# I Need Good Advice Please



## Zeushalives (Dec 30, 2010)

My piranha doesnt eat in the first 3 min hell he doesnt eat within the first 10min sometimes but I havent fed him in over 2 days sometimes im not gonna experiment with him to learn his eating habits but he wont eat with me looking on sometimes and he wont eat anything frozen, bloodworms included. However I dont want to leave food sitting for sometime ... how do I remedy this?


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## wizardslovak (Feb 17, 2007)

starve him
dont feed him for a week , then give him food , wait for 5 mins , if he doesnt eat take it out and then try after another 2-3 days . Once hungry enough he will eat .
when i had cariba i wanted it to eat pellets , but he always refused , so i stopped to feed him for week , but still didnt eat , do i waited 5 days and did it again , but still nothing , so i waited another 3 days , then after first pellet hit water he ate it , didnt like it at begining but later on he was eating 7-10 a time. Fed him every 3rd day . 
And if you asking , nope they wont die , they can go for up to 2 months without food









I got new fish , got him thursday , and i am not planning on feeding him till this thursday , exactly 7 days


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## Zeushalives (Dec 30, 2010)

Sounds good. I feel bad when I dont feed the guy for 2 days lol. But I guess your right if its the only way, thats what it is. I think he will get the most vitamins and minerals from the frozen food I have for him. Silversides, blood worms, brime and so on.


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## wizardslovak (Feb 17, 2007)

how big is he?
When in 5" range try to get him on pellets , u wont regret it , especially if you use colour enhancing pellets , he will get sick colours







+ he will get all minerals he needs from them


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## Dolphinswin (Jun 26, 2010)

Come on bro, I just told you twice. here it is.

Feed frozen till he eats it. I have gotten this information from many experienced members. A piranha can go months without eating anything, there no harm in not feeding him. Keep putting frozen in the tank if he doesnt eat it IN FRONT of you take it away. Give him 20 or so seconds to eat. You want the fish to eat in front of you so you shold be near the tank when you do this. If he doesnt eat within 20 seconds try again the next day, and the next day, until the little sh*t eats, and he will eat. If your interested in trying it great, it will work. If your not thats fine also, keep feeding him live if you want, though he is going to miss nutrients. good luck.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Try feeding him after you turn off the light for the night. Just drop in a small piece of fish. Leave him alone until the next day...and if he hasnt eaten then take it out and try again the next night. The most important thing is getting him to eat non-live...not getting him to eat in front of you. Once you get him accepting non-live foods...then you can try to get him to eat while you are around. That is generally just a matter of making the fish comfortable in your presence.


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## Dolphinswin (Jun 26, 2010)

Grosse Gurke said:


> Try feeding him after you turn off the light for the night. Just drop in a small piece of fish. Leave him alone until the next day...and if he hasnt eaten then take it out and try again the next night. The most important thing is getting him to eat non-live...not getting him to eat in front of you. Once you get him accepting non-live foods...then you can try to get him to eat while you are around. That is generally just a matter of making the fish comfortable in your presence.


im guessing you can accomplish both of them at the same time, eating frozen and in front of you.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Dolphinswin said:


> im guessing you can accomplish both of them at the same time, eating frozen and in front of you.


Would that be an educated guess or just pulling sh*t out of your ass as usual? Oh wait...I bet someone told you this and you are just taking it at face value and have never actually tried it. Have you ever seen a fish starve himself because he refused to accept non-live food? It isnt pretty. The main objective should be the health of the fish and getting him to eat non-live foods....and then you can worry about feeding him for your own pleasure.


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## Dolphinswin (Jun 26, 2010)

Grosse Gurke said:


> im guessing you can accomplish both of them at the same time, eating frozen and in front of you.


Would that be an educated guess or just pulling sh*t out of your ass as usual? Oh wait...I bet someone told you this and you are just taking it at face value and have never actually tried it. Have you ever seen a fish starve himself because he refused to accept non-live food? It isnt pretty. The main objective should be the health of the fish and getting him to eat non-live foods....and then you can worry about feeding him for your own pleasure.
[/quote]
This is and educated guess. I have seen many people use this strategy to get there fish to eat. You can bounce in here and call people out all you want but this strategy has been proven by quite a few people.







To the op i guess you should try getting it on frozen then to eat in front of you. Sorry for the misleadance.


