Peacock Cichlid Not Eating

I have a 1 1/2 inch peacock cichlid and he/she will not eat. I have had it 3days 2 nights. I understand sometimes fish are just stressed or just scared with a new tank. But the other smaller cichlids will go straight for the food.

Any suggestions?
Tips?
Food preferences?

 

Can you post a picture? Generally I keep new African cichlids in either my 20 or 29gal fry tank so they can get enough food w/o fear of my larger fish in the main tank.

I notice that when I do get around to adding the nee fish to the tank it will l hide for a few days before getting beave enough to come and eat. Are the other fish bullying the new guy?

 

Can you post a picture? Generally I keep new African cichlids in either my 20 or 29gal fry tank so they can get enough food w/o fear of my larger fish in the main tank.

I notice that when I do get around to adding the nee fish to the tank it will l hide for a few days before getting beave enough to come and eat. Are the other fish bullying the new guy?

I will get a picture when it comes out of a log type decor. And I don’t do any kind of breeding so I don’t have a fry tank. And no it is not getting bullied its the biggest fish in there and the others give it space. And on the hiding, he/she likes to atay in a log for the most part but sometimes comes out and swims.

 

I will get a picture when it comes out of a log type decor. And I don’t do any kind of breeding so I don’t have a fry tank. And no it is not getting bullied its the biggest fish in there and the others give it space. And on the hiding, he/she likes to atay in a log for the most part but sometimes comes out and swims.

 

He looks plenty healthy, perhaps he's just really shy. Are you feeding sinking or floating foods? I find that sinking foods are seen and eaten faster than floating ones. I use mainly pellets but crushed flakes for my fry.

 

He looks plenty healthy, perhaps he's just really shy. Are you feeding sinking or floating foods? I find that sinking foods are seen and eaten faster than floating ones. I use mainly pellets but crushed flakes for my fry.

I'm feeding floating foods because that's all my store had... what is good sinking foods? And the temp in my tank is 76F I would like it to be about 80/82F but I have to get a better heater for it first.

 

I really like Cobalt brand pellets (stick really) but they can be quite pricey. Some small sinking cichlid pellets should work well. I've used Aqueon minI cichlid pellets and they loved them too, especially the smaller fish. ATM I've been using Omega one micro pellets for my half inch fry and a new 2ish inch OB peacock.

 

I have had a great experience with NorthFin Cichlid Formula. If most of your fish are around 1-3 inches, I'd get the 1mm or 2mm pellets. Fish love it. It smells like fish (protein). It doesn't cloud your water.

Also, I don't think 3 days is worth being concerned about. I've experienced newly added fish taking up to a week or more before they're comfortable eating again.

 

One of my Haps that I've had for years, will not eat if I'm looking at the tank. I literally have to turn around for him to dart and grab food. Apparently he's a shy eater. Lol Peacocks have sensory pits which in the wild they use to find food in the sand. He's most likely eating without you realizing it. Like others have said he's a healthy looking fish.

 

I have 9 peacocks in my 55 gallon.
The water parameters are good. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite & 20 nitrate, pH 7.6 & temp is 81-82F
I used to have 10 fish but my lemon Jake recently died. He wouldn’t eat and was always secluded from the group. I never saw him get bullied. I feed tubifex worms, brine shrimp & sinking pellets.
A couple days after my lemon Jake died, my blue regal ( boss of the tank ) started to act the same way as the lemon Jake. I don’t know what’s going on.
Everyone else is fine! Should I treat the tank? If so, with what? I treated it with MelaFix last week.
help me. I don’t want the rest of my fish to die

 

Sounds like you are feeding way too much protein based foods. Protein can cause gut issues with African cichlids so it is best to steer clear of things like tubiflex, blood worms, brine shrimp etc. Try googling Malawi bloat for more information.

Also, can you add pictures of the sick fish?

 

i can when I get home from work.
They all look healthy. I can definitely get different food. Do you suggest more plant based? Blanched cucumber?
Do you think it’s too late for blue regal to perk up again because I’ve been feeding them those foods for a couple weeks now. None of them are bloated..

 

No way of telling if the ill one will recover. Time will tell but I hope he does alright.

For foods I like to mix algae/veggie based pellets with normal cichlid pellets. They also love cucumber, squash and occasionally cauliflower.

 

i just bought API general cure.
I’ll try that and start adding more greens to their diet!

 

Sounds like you are feeding way too much protein based foods. Protein can cause gut issues with African cichlids so it is best to steer clear of things like tubiflex, blood worms, brine shrimp etc. Try googling Malawi bloat for more information.

Also, can you add pictures of the sick fish?

 

The belly looks a little more plump than I would expect of a male but if he’s always been like that then it may not be a problem.

Have you seen him poop much? If not or if it’s really stringy then I’d likely lean towards a bloat problem.

 

i haven’t seen him poop specifically but the rest of the poop in the tank looks fairly normal. He’s always been bigger in size and ate a lot when he was fine but since he stopped eating, it is a little plumpy. I ordered epsom salt & api general cure so hopefully I get that soon

 

Peacocks are carnivores in the wild. I still don't feed mine blood worms but they do get frozen mysis shrimp or brine shrimp twice a week.

 

What do you feed regularly?

 

The rest of the time mine get NLS Probiotix, they probably pic at a bit of NLS Algaemax that I feed the Bistlenose to.

 

Probiotix,


Algaemax,