Red Devil really getting on my nerves!!!

[cichlid savage]

You bought the fish so it is your responsibility to give it proper care, nutrition included. I agree with some of the posts. It would be simpler to just buy sinking pellets. Also try to vary is diet. Maybe he is tired of the same old pellets everyday. When I first got my RD he wouldn't eat from the surface, now he will, and he also splashes water all over the palce in the process. Both of my RD's are like that and I think it's exciting to see them hit the food on the surface in such an aggressive manner. Maybe you should re-think your position on the fish and your attitude toward him. Just my .02. Whatever you do allowing him to suffer while starving to death is not the answer, his death would be your fault for not doing what was necessarywhether that is buying something he will eat or giving him away.

 

[importracer]

Do I know you son? I'm prob old enough to be your father kid. If I wanted to read some punk ass reply from some wise ass kid, I'd visit my lil brother who is 16 and read some of his teeny bopper posts from a video game message board.

To everyone else who posted, thx for not acting like such an assclown as this.

Stay true....My Midas Devil grew to a thick 9 inches from Dec06-Today......For about a month, he resided in a 33g Tall, pretty squishy......He now has 100g all for himself....I'm able to pet him and push through the water.....Of course I have the occassional bite, but that's part of fun....

As for your RD....Try treating your fish for internal parasites....He may have worms of some sort....Weekly 40% water changes is a must too....I do my changes every SUnday or MOnday, sometimes twice a week.....Also, spread the variety of feed you give him....RD's are intelligent, like Oscars......Keep them stimulated....Have deep gravel for them to play around in.....

Pretty much focus on two things.....After treating for internal parasites, focus on weekly water changes and varied diet....

 

[TenaciousTankBuster]

I agree, try different foods and go from there. No fish will usually resist krill. Try different pellets or cichlid sticks. Also try starving him for a couple days. He may think this is some game you play where you throw food in and fish it out later everyday. Large Cichlids are very intelligent.

Might try hikari bio-gold. I think it already has garlic in it so it might help his appetite. Also important but what is your water temp? tank size? Does he have alot of cover?

The tank is 60 gallons-15 inches wide. Temp is 80 and here is a pic of his cover. I took out the bogwood, and rocks and put in a ceramic skull and ceramic fish which he goes crazy over. This past week I decided to take out the ceramic stuff to see what he would do. The only thing I notice is that he is alot less bored and alot more agressive with the Ceramic fish and skull in there. And I also feed a variety of foods, including almost all of the Hikari pellets, Excel, Gold, Biogold, Foodsticks and even Cichlid complete. Not to mention, frozen krill, brineshrimp, bloodworms, mysis shrimp, and variety packs.

The first pic was taken today, the second pic was last week before I took out the ornaments.

 

[TenaciousTankBuster]

i had a 14" oscar that behaved similarly to this. it would stuff its self and the refuse to eat for days even weeks ...
1) how old are the pellets? if they are getting old the go stale and my synspilum wont eat old pellets.. it spits them out.
2.) whats you water quality like and how much water do you change ?
3.) it may have a genetic abnormality causing it to be unable to digest large quantitys of food. i had a batch of bright red oscars that all died at 3 - 4" aged one year that at postmortem had abnormal digestive tracts. they hardly ever ate. and should have been double that size at least in one year.
4.) have you tried live shrimp or blood worms?
5.) internal blockage. form eating gravel and tank ornaments.
unfortunately you just get fish that do not thrive and theres little you can do about it..

Seriously dont hammer on the tank it will stress it more and make it more skitish and less likely to eat..
i know it frustrating as you like the fish.
i would try a different brand of food or use some shrimp..

Thanks man.

The pellets arn't old really.
I change 50% of the water every week of the same temp using my python
Yes I feed him shrimp, krill, and bloodworms but he lets all the bloodworms fall to the bottom, and the shrimp and krill he wont touch unless he gets the nerve to go for it, or I sink it down to him.

Yes I know hitting the tank is a bad thing, but I lost my temper when he woke me up at 3:30 in the morning by splashing water in my face. I only did this once, and wont do it again.

 

[TenaciousTankBuster]

Stay true....My Midas Devil grew to a thick 9 inches from Dec06-Today......For about a month, he resided in a 33g Tall, pretty squishy......He now has 100g all for himself....I'm able to pet him and push through the water.....Of course I have the occassional bite, but that's part of fun....

As for your RD....Try treating your fish for internal parasites....He may have worms of some sort....Weekly 40% water changes is a must too....I do my changes every SUnday or MOnday, sometimes twice a week.....Also, spread the variety of feed you give him....RD's are intelligent, like Oscars......Keep them stimulated....Have deep gravel for them to play around in.....

Pretty much focus on two things.....After treating for internal parasites, focus on weekly water changes and varied diet....

Thanks for the response bro. This is probably the best advice so far! Although I doubt he has internal parasites, its definitely cant hurt to treat for it. I always do 50% water changes every friday.

I used to be able to pet my female a few years back, but ever since I put in the ornament Pirahna, he's turned into a Jeckle and Hyde! I literally have to use the net to keep him at bay during the water changes. And even then, He's bit me twice.

Heres a video I took from just this past Halloween:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J49-aaygSks

 

[TenaciousTankBuster]

Also thx to everyone who replied. Especially Cichlid Savage, Jason S., and Sinister Kisses. Thanks to you guys, I feel better now knowing I'm not the only one with a fish that is skittish about taking from the surface, slaming his head into the hood, and splashing water all over the place. Just letting you guys know that I realize that I lost my temper by hitting the tank and startling him. I only did this once because he woke me up at 3:30 in the morning. I won't be doing it again. Also sorry for losing my temper earlier!

Again, I really love this guy's personality other then when he eats. He's probably one of the most beautiful devils I've ever kept, but it just drives me nutz that he doesn't eat like all my other ones. I guess I'll go ahead and try to float down the remaining hikari pellets I have and buy some sinking food. But seriously, even with frozen food, it will sometimes take him 8 hours to muster up the courage to take krill from the top. And the bloodworm cubes....they just all fall to the bottom where he will scan the gravel and clean it up.

I just wanted to ask you guys, do you think he looks malnourished, skinny, or underfed? I don't think so but he is only eating maybe 2 or 3 medium pellets a day. I took this picture just now. You think he should be more plump? Or at the very least, since I've had him for 7 months, shouldn't he be close to 7 inches instead of just between 5 or 6?

 

[shekes]

Do I know you son? I'm prob old enough to be your father kid. If I wanted to read some punk ass reply from some wise ass kid, I'd visit my lil brother who is 16 and read some of his teeny bopper posts from a video game message board.

To everyone else who posted, thx for not acting like such an assclown as this.

 

[cichlid savage]

No problem. I think he looks okay. Once you get him on a food he likes I'm sure he fatten up and be the beast that you want him to be.

 

[SinisterKisses]

Yeah, he's fine...clearly not starving. He's also very pretty, so if you decide you've had enough of him, send him over to me Personally, I'd make the effort to make sure he gets food and keep him for myself

 

[Diamondhitch]

I wonder if putting another fish in with him for awhile would get him up to the surface? I have a couple skittish fish in my 180 that wouldnt eat from the surface until I added a couple that didnt mind it. After that the skittish ones seemed to be more confident to go up to the top as long as there were other fish up there. A little competition for food may bring out the feeding instinct in him too, just like the difference between a horse that has been fed oats in his stall all his life that slowly eats away at his bucket of oats and a horse that has always had to compete with the herd for food, they wolf as much down as fast as they can.