Picky eaters! How can I retrain them??

[verna]

I have purchased several Banghai Cardinals because they are such beautiful fish but each time after 6 weeks or so they have died. With the last three I purchased I discovered the problem. When I feed my fish their normal fish food diet the cardinals taste the food and spit it out. They only thing they will eat is brine shrimp, frozen or alive., and what copopods they can find.
Does anyone know how I can retrain these little guys to eat the normal food my other fish get so they don't starve to death? I don't like feeding everyone brine shrimp every day because it is too rich for their systems as a steady diet.
HELP!!

 

[joker_ca]

Originally Posted by Verna
I don't like feeding everyone brine shrimp every day because it is too rich for their systems as a steady diet.
HELP!!
just to let u know, brine shrimp have very little nutritional value to fish thats why its recommended that you gut pack with another food source
try feeding your cardinals mysis shrimp or blood worms very good for all your fish, also i have read that its best to keep one cardinal by itself in a tank and from my experiences everytime i would get a group of cardinals all would die except one
good luck :happyfish

 

[ophiura]

What are you trying to feed the fish normally?

 

[f1shman]

Yes what are you trying to feed them? Because my green chromis were kinda the same, they would take pellets and then spit them out because they were too big for him to eat, my clownfish does the same, but they love spirulina flakes and small mysis shrimp. Its so funny, my little watchman goby is the smallest in the tank and i watched him eat 10 pellets.. lol hes like 1.5 inches if that.

 

[kimc]

Check w/LFS where you bought them to see what they are feeding them.

 

[verna]

I feed prime reef because it has the best nutritional value of all flake foods I have found. All of my other fish are thriving and healthy on it.
The size of the food is not the problem. They just don't like it.
Also, I don't want to disagree, but I've been told by numerous LFS and also from several professional sources that cardinals do best in groups of at least 3.
I also feed frozen cyclopeze which is nutritional but of course that is just a small portion of food for them. The cardinals will eat that as well.
The point is though, that I would like to train them to eat along with everyone else. Surely there must be method to change their eating habits!
I appreciate everyone's help and am willing to listen to any and all suggestions. And if I can't get them to change their habits of course I'd like more suggestions.

 

[ophiura]

Well, my first suggestion is that many many fish will not take to flakes or pellets. Many of these manufacturers make frozen alternatives and I would suggest you try those, or make some of your own. But that fact that they do not take to flake food does not surprise me.

 

[drea]

my coral B does that.. so i chopped up the mysis shrimp really small and dumped it in.. he only eats it that way.. they have to be super tiny pieces or he spits them out, try it and let us know