Peacock Gudgeon fry wont eat anything but bbs

Gudgie fries are about a month old now and will eat nothing but live bbs. Not frozen bbs, hikari first bites, bug bites, frozen daphnia, Cobalt brine shrimp flakes. NOTHING. So frustrating how do I get them to eat regular food?

 

I used the fry food bottles Cory sells.That stuff i think is even smaller than the first bites. It is almost dust

 

A couple of techniques that may help.

Add a tiny amount of dry food crushed to dust into the water you have the live brine shrimp in . Assuming you squirt the bb with a syringe or turkey baster?

Add a tiny bit of dry food crushed to dust and thoroughly shaken to mix into tank water moments before feeding. A couple of minutes before adding the live bb and powder mix that you know they will eat. Hint mix in the API test tube because you only need such a small amount. It’s the brown water you are adding not really many solids.

Now a really good one. Use a mortar and pestle etc to grind up live bb and a little dry dust.

The above I have done multiple times. Using a tiny amount of hard boiled egg yoke mixed with live bb should also help . Although I find it’s a lot of egg going to waste / not being used. You can freeze hard boiled egg yoke if the other members of the house are ok with having that in the freezer?

 

Add a tiny amount of dry food crushed to dust into the water you have the live brine shrimp in .

Agree, works for me.

Good Luck!

 

Agree, works for me.

Good Luck!

Nope .....little buggers are driving me mad.

 

If you've been feeding them BBS, right now they just think if it's not moving, it's not food, it's all they know.
If they are too big for first bites, grinding up flake really fine will achieve the same purpose but be bigger particles, the idea is basically to get them used to the idea that some things that don't swim are also food.
Start with the first bites if you can if they are still small, soaking it in tank water is crucial to get any fry to eat it unless you get extremely lucky. if it's put in dry it floats on top, if you soak it for a couple seconds before adding it to the tank it will suspend, and if you squirt it with a pipette or syringe type thing it will swirl around as it suspends and they will usually take the hint and start hitting it.
my opinion if they are a month old, skip the first bites if you can and finely ground their flake or pellet or whatever you intend to put them on later, mixed in with feeding the bbs, and get them used to what they will be getting. don't bother with bug bites or daphina give that to them when they are bigger and more open to things that aren't moving being food, just worry about getting them on their regular staple food for now. you get that done, the rest just kind of falls into place. If selling or giving away, train them for the common foods people feed, so they aren't particular or picky for their new caretakers.

I found hatching bbs to be work and a mess. I had no patience for it. soaking first bites and then squirting some to the fish with a pipette was by far the quickest method to get them to eat it out of any of the other methods I tried. they took to it right away where other delivery methods failed.

If you use a pipette to feed the bbs, they should associate the tube with food and should hit whatever sprays out of it. then it's just getting them adjusted to it, they might spit it out at first expecting the bbs. but they will get used to it and learn it's food too.

You can feed a small bit every 2-4 hours or so, so they always have something and alternate between BBS and first bites each feeding. that way you can see if they are eating the first bites or not. and tell when they start taking to eating it and then transition out of the bbs,
But gonna say if the goal is to get out of bbs completely and the first bites eventually, (lets face it, first bites are small, the fish need bigger and bigger foods as they grow to gain mass and size) My opinion it's best to finely ground what their last staple food will be and get them used to that so you don't have another transition to make again later, and just don't grind it as much as they get bigger until you aren't grinding it at all.

I wish you the best of luck and a smooth switch over. it takes a bit for them to adjust. they are used to the bbs, it's not going to come easy, they have to get used to non-live foods. alternate between the two, feed less food more often, and then ween out of the bbs using the same delivery method so they won't know which they are getting until they taste it and they should adjust in a couple days. and then move further and further away from the bbs.

 

If you've been feeding them BBS, right now they just think if it's not moving, it's not food, it's all they know.
If they are too big for first bites, grinding up flake really fine will achieve the same purpose but be bigger particles, the idea is basically to get them used to the idea that some things that don't swim are also food.
Start with the first bites if you can if they are still small, soaking it in tank water is crucial to get any fry to eat it unless you get extremely lucky. if it's put in dry it floats on top, if you soak it for a couple seconds before adding it to the tank it will suspend, and if you squirt it with a pipette or syringe type thing it will swirl around as it suspends and they will usually take the hint and start hitting it.
my opinion if they are a month old, skip the first bites if you can and finely ground their flake or pellet or whatever you intend to put them on later, mixed in with feeding the bbs, and get them used to what they will be getting. don't bother with bug bites or daphina give that to them when they are bigger and more open to things that aren't moving being food, just worry about getting them on their regular staple food for now. you get that done, the rest just kind of falls into place. If selling or giving away, train them for the common foods people feed, so they aren't particular or picky for their new caretakers.

