New and established fish refusing to eat frozen food

[seanh28]

I’ve introduced a couple new fish to my 20gal over the past week, and I’m starting to get worried about them eating. I first added a Randall’s goby a few days back back and it’s still too shy to come out into the water column to feed. Any ideas on how to get him to start eating? I know they can go some time without food, but I’m just about reaching the end of that period.

The next additions were a firefish and orchid dottyback—they’re starting to get comfortable in the tank and are out and about most of the day, but I can’t figure out how to get them to eat. In an ideal world, they’d come up to the corner of the glass to wait for pellets like my clown I got earlier this year, but I don’t plan on that happening anytime soon. I gave the tank half a cube of SF Marine Cuisine (with some garlic juice for good measure) but nothing really seemed to eat it. The corals loved it! The fish.. not so much. They’d be interested at first but they’d spit it out right after, the clown, firefish, and the dottyback.

Before these new additions, feeding time would be as easy as giving my clown a pinch of new life spectrum pellets. I’ve tried feeding freeze-dried mysis but he didn’t show any interest in them. With more tank inhabitants, I thought frozen would be a better choice. My thinking was that using frozen would make the food more accessible in the water column, and to some extent it is, but it just isn’t being eaten.

I’m not sure what to do now. I’ll try feeding frozen again tomorrow, but I don’t expect a different reaction. Got any advice or tips?

 

[haigyfish]

I’ve introduced a couple new fish to my 20gal over the past week, and I’m starting to get worried about them eating. I first added a Randall’s goby a few days back back and it’s still too shy to come out into the water column to feed. Any ideas on how to get him to start eating? I know they can go some time without food, but I’m just about reaching the end of that period.

The next additions were a firefish and orchid dottyback—they’re starting to get comfortable in the tank and are out and about most of the day, but I can’t figure out how to get them to eat. In an ideal world, they’d come up to the corner of the glass to wait for pellets like my clown I got earlier this year, but I don’t plan on that happening anytime soon. I gave the tank half a cube of SF Marine Cuisine (with some garlic juice for good measure) but nothing really seemed to eat it. The corals loved it! The fish.. not so much. They’d be interested at first but they’d spit it out right after, the clown, firefish, and the dottyback.

Before these new additions, feeding time would be as easy as giving my clown a pinch of new life spectrum pellets. I’ve tried feeding freeze-dried mysis but he didn’t show any interest in them. With more tank inhabitants, I thought frozen would be a better choice. My thinking was that using frozen would make the food more accessible in the water column, and to some extent it is, but it just isn’t being eaten.

I’m not sure what to do now. I’ll try feeding frozen again tomorrow, but I don’t expect a different reaction. Got any advice or tips?

I wish I could offer tips but I am in a similar situation with my clown goby. My Two other fish are eating the frozen mysis shrimp but the clown won’t try to eat. Even added flakes once shrimp was gone to see if that would help but nope. I have heard a varsity from brine to mysis is recommend but for the most part I always use frozen and see good results with frozen cubes. At first I would feed half a cube now I do a cube a day.

 

[mfinn]

When I have new fish in a quarantine tank, they are sometimes reluctant to eat.
So first I use tigger pods to get them back to eating.
My next step is to use frozen mysis and frozen brine shrimp. I defrost it and add small amounts in the current of a powerhead. It moves across the tank like it's alive. It usually stimulates a feeding response.

 

[haigyfish]

When I have new fish in a quarantine tank, they are sometimes reluctant to eat.
So first I use tigger pods to get them back to eating.
My next step is to use frozen mysis and frozen brine shrimp. I defrost it and add small amounts in the current of a powerhead. It moves across the tank like it's alive. It usually stimulates a feeding response.

Will the goby be more likely to eat in dark since it may be shy?

 

[mfinn]

Will the goby be more likely to eat in dark since it may be shy?

Once fish realize what is food, they will come out to eat.


I should have also said that once fish that tend to be shy and hide, see other fish out and going after food, it helps bring them out to eat.

 

[seanh28]

Thanks for the advice! I’ve still been feeding Marine Cuisine (in hindsight I would’ve chosen a different brand—a lot of big chunks and shells that the fish can’t eat in it). The firefish and dottyback I’m not concerned about anymore.

Still worried about the Randall’s goby. All day, every day, it’s hiding in the same nook and it refuses to go out to feed. I might go the live mysis route, but it’s hard to target feed where it’s burrowed.

 

[Mark Goode]

Were they eating at the LFS?

 

[seanh28]

Were they eating at the LFS?

Totally my fault–I didn't. I'll give the LFS a call today

 

[Bucs20fan]

Feeding response is HUGE in this hobby, lots of these fish will just die rather than eat, thats why its crucial to have a fish that doesnt give a darn about anything to eat, aka a damsel or clown type of fish. They get jealous when they see another fish eating alot.