New young male dwaf cockatoo only wants frozen foods

[apisto420]

he wont take any flakes or pellets/dry foods... only frozen... i only had him for 2-3 days and is still young, about a bit over an inch long.. i would feed these small pellets and flakes, the male will taste it but then just spits it out!!! i dont want to always feed him frozens everyday, kind of hate running to the fridge and then thawing the frozen foods out... dry foods is much easier to feed..

anyone elses apistogramms only take frozen and live foods?? i hope this little guy will eventualy take some dry foods.. even though hes really skinny and needs food he will still just chew the dry food and spit it out, he loves the frozen foods though..

 

[ApistoNerd23]

My Cacatuoides male used to eat everything I put in the tank. Flake, Crisps, and his favorite was the Sinking Carnivore Pellet by Hikari. Then one day sorta out of the blue he got a sore of some kind on his face and around the same time he refused to eat anything but frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms. He still takes the dry food in his mouth but then spits it back out. Now he's looking old and got the cloudy eye thing going but he still snaps at the frozen food like a piranha.

Have you skipped a day or two of feeding to see what he does if he gets super hungry?

I bet there's a good chance daily trips to the fridge are going to be in your future...

 

[apisto420]

i have not tried waiting a day or 2 without food yet... i only had this guy for like 2-3 days... hmmm im gonna try to feed just dried food for the next week and see how it goes, sure hope this guy will just get super hungry and eat the dried foods.. what else would it do? just not eat at all and die??

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Try feeding the flakes or pellets at the same time as some live food, that is about the same size as the pellets. Daphnia, mosquito larvae or something else that swims/floats in the water column is good. I usually use Grindal worms and flake, they are ever so low maintenance and the fish like them. PM me if you are in the UK.

I've had Apistogramma specimens that have never really eaten anything other than live food, but I've never starved them long enough to see if they would eventually eat pellets.

cheers Darrel

 

[Linus_Cello]

If convenience is an issue, what about getting live blackworms? If you get a blackworm keeper, they're easy to store in the refrigerator. All you need to do is change the water.

 

[Mike Wise]

My apistos are really spoiled. They only eat live and frozen foods when first put into the tank. My suggestion is to feed a few flakes and pellet in the morning. Let them sink to the bottom. The apistos (like all good geophagines) will 'sift' them from the substrate during the rest of the day if other fish in the aquarium don't get them first.

 

[Melanochromis]

In my opinion, a young cacatuoides is one of the easiest Apistogramma to train, although apistos in general are annoyingly picky. If he is already doing the "spitting", then he's on his way to accepting the food. You probably should continue the training and can make it easier by putting him with other fish that eat pellets. Sooner or later, he will follow them. Good luck!

 

[henkh]

I don't even try anymore to feed my apisto's something else then frozen and live food. I think "convenience" must not be leading, but what's good for your fish.