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## Ba20 (Jan 29, 2003)

GG is right, Get him eating first then work on getting him to eat in front of you. Took my peruvian rhom 2 weeks before he ate non live food.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

I had a rhom that would never eat in front of me. Had to put the food in before the lights went off and it was gone the next day.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Dolphinswin said:


> This is and educated guess. I have seen many people use this strategy to get there fish to eat. You can bounce in here and call people out all you want but this strategy has been proven by quite a few people.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I am not calling people out....I can calling you out for giving advice in areas where you have no experience. This guy is trying to get his fish off live foods and you start a post with "Come on bro, I just told you twice. here it is." You have zero experience...so who are you to call someone out for not using your "advice"? I am not bouncing in here and talking about areas where I have no experience....I am bouncing to areas where I have personal experience.

Please stick to areas where you have actual experience and stop parroting what you read. You have dont even know how big the fish is...so how can you tell him to a fish can wait months to eat? The objective is to get the fish to eat....not to entertain the owner. Once you get the guy to eat....sure....work on getting him to be more outgoing....but for now....lets get him some food.


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## Dolphinswin (Jun 26, 2010)

Grosse Gurke said:


> This is and educated guess. I have seen many people use this strategy to get there fish to eat. You can bounce in here and call people out all you want but this strategy has been proven by quite a few people.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I am not calling people out....I can calling you out for giving advice in areas where you have no experience. This guy is trying to get his fish off live foods and you start a post with "Come on bro, I just told you twice. here it is." You have zero experience...so who are you to call someone out for not using your "advice"? I am not bouncing in here and talking about areas where I have no experience....I am bouncing to areas where I have personal experience.

Please stick to areas where you have actual experience and stop parroting what you read. You have dont even know how big the fish is...so how can you tell him to a fish can wait months to eat? The objective is to get the fish to eat....not to entertain the owner. Once you get the guy to eat....sure....work on getting him to be more outgoing....but for now....lets get him some food.
[/quote]
sure. I was just telling him some VALID information given by EXPERIENCED members. I did tell him twice, on how to approach the situation. I can tell you if i had this problem id try that strategy. Do what you want.


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

Grosse Gurke said:


> Try feeding him after you turn off the light for the night. Just drop in a small piece of fish. Leave him alone until the next day...and if he hasnt eaten then take it out and try again the next night. The most important thing is getting him to eat non-live...not getting him to eat in front of you. Once you get him accepting non-live foods...then you can try to get him to eat while you are around. That is generally just a matter of making the fish comfortable in your presence.


This approach has never failed for me!


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Dolphinswin said:


> sure. I was just telling him some VALID information given by EXPERIENCED members. I did tell him twice, on how to approach the situation. I can tell you if i had this problem id try that strategy. Do what you want.


How would you know what is VALID? If you have tried something and it worked.....that is valid. If you are simiply reading and repeating information...who are you to say what is valid?

I am not questioning the information you posted.....I am questioning why you posted it. I think the first objective is to get a fish off live feedings....and by requiring the fish to feed in 20 seconds in a stressed situation doesnt seem like a win/win for fish and owner.


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## Dolphinswin (Jun 26, 2010)

Grosse Gurke said:


> sure. I was just telling him some VALID information given by EXPERIENCED members. I did tell him twice, on how to approach the situation. I can tell you if i had this problem id try that strategy. Do what you want.


How would you know what is VALID? If you have tried something and it worked.....that is valid. If you are simiply reading and repeating information...who are you to say what is valid?

I am not questioning the information you posted.....I am questioning why you posted it. I think the first objective is to get a fish off live feedings....and by requiring the fish to feed in 20 seconds in a stressed situation doesnt seem like a win/win for fish and owner.
[/quote]
ok if were going into the nitty gritty of things sure, i repeated it because it came from a respected member and I trust the idea. A lot of members remove the food after the fish drops it for 15 seconds or lose interest. Im not claiming its right, just do whatever strategy you'd like. I'd advise doing something as live feeding isnt the best option for your piranhas all the time...


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

I agree with wait a week then try to feed. If he taks gread if not try again in another few days and repeat. Eventually he should eat. If he is still refusing after a few weeks I may throw a small feeder in then resume the only feeding frozen cycle.

A large p will be fine for a couple weeks with no food. What species and size of p are we talking about?

I'd break common feeding problems into a couple steps to overcome indivudually.

1) Get the p off live and on to a variety of frozen foods A variety of foods will make the p more willing to accept whatever you give them. When I got my elong it would only eat certain things but not it eats what I give him. For this step id probably turn the light off and leave the room when feeding and come back in 15minutes. If the food isn't gone when you return id either remove it then or mayby wait another 15. In all honesty I have left food overnight and everything is fine. You just have to understand your filtration and be able to monitor your tank to make sure you arnt gettign any ammonia spikes that your system can't handle. Ideally removing uneaten food after 30 minutes is good but some p's may be a biut stressed from you being around the tank to feed that they don't even want to eat that soon. Eventually leave the room without turning the light off then eventually dont leave the room but just back off from the tank. You should see the pattern of slowly adjusting them to you.

