Apisto won't eat flake food

kylith

I got a pair of cockatoo apistos a few weeks back. They've settled in well, but they refuse flake food and, the female especially, will only take frozen bloodworms or artemia (brine shrimp). I don't mind feeding them the meaty stuff, but I've heard that too much of it can lead to something called fatty liver disease. I've tried JBL (cichlid pellets and community food), tetra flakes, some other kind of flake (I have it in a bag rather than a tub, so I can't remember what brand it is), I even went and got a tub of dried daphnia in the hope that'd be acceptable, but no.

Is a staple of artemia with bloodworm every 3 days or so an acceptable diet, or can you recommend something?

Other fish are 10 glowlight tetras and one albino BN pleco. All are swimming well, the pleco's demolished the algae and is now on to cooked courgette, and the tetras will eat anything they can get in their mouths.

mad turnip

I shouldn't really comment but your tetras sound like absolute beasts!

CruelCoin

kylith wrote: »

I got a pair of cockatoo apistos a few weeks back. They've settled in well, but they refuse flake food and, the female especially, will only take frozen bloodworms or artemia (brine shrimp). I don't mind feeding them the meaty stuff, but I've heard that too much of it can lead to something called fatty liver disease. I've tried JBL (cichlid pellets and community food), tetra flakes, some other kind of flake (I have it in a bag rather than a tub, so I can't remember what brand it is), I even went and got a tub of dried daphnia in the hope that'd be acceptable, but no.

Is a staple of artemia with bloodworm every 3 days or so an acceptable diet, or can you recommend something?

Other fish are 10 glowlight tetras and one albino BN pleco. All are swimming well, the pleco's demolished the algae and is now on to cooked courgette, and the tetras will eat anything they can get in their mouths.

Allo,

I avoid flakes myself as they can lead to constipation in your fish due to lack of fiber.

Pellets work better, get a size that can fit in your fishes mouths before it hits the ground. Many fish will ignore what is on the tank floor.

You can't feed brine shrimp as as staple long-term as it is very low in nutritional value. Daphnia and bloodworm are both far more nutritional.

kylith

mad turnip wrote: »

I shouldn't really comment but your tetras sound like absolute beasts!

I don't know about beasts, but they're good grubbers alright.

CruelCoin wrote: »

Allo,

I avoid flakes myself as they can lead to constipation in your fish due to lack of fiber.

Pellets work better, get a size that can fit in your fishes mouths before it hits the ground. Many fish will ignore what is on the tank floor.

You can't feed brine shrimp as as staple long-term as it is very low in nutritional value. Daphnia and bloodworm are both far more nutritional.

I've been trying them on the JBL 1-4mm cichlid pellets, but they either get spat back out or come out through the gills. The apistos seem perfectly ok with picking them up off the tank floor. I've tried soaking them, not soaking them, scattering them on top, releasing them just under the surface. Right now I'm trying starving them for a couple of days to see if hunger will pique their appetite. I don't mind feeding frozen food, but 1) I want to do make sure it's a balanced diet and 2) I've spent about €30 on pellet food that the little feckers just spit out again.

CruelCoin

kylith wrote: »

I've been trying them on the JBL 1-4mm cichlid pellets, but they either get spat back out or come out through the gills. The apistos seem perfectly ok with picking them up off the tank floor. I've tried soaking them, not soaking them, scattering them on top, releasing them just under the surface. Right now I'm trying starving them for a couple of days to see if hunger will pique their appetite. I don't mind feeding frozen food, but 1) I want to do make sure it's a balanced diet and 2) I've spent about €30 on pellet food that the little feckers just spit out again.

I had a similar problem a while ago.

My angelfish were being fed pellets no problem, then i experimented with a wafer food (some sort of fish meal disc with a algae concentrate in the middle). My angels now refuse to eat the pellet food.....

If you want a balanced diet, include frozen, pellet/flake, and if you can live food.

My fish go ape**** for live food......

kylith

CruelCoin wrote: »

My fish go ape**** for live food......

Tell me about it! (well, frozen, not live). My betta has always eaten ok, but since I started giving him the odd brine shrimp when I've been feeding the apistos (they're not in the same tank, don't worry) he's started actually attacking my fingers looking for more.

CruelCoin

kylith wrote: »

Tell me about it! (well, frozen, not live). My betta has always eaten ok, but since I started giving him the odd brine shrimp when I've been feeding the apistos (they're not in the same tank, don't worry) he's started actually attacking my fingers looking for more.

Imagine spending your entire life on stale bread (flake/pellet), then someone threw you a big juicy t-bone steak.... That's what's happening here when you give frozen/live food.

kylith

I imagine so, but as you said; artemia aren't nutritious enough for long-term feeding, and bloodworms I've been told are too rich, so he's going to have to have the equivalent of a healthy salad occasionally.