cuteusagi

Hi Everyone! My husband and I recently just found 4 beautiful Bolivian Rams at our lfs and had to bring them home to add them to our other 2 (hooray!), but we have noticed that one of them hasn't been eating a whole lot. He was also quite timid and would cower in the back of the tank in one of a multitude of hiding spots. So we decided to separate him and drop him into our quarantine tank. We fed him some frozen bloodworms this morning, and he readily puts them in his mouth, "chews", and spits them out every time (which is what he was doing in the 55 tank). When he spits them out, the worms are white or clear instead of being red. Is he getting food? We've had him a week now, and his belly looks a little sunken, but otherwise he looks good and seems to be enjoying the quarantine tank. Any suggestions on getting him to eat healthily?

Our main tank is on a diet of frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, veggies, and recently trying to get our Bolivians to eat some sinking Hikari cichlid food.

Thanks for all your help!!!!

Wolfgang8810

My bolivina rams did the same thing for a while. I dont think its a problem. When the bloodworms are in the water long enough they lose the red color and turn white or clear. I would leave him in the QT for now but i think he is fine. Try varying his diet too much protein can lead to problems down the road.

cuteusagi

Thanks for the suggestion!! I've tried varying his diet and only giving him very small portions (less food to vac out later...). I have made sure that the food drops near him so that he can see it. He usually either ignores it all together, or attempts 1-2 pieces of the food and spits them both out before swimming away. His demeanor has improved in the QT so he's not cowering behind plants all the time, but he still isn't showing any signs of interest towards food. His belly looks very sunken, but there are no other external signs of sickness (no clamped fins, still swims normally, etc.). Could there be another problem or do you think he just needs some time?

Thanks!

Wolfgang8810

cvould just need more time. you could go out and get some eeder shrimp and see if he will eat those.

cuteusagi

The fish previously mentioned did unfortunately die. He just never ate and ignored all the food we gave him. My question does concern two of the other Bolivians that we got (we purchased 4 all at once). 1 of them looks very thin (since we got him) but he eats well and "plays well" with the other bolivians. We are worried, since we lost a bolivian that was also thin to a parasite. Does this sound like something similar? He is still a young Bolivian, and we want to be careful about treatment if he needs any. Is this a common issue among Bolivians??

As for the other young bolivian, he has started doing something very strange...every once in a while he "twitches"...his body bends toward one side or the other...like this:

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If that makes any sense...it doesn't look like an "itch" as he makes no attempt to rub up against anything and I've never seen him rubbing on anything. He doesn't twitch all the time, it usually just happens 2-3 times in a row and then he continues swimming. IT also seems that nothing in particular triggers him to "twitch" ... it just happens pretty randomly. I have no idea what this could be. Any ideas?

Thanks always!!!

Shawnie

Most of the time with my fish, twitching lets me know I have a touch of ammonia ...have you tested the water parimeters and made sure there wasnt any ammonia or nitrites? I know everyone always asks that, but its always the first place to start...at least in my case it is hope things work out!!

cuteusagi

My ammonia levels are at 0, so could the twitching be caused by anything else??

As for the other ram (the thin one), we were not able to save him. He died just like the other ram that we also think had a parasite, and we're pretty sure he had it ever since we got him. We purchased 4 young rams from our lfs all together, and one ram died within a week or so (he never ate), and now the second from what we are suspecting a parasite. We dont' want to loose the one that twitches...but we are at a loss as to what might be ailing him...The fourth ram from the group is doing quite well. We also have 2 full grown bolivians and they have done well ever since we got them quite some time ago.

Any ideas??