I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but anyway.I have six 4''-5'' midas in a 125g growing out.I've had them for about two months.For the first month they ate the nls but over the past month they have become very reluctant to the point where they won't even look at it.I tried the starvation thing for 4 days,still they would'nt touch it,thinking they might be sick I threw in some omega 1 freshwater flakes which they devoured,so they're not sick. Is it unusual that a whole group of fish deciede to stop eating a particular food?.
Stopped eating NLS
- Thread starter rtague
- Start date
rtague;4823001; said:
I am having the same problem. I know NLS is a nice food, but my fish don't care for it really. My discus won't touch the pellets and they will eat the NLS flakes if I pour seachem garlic guard on it.
Some fish can be picky. If you want to continue feeding them NLS, just give them some time. If yo're worried about them starving, give them something else every now and then.
Tom, you can't really compare your situation with the OP's. With almost 100% certainty I can tell you that your juvenile LFS discus were raised out on beefheart & bloodworms, and harder less palatable foods will often be rejected for a while. There is a local breeder here with 3,000+ gallons worth of discus tanks, and he has never had any problem getting any of his discus to eat the 1mm NLS pellets, or flakes. You've seen some of his fish, great growth, superb color, and they all breed like rabbits. 99% of their diet since they were juvies has been NLS 1mm pellets. Your experience is definetly a deviation from the norm. One of the most important things when buying discus, is to start off with healthy quality stock.
rtague ........ I'm curious as to what size of pellet you have been feeding, and if this food comes from the same container as when they were eating it? Also, what if any other foods have you been feeding over the past 2 months? Over a decade of feeding numerous species of fish, including midas, I've had some fish that required some tough love to initially train them, but never had any that were eagerly eating the food 1 day, and the next rejecting it.
I don't see how it is different other than his fish did eat it initially and mine look at it like I am crazy. All my fish will eat omega one foods without issue. Most do not like NLS too much unless I pour garlic guard all over, then some will eat it.
Blame it on the supplier all you want, but what comes down right now is my fish (discus and some others) don't like NLS. I posted on this thread trying to find out why or tricks to get them to eat NLS. I tried omega one super colour pellets and some will eat those. That is what I am trying to get them onto the pellets right now. Its an improvement, but not perfect yet.
Blame it on the supplier all you want, but what comes down right now is my fish (discus and some others) don't like NLS. I posted on this thread trying to find out why or tricks to get them to eat NLS. I tried omega one super colour pellets and some will eat those. That is what I am trying to get them onto the pellets right now. Its an improvement, but not perfect yet.
I wasn't blaming your situation on the supplier, just tossing that out into the mix as an unknown. It just seems rather odd that a local breeder can convert an entire fishroom full of discus to 1mm NLS pellets, yet for the most part you are having difficulty getting yours to eat pellets, period.
The difference between your situation and the OP's, is 1. his fish were all eating the pellets for approx 1 month, and 2. he's feeding midas, which IME over the years are gluttonous pigs, compared to drama queens such as discus.
If anyone is serious about converting their fish to any type of pellet food, here's what I typically recommend.
1. Stop feeding all other foods. Don't give the fish a selection, and they will learn to eat what you offer, not what they find more appealing. Most children find candy & cake more appealing than meat & vegetables, but that doesn't equate to the former being better for them.
2. Make sure that the pellet is not too big for the fish, if it is, often times it will be rejected, or at the least excess chewing will cause fine particulate matter to get blown out of their gills & mouth. Not only does this cause excess waste in ones tank, it also is a waste of money.
3. Feed the fish once in the AM, if they reject the food try again the next morning. Eventually almost any freshwater fish will give in once they get hungry enough.
4. For the ultra picky eaters, "lightly" soak the pellets with tank water. Just enough water that the pellets soften up, but water soluable nutrients don't leach out. Once they begin eating the pre-soaked pellets eagerly, over the course of several days slowly decrease the amount & length of soaking until they are eating the pellets right out of the jar.
Personally I have never once had to use products such as garlic guard to train a fish to eat pellet food, and the steps listed above have included scores of species, with many of them being wild caught fish. Fish that up until they reached my tanks had never even seen a pellet food. I've seen juvenile discus that were raised on beefheart converted to NLS, and even fish that had never eaten anything other than bloodworms.
