Help - How do I get my Hillstream Loaches to eat

My 3 Hillstream loaches are super active on the the glass and all the decorations sucking up algae but they don’t eat any of the food I put in the tank when I feed the other fish. I’ve tried flakes, frozen shrimp brine, frozen bloodworms and frozen seaweed cubes but they never go for it.

I’ve read they can’t survive on algae and biofilm alone so what can I feed them? Algae wafers won’t work because my mollies and gouramis eat them before anyone else gets a chance.

Should I try sinking cucumber overnight?

I had a pleco starve to death and don’t want to go through that again. Any help is appreciated.

 

Firat off, how long have you had them?

 

Firat off, how long have you had them?

About 12 days

 

May be they just don't acknowledge it as food yet.

 

Keep the lights off & feed garlic laced, small grain sinking pellets, such as New Life Spectrum Thera +A.
Enough pellets should make it to the substrate.

 

Nerite snails are similar in diet choices. Most of my nerites i have had 2+ years, and still haven't got all of them to eat algae wafers yet.

 

I’ve got 4 hillstream for about 6 months and I’ve never actually seen them eat. But they’re doing fine so I not worrying. They are like ottos and can live off bio-film and algae.

 

They are going to explore and find crumbs in the gravel, I have been tossing in Bug bites algae crisps. I Take maybe 10 at a time, and soak them in a litle water for 30 seconds, then press them into a mix of cricket flower and a little crushed garlic and spiraluna and let it dry.

 

They're actions seem to differ for everyone that has them. I made sure my tank had some algae buildup for them first...
I've had my HL's for close to 3 months now and for the first 2 months rarely saw them during the day. Always out at night when lights were off...
They're finally comfortable now when I come up to the tank and greet me knowing they will be getting some food... Took awhile but they finally adjusted...
I feed them sinking algae wafers, shrimp pellets, bug bites, and zucchini's on the weekend...

 

I never got mine to take food. 3 years later, I'm down to just one HSL. I haven't fed it for about a year. There are about a dozen White Cloud Minnows with it. I feed them very lightly. Trying to feed the loaches resulted in a snail explosion because of the uneaten food.

When I had a few of them they were constantly out and about all over the tank. Now that I have just one, it hides except for feeding time. It often comes out when I feed the minnows.

 

If it’s out when you’re feeding it’s eating .

 

I never got mine to take food. 3 years later, I'm down to just one HSL. I haven't fed it for about a year. There are about a dozen White Cloud Minnows with it. I feed them very lightly. Trying to feed the loaches resulted in a snail explosion because of the uneaten food.

When I had a few of them they were constantly out and about all over the tank. Now that I have just one, it hides except for feeding time. It often comes out when I feed the minnows.

I had this same problem with the snails. I had a Pleco who I knew wasn’t eating so I overcompensated by feeding too much.

 

After awhile it becomes obvious (healthy, active and not thin) that they are eating even if they are not taking the given food.

Once my BNPs became adults I never saw them eat. Their food (given at lights out) would still be in the tank the next morning. That went on for 9 years. I didn't have a snail problem in that tank because someone eradicated them. It may have been the BNP eating the eggs?? Maybe the 2 cichlids in the tank did it?? The filter was always full of snails after that, but never in the tank.