I found hatching bbs to be work and a mess. I had no patience for it. soaking first bites and then squirting some to the fish with a pipette was by far the quickest method to get them to eat it out of any of the other methods I tried. they took to it right away where other delivery methods failed.

If you use a pipette to feed the bbs, they should associate the tube with food and should hit whatever sprays out of it. then it's just getting them adjusted to it, they might spit it out at first expecting the bbs. but they will get used to it and learn it's food too.

You can feed a small bit every 2-4 hours or so, so they always have something and alternate between BBS and first bites each feeding. that way you can see if they are eating the first bites or not. and tell when they start taking to eating it and then transition out of the bbs,
But gonna say if the goal is to get out of bbs completely and the first bites eventually, (lets face it, first bites are small, the fish need bigger and bigger foods as they grow to gain mass and size) My opinion it's best to finely ground what their last staple food will be and get them used to that so you don't have another transition to make again later, and just don't grind it as much as they get bigger until you aren't grinding it at all.

I wish you the best of luck and a smooth switch over. it takes a bit for them to adjust.

I have tried all of that. Brine shrimp water, bloodworm water, tank water...brine shrimp flakes, first bites, bugbites....frozen bbs and daphnia....

They eat it then spit it back out. They seem to know it's food but don't like it.

 

I have tried all of that. Brine shrimp water, bloodworm water, tank water...brine shrimp flakes, first bites, bugbites....frozen bbs and daphnia....

They eat it then spit it back out. They seem to know it's food but don't like it.

my angels did the same thing, but stick to one food, the staple food you intend to feed and alternate when they are adults, just ground up. they will get used to it in time. You can vary it later on with other things.
but if you don't transition from the bbs and get them onto something regular and easy they are going to always be difficult eaters. they will spit it out at first, but they will eat some also. and in some time they will get used to it. and then you can remove the bbs feedings.

basic idea is to increase feedings but smaller portions, and alternate from one to the other each feeding, so they have to keep testing it to see what it is. they will get used to it. this way you aren't overfeeding and you can work them off of the bbs.

Everything eats whats available when they are hungry enough even if they don't like it. By increasing the feedings and giving less food per feeding, you ensure they are getting something to survive off of daily, but they have to keep trying the new food and adjusting to it. I don't suggest going to all the other foods blackworms daphina,bloodworms tubifex ect. you'd just be exchanging one problem, the bbs, for another problem if they do take to one of them and still refuse to eat the normal staple food.
They won't like dead foods at first, but they will get used to it a little here and there each day, if ones miss out and don't eat, they will get brine shrimp later also, but they are going to have to try and rush to eat before it's all gone or settle for the other food and learn to like it in order to thrive. when they are urgent to eat, and know if they spit something out someone else will eat it, they are more likely to swallow it and not spit it out.

Just get them adjusted to the staple food that they will mostly be eating when they are grown, and then you can add in those other things here and there to vary their diet. main point I think is getting them off the bbs, unless you intend to keep hatching them forever.

it's one of the reasons I don't like feeding fry bbs from the start. from my experience it kind of spoils them and makes them picky and harder to ween later and if you cave, you end up feeding massive amounts of adult brine shrimps to keep them fed and still need to ween them to something else anyways.

 

Persevere StarGirl .
Its not an easy game raising fry.

I have not raised peacock gudgeon . They are getting some food if it’s going in their mouths , even if they spit.They are getting the taste.

 

With my rams I strain my bbs in the net and on top I add a small quantity of golden pearls 100-200 microns and in the tank I mix the two on top of the water line and squirt with pipet. Eventually they get it just got to do both until they do. You can do the same with bbs and first bites.

 

With my rams I strain my bbs in the net and on top I add a small quantity of golden pearls 100-200 microns and in the tank I mix the two on top of the water line and squirt with pipet. Eventually they get it just got to do both until they do. You can do the same with bbs and first bites.

Yeah I tried that the first week and it just sat on the bottom. I have been trying everything. The flake food I have been trying is the Cobalt brine shrimp flakes. Supposed to be for picky eaters.

 

The crazy thing is the parents eat everything I have put in the tank. They are good eaters.

Over the weekend I will try more because I will clean the tank.