I've kept pirate perch a few times. They seem to often have heavy parasite loads, so keep an eye on him; I suggest taking him out of your sunfish tank and putting him in a quarantine tank with some plants or other cover.

My guys would usually eat frozen bloodworms or mysis, but only if it was in the water column; once it hit bottom they ignored it. Some individuals would take crumbled cichlid pellets. All enjoyed scuds, isopods, juvenile ghost shrimp, and various other small live inverts; I imagine they would go for adult brine shrimp as well.