Vieja Synspilum not eating yet and Fluval Substrate

[Calvin Klein]

I recently added a larger vieja synspilum to my tank and she (I think) has become the dominant fish. It has been two to three days and I still haven't seen her eat. She has made my tank a bit cloudy by digging around in the fluval stratum substrate and messed up the plants a bit. I've read that they will eat what most other cichlids do. Mine eat mostly frozen shrimp chopped up. My JD and Nile Tilapia both eat it up and they are the ones who moved down the pecking order. Any ideas or has she just not settled yet? Plus has anyone ever mixed gravel with the fluval subtrate to make it less prone to stiring up?

 

[RD.]

2 or 3 days is nothing, sounds like yor fish is just settling in to its new environment.

Also, feeding a V. synspilum a diet that mostly consists of frozen shrimp isn't a very good idea for a number of reasons, the main one being that syns are omnivorous, as are JD's, and tilapia are herbivorous. All 3 species require a substantial amount of aquatic plant matter in their diet, not just meat.

 

[Calvin Klein]

So cichlid pellets would provide that ballance or should I be doing the submerged cucumber and stuff like that?

 

[RD.]

A good quality pellet would be more ideal.

 

[skillzizzo]

It is allways hard to sit and watch our new fish settle in and wait for them to eat but she will. I just got a new 8 inch wild midas from rapps. Took him 4 days to eat for me plus 2 days in a box in shipping and 2 days no eating before shipping. Thats 8 days tottal for him not to eat and now is chomping down what ever pellet i choose to put in its tank.

 

[Calvin Klein]

Yah it is crazy when fish get shipped how long they go without food. Yeah I was just more worries about not feeding it the right food. My other fish inhale the shrimp chunks. I'm sure she'll eat soon. Thanks for the feedback! Anyone have information on mixing this substrate with gravel or maybe I should post in setup and filtration.