2) Get them to eat infront of you. Once you can get them to eat with the tank light on and watch them from the other side of the room just over a bunch of feedings each time just be closer and closer.

3) Pellets. Once the p eats infront of you and already tries a variety of foods I would try to get them to try pellets if you want them to eat them.

The same rules apply if your trying to had feed them or something. They probably won't be comfortable at first and won't take the food but if you get them used to it eventually they will take it. Right now im getting my elong to take food from my hand and its not that difficult to train them to do. The main problem when people try to get the fish to do anything is they expect the fish to automatically eat a certain food or do a certain thing and they do not try hard enough of for long enough to get results.


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## Bacon Of Time (Feb 1, 2011)

Is it older P's that tend to have this problem? My juvs ate from my hand the first day (tho they scater when i bring my finger to the side of the tank) and the P's at the pet storeeat the second thier fed. Thier all younge tho, Is it older larger P's that tend to be stuborn like this?


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## Zeushalives (Dec 30, 2010)

Dolphinswin said:


> I agree with wait a week then try to feed. If he taks gread if not try again in another few days and repeat. Eventually he should eat. If he is still refusing after a few weeks I may throw a small feeder in then resume the only feeding frozen cycle.
> 
> A large p will be fine for a couple weeks with no food. What species and size of p are we talking about?
> 
> ...


Thank you everyone, I very much appreciate the advice. I just wanted to hear what MANY people do to find similarities that prehaps one method works better. But I will try EVERYTHING and see where it all gets. After all ... every P is different. I need him off live food though so he can get the nutrients needed. He is a Ruby Red Spilo 4-5" 50 gallon Magnum 350 filter. Water params always good. Non planted tank.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

It depends. Juvie pygos are usually alot more competitive as naturally only the strongest survive so the first year of their life if farily competitive so they will pretty much eat whatever they are given. This is why teaching them to feed what you want is easier when small. Babies that i raised since birth took food from my hand pretty willingly though their parents will not. Often babies are pretty bold feeders as they need alot of food to survive. Other then babies I probably wouldn't try to handfeed pygos. You could try somethign like wooden chopsticks though.

When larger pygos seem more aware and would probably be more cautious of their surroundings. In the end similar to alot of things in this hobby there are tons of variables so there are not set rules. You just have to read the situation and react to the best of your ability.


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## Zeushalives (Dec 30, 2010)

Still not eating its been 5 days. I put food in and let it sit 15min with me not in the room. Still no change. Is brine shrimp cubes.


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Some have had luck with soaking their food in Garlic Guard. Did you try tying the food to some fishing line and letting it dangle in the current? This has worked for me in the past.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Zeushalives said:


> Still not eating its been 5 days. I put food in and let it sit 15min with me not in the room. Still no change. Is brine shrimp cubes.


A 4-5" fish is way too big to be eating brine shrimp cubes... At that size, you should be feeding bite-size chunks of shrimp, tilapia, catfish, cod, pollock, haddock, etc.


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## Zeushalives (Dec 30, 2010)

Sacrifice said:


> Still not eating its been 5 days. I put food in and let it sit 15min with me not in the room. Still no change. Is brine shrimp cubes.


A 4-5" fish is way too big to be eating brine shrimp cubes... At that size, you should be feeding bite-size chunks of shrimp, tilapia, catfish, cod, pollock, haddock, etc.
[/quote]

You sure? These brine shrimp cubes are pretty darn big. But hey im new to this, so I guess I'll feed the last of the shrimp cubes to "The Horde" and give him the good stuff.


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## Zeushalives (Dec 30, 2010)

Ok after all this searching after weeks of trying different things. Im gonna tell you what worked and you WILL NOT BELIEVE IT! This is a 4" Ruby Red Spilo, he would only eat when I was not in the room if you remember, and would only eat live. I know this may seem stupid but for some reason the answer was ..... I put his powerhead back in .... That was it! Hand to God, he is swimming in the current and when I drop ANYTHING in the tank, even with me looking on he eats it. I know this may seem strange or a lie, god's honest truth. I have no clue what bearing that has on anything but ... I took it out because I figured no big deal it was just another thing cluttering his tank, boy was I wrong. About a week after taking it out is when he started to exibit strang behaviors. He's all back to normal, aggression and all.







Thanks for everyones input and help.


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