Banded Cat Shark not eating! HELP

[double0norm]

My banded cat shark was born June 5th, He's in a 210 and he's all alone. Can a Shark get Lonely? lol I have tried Feeding him live krill, frozen krill, another person recomended beef heart, tried that to. I have even went through the trouble of soaking most of my body to get to his mouth with a turkey baster type device to make sure he knew what to do with the food. I have run out of options i'm thinking. I have about 20 turbo snails and a whole bunch of hermits to help clean up the food that i may have not cleaned out that was old. I was even hoping that he would gobble up one of them, still nothing!! what next It's not my only or first tank, but it is my first shark. I only got him because i have the huge tank and equipment now and its only him going in it.

 

[gasguzzler]

Perhaps maybe you should relax, give it a few days, and try again. Ive heard of these things going a few weeks before feeding. If your really worried, you can try some ghost shrimp to initiate a feeding response. Post again in two or three days.

 

[sharkguy1]

It usally takes a while for newborn sharks to start eating. It usally takes 2weeks to start eating. You can try to use garlic extreme to attrack the bamboo more. Also something that will get him/her going will be using live ghost shrimp. Keep trying to feed him but ghost shrimp is a good starter for the sharks to eat. Make shure since you got a large system to put the shrimp by him or he mite not get one. good luck

 

[tony detroit]

Look around your area at some fish stores, try some LIVE ghost shrimp, many FW stores have them.

 

[cubuffs]

I got both of my bamboos (humperdink and buttercup) to eat live ghost shrimp within a week of hatching. That is what I would recommend, and then after they start to feed, you can feed them a variety of foods.

 

[pufferman]

don't panic yet...it's been only a couple of days since your shark hatched. He still might have some residual yolk..that is not visible...from which it can get nutrition........he shuold be able to sustain himself without feeding for the next couple of days.....just let it adapt to a new environment.......once it settles in and gets hungry.....he'll begin feeding..... hopefully......btw, do you see any external signs of disease?

 

[double0norm]

Thanks for all the help. I'll be doing some searching for live ghost shrimp TODAY!!! And to the last post, no i haven't seen any sign of disease yet thank goodness.

 

[saltfisher]

Make sure it's dark when trying to feed it.

 

[cbshark]

Buy some frozen squid and I guarantee he will eat right away. They seem to really be attracted to foods with a strong odor. I had 2 of those sharks for a few years and squid never failed to start their appetite. It got to where that is about all they really liked. One of them liked frozen shrinp also, but I could never go wrong with squid. When you thaw it out, cut it into small enough pieces to fit in his mouth and use some sort of skewer to place it colse to the shark. I used a long piece of rigid air tubing with one end sharpened. Eventually, maybe even right away, you won't need to use the skewer. You can just toss the squid in, he'll smell it and go crazy. I tend to think using the skewer can make them lazy and not swim as freely as they will if you make them search for it. If you don't have any other fish that will eat the squid, I would try that as often as possible.

 

[cbshark]

Also, I don't know how fast you want your shark to grow, but at that size, I fed mine everyday, sometimes even twice a day and they bulked up FAST! You can feed those guys until their stomach looks like they've swallowed a golf ball. Over time, I weened them down to where I was giving them only two large feeding a week. Mine got to be over two feet before I got rid of my last one and changed my tank into a reef. My first shark, which was my largest and favorite, got into a brutal fight with my 2 foot moray eel one evening. They never did that in the past, it was very strange. The next day, my eel was dead. And within a week, the shark died as well. The eel was pretty beaten up but the shark had no noticeable damage, but from things I read, eel bites can contain some pretty nasty bacteria and I think that is what killed him. I was extremely bummed out. So, be careful what you put with them and watch out at feeding time if you do have other aggressive species in there with then because it can get very violent when they start to get big and start tangling with each other.

 

[gasguzzler]

In 5 months my female Bamboo grew to 18". Thats with a water temp of 72, and feeding bare minimum 3 times a week.

 

[double0norm]

That pic is of him the day he came out of the egg.
I just picked up some live ghost shrimp and he looked like he ate one of them. I don't know if he liked it or not but there are alot of them in his face and i have a yellow tang in there that actually likes the shrimp. I will try the squid within the next day or two and let you know how it turns out.

 

[conogre]

Best of luck.....our Bamboo (Bambi! **grin**) hatched out before Christmas ans is approaching 2 feet now.
Normal fare is raw shrimp, raw squid and raw fish, but her FAVORITE FOOD is...are you ready for this?
Tender Vittles moist cat food......the cats lick off the gravy and by day's end it goes into the tank where it's scarfed immediately by the shark and a Vlamingi tang!!!!!
Don't ever be afraid to think outside the box (or pet shop) when it comes to food for larger fish...in actuality, many LFS truly don't have muc suited for larger carnivorous species.
TRy the squid (just a piece or two) just before turning out the lights....don't forget that these sharks are nocturnal by natuer and have some of the best developed noses in the world.
Mike

 

[chandler04]

Thats a NICE shark. Anyway, I had one that I hatched, it didnt eat for about 3 weeks I think. I tired live food, frozen food, fresh food, and none worked. I brought it to the lfs, and they said that it was eating, but it eventually died.

Its risky business. Sometimes they just dont wanna eat. Some die in the wild cuz they never learn. Thas wat happens, but hopefully yers will eat.