For the vast majority of fish, once they are trained to accept a certain food, they eventually learn to eat it with great gusto. This is why I am puzzled by the OP's situation. These fish were clearly already well trained.
HTH
The difference between your situation and the OP's, is 1. his fish were all eating the pellets for approx 1 month, and 2. he's feeding midas, which IME over the years are gluttonous pigs, compared to drama queens such as discus.
If anyone is serious about converting their fish to any type of pellet food, here's what I typically recommend.
1. Stop feeding all other foods. Don't give the fish a selection, and they will learn to eat what you offer, not what they find more appealing. Most children find candy & cake more appealing than meat & vegetables, but that doesn't equate to the former being better for them.
2. Make sure that the pellet is not too big for the fish, if it is, often times it will be rejected, or at the least excess chewing will cause fine particulate matter to get blown out of their gills & mouth. Not only does this cause excess waste in ones tank, it also is a waste of money.
3. Feed the fish once in the AM, if they reject the food try again the next morning. Eventually almost any freshwater fish will give in once they get hungry enough.
4. For the ultra picky eaters, "lightly" soak the pellets with tank water. Just enough water that the pellets soften up, but water soluable nutrients don't leach out. Once they begin eating the pre-soaked pellets eagerly, over the course of several days slowly decrease the amount & length of soaking until they are eating the pellets right out of the jar.
Personally I have never once had to use products such as garlic guard to train a fish to eat pellet food, and the steps listed above have included scores of species, with many of them being wild caught fish. Fish that up until they reached my tanks had never even seen a pellet food. I've seen juvenile discus that were raised on beefheart converted to NLS, and even fish that had never eaten anything other than bloodworms.
For the vast majority of fish, once they are trained to accept a certain food, they eventually learn to eat it with great gusto. This is why I am puzzled by the OP's situation. These fish were clearly already well trained.
HTH
I feed NLS to all my fish, some take to it quicker than others. Psycho eats it like it's going out of style (Jumbo Fish Formula 4mm floating) and if I try to give him anything else he will spit it out. My GTs eat it (Thera +A 3mm sinking) but I have to feed it first or they will ignore it, so with them the trick is give it to them and wate about 20 mins before I put anything else in the tank. The Rams (F0) have been eating the 1mm from day one. My Trimac growouts ~1", have also been converted to the 1mm. Some fish don't like it but it becomes a battle of wills and if the jar of food cost more than the fish you bet they're going to learn to like it.
The only time I've had a fish stop eating it is if feed them somthing else for a while (if I ran out) then I had to start over again getting them back on it. I never had a fish just stop eating it.
The only time I've had a fish stop eating it is if feed them somthing else for a while (if I ran out) then I had to start over again getting them back on it. I never had a fish just stop eating it.
When my Dempsey's were still real small I fed them NLS exclusively for 30 days, when the 30 days was up I gave them some frozen brine shrimp as a treat and after that, even after a few days of starvation they would not touch the NLS. I plan to try them on it again, but I've also been considered trying Xtreme. I've been feeding my baby Festae the .5 mm Xtreme pellets and that combined with 30% water changes every other day has doubled it's size in about a month.
LOL, that's pretty much how I feel when it comes to feeding fish.
They learn to like what I decide they will like, and other than a Mbu puffer I've yet to be trained by a fussy fish. Then again, I don't know of anyone having success converting a Mbu to pellets.
If one looks at this from a more logical sense, the vast majority of the commercial fish operations in North America feed pellet food. They don't offer the fish 1/2 dozen different types or brands of pellets, and they don't feed them frozen treats. The fish soon learn that chow time comes around twice a day, and when the food hits the ponds surface it looks like a school of piranha that haven't eaten in several weeks.
Also, when one considers the fact that some of the most ultra fussy fish on the planet, species such as Moorish Idol, Achilles Tang, and even obligatory predators such as V. lionfish can & have been pellet trained to NLS, I have a real difficult time understanding why someones cichlid can't be trained to eat the same food. It's not always easy, but I have yet to see a cichlid starve itself to death when food is available.