Arowana not eating, plays with food

[islandguy11]

I don't cut their head, I just take one and flatten their spike on the kitchen table one at a time, if the shrimp is bigger than 1.5", else they get the shrimp as is. Just afraid of the sharp spike.

I receive live ghost shrimp, which I then freeze and make it a point to clear out the stock in less than three weeks, as after three weeks even in zero temp they lose their nutritional value. So their gastrointestinal organs shouldn't be toxic in such a short period of time.

Dang I didn't know they would lose their nutritional value so quickly -- I only have easy access to already frozen ghost shrimp and I'm sure it's mostly older than 3 weeks by the time I get it

 

[jaws7777]

As for ghost shrimp, I have not tried them yet. I will go out this weekend and buy some. But as for the Hikari Food sticks in small pieces, he actively goes for them but he keeps it in his mouth for 3 seconds then spits it out in pieces.

Try freeze dried krill. Always worked for me.

 

[Roxas]

Younger Aros esp. seem to like things that go down quick and easy, no chewing required, so besides being super tasty the ghost shrimp are small and slimy, thus very palatable -- I'd be really surprised if your Aro didn't take to them -- if so it could indicate other environmental issues as headbanger_jib mentions in post above.

to be honest im having the same issue with my little guy as well he's eating blood worms but when he puts the pellets into his mouth he spits it back out. can I presoak their food before I give it to them or would the food become unattractive to my aro?

 

[PYRU]

How long have you had it?

My go to for fish like this at this size is nightcrawlers.

 

[islandguy11]

to be honest im having the same issue with my little guy as well he's eating blood worms but when he puts the pellets into his mouth he spits it back out. can I presoak their food before I give it to them or would the food become unattractive to my aro?

Sure you can soak the pellets in blood worm juice (and later after acceptance should be able to wean off soaking them) -- just let them soak briefly then feed, don't soak too long as they'll get mushy.

Don't give up, it might take a few times. Also you can try: give a pellet or two, then if eats, reward with a bit of blood worms, then give a few pellets, reward with blood worms, repeat. It will begin to associate the two. After time can give more and more pellets and also change blood worms to other things like frozen shrimp, fish, etc.

One more little trick if your fish is taking in the pellets but spitting them out: throw in only one pellet at a time: as soon as that pellet goes into its mouth, have a small piece of shrimp or fish ready to go and throw that in immediately afterwards before it spits out the pellet: if you time it right (have to be quick) then your fish will hit the good food while the pellet is still in its mouth, and will be reluctant to spit out the pellet because it also has to spit out the good food, so usually it'll just swallow them both -- can't guarantee it'll work but it did with one of my Aros who now eats pellets every day. Good luck!

 

[jaws7777]

to be honest im having the same issue with my little guy as well he's eating blood worms but when he puts the pellets into his mouth he spits it back out. can I presoak their food before I give it to them or would the food become unattractive to my aro?

Mouthing the pellets is a good thing. He's almost there. Id starve him for a few days.

 

[Gaurav_patil]

My aro stopped eating too. It used to eat pellets and I used to give hikari as treats because he loved them but then suddenly one day he stopped. It didn't eat hikari either. Sometimes he takes it in his mouth but then spits it out. But he used to eat freeze dried blood worms. I had really less of it and him being a 10 inch aro he finished it in no time. I ordered more but Amazon said it might delay. It's been like ten days since he ate. Amazon was supposed to deliver today but they said it might delay a week or so due to the corona virus. Please let me know what is wrong with my fish. I don't have a water test kit right now but I change water twice a week just to be on the safer side. And by the way he's not new either,he's been with me for more than 6 months. He's been doing this just for the last two weeks.

 

[DN328]

I think having pellets as a staple is best if you had only one food AND it will be convenient when running short on time. What I do is always start with the pellet (or pellets) that you want to be the staple for its diet. If not a lot, even eating a little is ok. Then if you really feel nervous, feed it frozen krill, shrimp, bloodworms, etc. to supplement. But always start with pellets. I have a 5-6" that I'm trying to get NLS floating pellets.

Had you not said it wasn't even taking frozen sardines, I would have said that's hard to go from sardines to pellets ;-). But I've never seen any baby aro turn away from frozen krill or bloodworms. Keep at it and good luck.