Wc ansorgii very shy feeder

[Fishnkdub]

Hi this is my first post on MFK! So I got myself a couple new bichirs earlier this year, two guinean PBL and a ansorgii, guinean as well. All around the 10" mark. The laps have started to eat pellets during quarantine but the ansorgii did not. For the whole month, I never seen it eat. I tried tilapia, shrimp and sole as well, it will throw itself aggressively on tilapia but only eats 3 or 4 pieces before it darts back behind a rock. It'a still very thin while the laps have put on a couple inches and some girth during that time. No sign of apparent disease. I treated with prazipro during quarantine in case of any potential parasites. Should I move it back in a tank of it's own? What should I do

 

[tlindsey]

Hi this is my first post on MFK! So I got myself a couple new bichirs earlier this year, two guinean PBL and a ansorgii, guinean as well. All around the 10" mark. The laps have started to eat pellets during quarantine but the ansorgii did not. For the whole month, I never seen it eat. I tried tilapia, shrimp and sole as well, it will throw itself aggressively on tilapia but only eats 3 or 4 pieces before it darts back behind a rock. It'a still very thin while the laps have put on a couple inches and some girth during that time. No sign of apparent disease. I treated with prazipro during quarantine in case of any potential parasites. Should I move it back in a tank of it's own? What should I do

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Welcome aboard

The Ansorgii is eating Tilapia I wouldn't worry about it. Hopefully it will start eating pellets.

 

[Rocksor]

It could be a parasitic roundworm infection which praziquental does not treat. If this persists for 2 more months, I would do 2ppm dosing of levamisole HCL.

 

[Fishnkdub]

It could be a parasitic roundworm infection which praziquental does not treat. If this persists for 2 more months, I would do 2ppm dosing of levamisole HCL.
[/QUOTE]

I have not seen any worm either in the tank or coming out of the fish. I have had them since may. And I have no idea where to get levamisole in Canada. I tried calling a couple local vets and they told me they don't do fish

 

[Vancouver_98683]

Have a couple semi new Ansorgii around the 12” mark. In my case. Shy eaters the first couple to 3 weeks, but turned around eating hikari pellets and fz tilapia. I can see certain ones being shy in the beginning. Your piece looks healthy to me judging by the photo. Perhaps, try removing the hiding spots and cut up earth worms to get it going. My 2 Ansorgii went nuts on cut up fz freshwater Canadian smelt. Good luck!

 

[Experiment397]

Trick I’ve used to get stubborn polys to eat is to take some fresh tilapia- whole works best, chop it up real good with a cleaver or machete if you really want to get into the monster fish keeping spirit, throw it in a bowl with a little water and add let it soak for a few hours. Then take some pellets and add them to the mix. Feed the pellets and some of the fleshier bits to the fish and after doing this a few times you can slowly dial back on the meat and add more pellets until it’s just pellets and then just dry un-tiliapia-ified pellets. Worked wonders for any of my stubborn fish. Even got a WC C.jenynsii onto pellets this way. Good luck and welcome to the poly club!

 

[Fishnkdub]

It will eat but very little. I have seen it take bug bites a few times. But only one or two pellets and that's it. Same goes for yilapia, a couple pieces and he's off. Basically nothing more than needed to stay alive. I'd like for him to put on some weight

 

[Experiment397]

Try a mix of live ghost shrimp and frozen krill. Also feed at night with all the lights off or only using red light