BG Chromis being picky eaters!! Help!

[lolly1]

:help:
I am such a worry wart...but I have had too many fish die lately to NOT worry. My problem now is that I got 3 bg chromis last weekend and since then they have been swimming around just fine and appear to be doing pretty well...until it comes to feeding time. They are very eager to eat and put just about anything in their mouths...and then they spit it right back out. I thought they would eat anything!!! I have tried Formula One and Formula Two flake, as well as frozen prime reef. What could be going on with these guys?? Just not adjusted yet? Any suggestions??

 

[joshradio]

try dosing the food with garlic... it might entice it... or, my coral beauty did the same and I ended up making live brine, it ate it, and then I switched to frozen brine, now it eats like a champ!

 

[sly]

I have seen that when they spit it out of their mouth it's because the food was too big for them.
Also you say you have lost a lot of fish lately? Any ideas why? How are you acclimating them?

 

[f14peter]

Hmmm, my blue-green chromis were forocious eaters right from the get-go when we put them in the QT (I think they're closer related to pirahnas than damsels!). And they eat anything and everything . . . flake, pellets, frozen Formula 1 and mysis shrimp. About the only thing they don't really like (Although I think they eventually eat it anyway since they're really a bunch of pigs) is frozen Formula 2, I suppose because that's pretty mucn an algea-based food.
One thing . . . being fairly small fish, I noticed they shied away from larger pieces of food, either pellet, flake, or even the frozen concotions. Thus, I'll grind up the pellets on a plate with the back of a spoon, crush the flake a bit between my fingertips, or mash the frozen in some tank water to make the pieces smaller.
Sly may have a point, by "Last weekend" does that mean just a few days ago? They could be experiencing some transfer shock, especially if they weren't sufficiently acclimated.

 

[lolly1]

They were drip acclimaed for 3 1/2 hours...as were the other fish I lost. It could be that they are spitting out pieces too big for them, but they seem to spit out even the smallest pieces...and my percs are they same size as them and don't seem to have a problem eating flakes of the same size.
I will try garlic.

 

[lolly1]

Ok...now I tried flakes soaked in garlic and one of them seemed to take the bait. The other two still spat it out. Tomorrow I will try frozen prime reef soaked in garlic. If they don't take that they're nuts!

 

[f14peter]

Originally Posted by Lolly1
Ok...now I tried flakes soaked in garlic and one of them seemed to take the bait. The other two still spat it out. Tomorrow I will try frozen prime reef soaked in garlic. If they don't take that they're nuts!
Our clown Lucy was a finicky eater . . . would only go for frozen mysis in the QT and when first in the main tank. Wouldn't eat anything else, might give it a whiff, may even take it in her mouth but then spat it out.
Since we didn't want to only give her the frozen shrimp, we simply gave her no option . . . she got what was on the day's menu, be it shrimp, flake, pellet, Formula 1, whatever and if she didn't eat it, then she didn't eat.
I suspect that it was a combination of hunger, seeing the pirahna-pigs . . . er, I mean chromis eat like fiends, and competition, but she finally came around and eagerly gobbles up whatever's offered up. Funny . . . she'll sometimes hang around with the chromis near the surface, and it looks like she's shooing them out of the way, staking her claim to a spot at the dinner table.
Our other clown, Desi is the exact opposite . . . he eats anything.
It is my understanding that it's not uncommon for fish to be off their feed when first introduced to a tank, and this can go on for up to a week or so. Blue-greens aren't stupid . . . if one fish starts to eat, then I'd bet the other two will see that and join in.

 

[1journeyman]

Lolly, imho ditch the flake food.
Try frozen mysis. If that doesn't work try some Kent's Garlic Extreme (liquid) drops in with the mysis. To prepare it, take a cupful of tank water, and add frozen cube to cup. let it thaw, drain most of the water, add a drop or two of garlic, let it soak a couple of minutes, then pour into tank. You'll see a world of difference.
If that doesn't work, try feeding live Brine. If they will eat that then we'll talk about how to wean them off of live food to frozen.

 

[mrsgoose]

Hi - don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have a 29g finally ready for some fish and thought about putting in 1-2 BG Chromis. The guy at my lfs said they prefer to eat twice a day. Is this true? The tank is in our dental office and will be alone over the weekends. I've heard these fish are hardy and tend to eat a lot... any opinions on if they would be suitable? thanks!

 

[1journeyman]

From my observations (and only that, so please don't take this as absolute fact) they tend to do better and get along better being fed more.

 

[cam78]

I have the bg chro. and they pig out on the frozen brine in my tank. My problem is I have a convict blennie that hides all day and all night. When I drop the Brine in it grabs maybe 2-4 pieces, whenever something floats his way. Is he eating enough? I only had him since Jan. 19. I don't want to dump in a lot of food to decay on the bottom. Do the fish need to eat more brine than they would pellets? Are the brine a lot lighter, should start putting more in? I really don't want to over feed. Any suggestion?

 

[1journeyman]

Switch foods. Brine is nutrionally worthless.
Go with frozen foods such as Mysis. You might need to use a turkey baster to squirt food near it's burrow.

 

[cam78]

Cool, new to this, thanks. Would have kept feeding them this brine without nutrients. What is this food you are speaking of?

 

[1journeyman]

Your pet store should have a variety of frozen foods. One of my personal favorites was "Mysis shrimp".
Now I make my own food.