yet another baby (black) aro feeding question

[asder112]

So I've looked around (did a search, etc) and I know what I'm supposed to feed him (mysis, bloodworms, pellets, anything that he will eat essentially).

So I got mine 4 days ago (Thursday). He's around 5 inches and is in a 55 gallon with a 7 inch bgk, 6 inch kissing gourami and a 6 inch sun cat. Thursday I got him, acclimated, etc and after around an hour in the tank tossed in some pellets and he ate 3!!!!! Needless to say I was psyched. The next day fed frozen brine shrimp (morning) and he ate whatever was floating at the top. However, from that point on he has refused to eat anything other than brine shrimp. I've tried the pellets, mysis shrimp, broken up frozen/freeze dried krill, bloodworms, etc but the only thing he eats is brine shrimp. Is he big enough to starve? Should I try something else?

 

[leeishom]

Do not starve at that size, unless you are trying to reduce feeding.
Does it spit out the pellets?

I feed my sil aro 12 pellets in the morning, either crickets, shrimp and a couple of mealworms for a late snack.
How much did you pick up that aro?, where?

 

[asder112]

Do not starve at that size, unless you are trying to reduce feeding.
Does it spit out the pellets?

I feed my sil aro 12 pellets in the morning, either crickets, shrimp and a couple of mealworms for a late snack.
How much did you pick up that aro?, where?

I'm not starving him - however, as it literally won't swim more than an inch below the surface it does not get much of the brine shrimp. Thankfully the gourami, sun cat and bgk all eat it from the bottom. The first day I got it he ate 3 pellets, which is why this is ... perplexing. He'll ocasionally nip at one, but he spits it out now.

I'm in MA and the aro was 125

 

[leeishom]

Try pre-soaking the pellets.
My aro stopped spitting them out after being pre-soaked.

 

[asder112]

Try pre-soaking the pellets.
My aro stopped spitting them out after being pre-soaked.

tried that too, along with pre-soaking the freeze-dried mysis

 

[Rukusbelow]

Young aros around that size are really shy. The tankmates might be stressing him out, at that size aros are nervous of any other fish that can't fit in his mouth. I suggest that you house your aro alone for the time being until he gets a little bigger, that will ensure his safety & speed up his growth. Also Aro fry tend to jump often, as its the only defense against other predators so keep those lids on!

 

[Bderick67]

If it ate pellets before it will eat them again, just stop feeding the brine shrimp. With in a day or two it will eat the pellets again.

 

[asder112]

alright - i was just hesitant to try that method due to the smaller size of the aro. thanks guys!