New fish keep spitting out food

My new fish keep spitting the food out I'm giving them. It has been a few days of trying. At first they all spit it out. Now a couple of them will eat it. Do I keep trying with this food? How long would you keep trying? Will they actually eat it if they get hungry enough? This is their main food. It's Tetra Tropical Flakes. Once they get used to it, I plan on adding Bug Bites Tropical Formula, freeze dried blood worms, and veggies into their diet.

 

What is the species of fish, perhaps you should crush the flakes into a fine powder, if the food is to big or hard to eat the fish will try but then have to spit it out. Perhaps it could be the fishes dietary requirement, ie a veggie eat being feed high protein, gets bloated and doesnt like to eat high protein food often.

 

What is the species of fish, perhaps you should crush the flakes into a fine powder, if the food is to big or hard to eat the fish will try but then have to spit it out. Perhaps it could be the fishes dietary requirement, ie a veggie eat being feed high protein, gets bloated and doesnt like to eat high protein food often.

Sorry, I should have said what they are. They are xray tetras (pristella tetra). I read they were omnivorous micro predators. So I planned on giving them a varied diet, leaning more towards protein heavy.

 

i would just crush food smaller and see if that helps.

 

i would just crush food smaller and see if that helps.

Ok, I did a little, and some fish started eatint, so maybe I will crush it a little smaller. Do fish smell? Or do they simply find food by sight? Do you know?

 

Be a good idea to skip feeding a day or two. This will allow time for the Tetra's digestive system to clean out.
Then start feeding small portions of crushed flakes once or twice a day.
Btw, Fish feed by scent & sight.

 

I would just skip to the bug bites if possible. Most fish adore them. Frozen blood worms are better than freeze dried too. If your fish will eat the freeze dried then use them as a treat not a staple food. (I would soak them first) None of my tetras eat veggies, were you thinking like spirulina flakes?

 

My angels when they were small spit out larger flakes if they had trouble biting off a piece. As the fish get a bit bigger and stronger this should stop. Most fish at pet stores are between 2 and 6 months old, if on the younger side, they might not be quite big enough or strong enough to handle whole flakes.

 

I suspect your fish are just used to eating something else. When this is the case, I find persistence often pays off. For example, I have a school of wild caught Odessa barbs. I was offering them New Life Spectrum food, but they did the same thing as your X-ray tetras. They just spit the food out. After a few weeks they began to eat it. Then, after months, they ravenously eat it just like barbs should.

I've seen the same pattern with plenty of other fishes too like ctenopomas, African butterfly fishes, wild caught minnows, sunfish, and dace. On the other hand, some fishes will never take to prepared foods, but X-ray tetras aren't one of those. They'll eat it eventually.

Something else I've found to help when fish are slow to take to a new food is to introduce other fishes to the tank that are already happy to eat what you're offering. It seems like when fish see others eat something, they are quicker to think of it as food too.

 

Be a good idea to skip feeding a day or two. This will allow time for the Tetra's digestive system to clean out.
Then start feeding small portions of crushed flakes once or twice a day.
Btw, Fish feed by scent & sight.

Thank you! Interesting about the sight and scent! They kind of already went two days without food. They just kept spitting it out and gave up right after. Maybe they did get some though.....Think it would be a problem to fast if they haven't had much for a few days....?

I would just skip to the bug bites if possible. Most fish adore them. Frozen blood worms are better than freeze dried too. If your fish will eat the freeze dried then use them as a treat not a staple food. (I would soak them first) None of my tetras eat veggies, were you thinking like spirulina flakes?

See...I figured they would love the bug bites, so I wanted to get them used to the boring stuff first, lol. I have a huge container of the tetra flakes, lol.

So if I had frozen blood worms, would that be a better meal than the freeze dried? Or should blood worms in general just be used as a treat?

I assumed they may eat some veggies.....maybe they won't....lol Would spirulina flakes be a good option? Thank you so much for the help!

My angels when they were small spit out larger flakes if they had trouble biting off a piece. As the fish get a bit bigger and stronger this should stop. Most fish at pet stores are between 2 and 6 months old, if on the younger side, they might not be quite big enough or strong enough to handle whole flakes.

Good to know! Maybe that's the problem! This will definitely be my first step. Thank you!

I suspect your fish are just used to eating something else. When this is the case, I find persistence often pays off. For example, I have a school of wild caught Odessa barbs. I was offering them New Life Spectrum food, but they did the same thing as your X-ray tetras. They just spit the food out. After a few weeks they began to eat it. Then, after months, they ravenously eat it just like barbs should.

I've seen the same pattern with plenty of other fishes too like ctenopomas, African butterfly fishes, wild caught minnows, sunfish, and dace. On the other hand, some fishes will never take to prepared foods, but X-ray tetras aren't one of those. They'll eat it eventually.

Something else I've found to help when fish are slow to take to a new food is to introduce other fishes to the tank that are already happy to eat what you're offering. It seems like when fish see others eat something, they are quicker to think of it as food too.

Hmmm.....I was wondering if this was the case. Picky eaters, lol. So if it takes a few weeks for them to eat it, won't they starve? I'm afraid to try one of my 'treat' foods, because if they are just being picky, they may never eat the Tetra flakes, lol. Thanks for the help! Also, I don't have any other fish. I have a pleco, but he won't be much help. He's enjoying his biofilm feast!

 

So if I had frozen blood worms, would that be a better meal than the freeze dried? Or should blood worms in general just be used as a treat?

Yes frozen is better than freeze dried. Feed a few times a week.

I assumed they may eat some veggies.....maybe they won't....lol Would spirulina flakes be a good option? Thank you so much for the help!

I have Bug bites spirulina flakes....some like it some dont.

I would definitely rotate through everything you have. Variety is a big benefit. They dont get bored.

 

Yes frozen is better than freeze dried. Feed a few times a week.

I have Bug bites spirulina flakes....some like it some dont.

I would definitely rotate through everything you have. Variety is a big benefit. They dont get bored.

Thank you so much! Yes, I plan to rotate! I wouldn't want to eat the same thing everyday, haha

 

So if it takes a few weeks for them to eat it, won't they starve?

It depends on what condition your fish are in when you get them. Healthy fish should be perfectly ok going two or three weeks without food. But, it's hard to know just how healthy your fish are if you haven't had them long. Therefore, if you don't offer them anything other than what you want them to eat for a while, keep a very close eye on them. If they start to look too skinny, give them something else they'll eat.

Note: If you're a new fish keeper, it may be difficult for you to tell when your fish are losing too much weight. Therefore, I wouldn't try pushing one food very long, maybe a week or so. At that point, if they're still being picky, oh well, give them what they want. You can always try again later once you get to know your fish better.

 

Yes frozen is better than freeze dried. Feed a few times a week.

I think you have it backwards. Freeze dried preserves much more nutrients than frozen

Frozen is sold as a premium food in this hobby but that doesn't make it better

As for the tetras, yes a higher protein food than Tetra tropical flakes will probably help

 

I think you have it backwards. Freeze dried preserves much more nutrients than frozen

Frozen is sold as a premium food in this hobby but that doesn't make it better

As for the tetras, yes a higher protein food than Tetra tropical flakes will probably help

My fish won't eat it....so there's that...

 

Thank you everyone for the help! They are definitely doing better with it being smaller. I'm going to keep trying with this food for a few more days, if something doesn't dramatically change, I'll switch to something else. I truly appreciate everyone's thoughts.