# Blue Diamond Rhom



## assclown

have had this guy for going on 2 weeks now, i realize that it takes rhoms some time to aclimitize to a new tank.
heres the deal, his approx 15 to 16" he went from a 135g to a 240g tank, wet dry and an fx5 plenty of currant
in the tank (2 koralina 3s and a catalina 2200 at the other end)

he will not eat, i have let fish and shrimp in and i have soaked in garlic to no avail, dunno.
i have never seen a more stubborn fish, he is not skittish when you come up to the tank, nor
does he run when you flicker your fingers on the glass.....im lost, im going to get him some
squid to try this weekend after turkey day, ive seen some posts where it could take a month
or so to get a rhom to eat but damn....thats a long time.

any thoughts?


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## Tensa

you can wait it out or you can try a couple feeders to see if that stimulates his appetite.


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## Trigga

Yeah dude just wait it out.. Give em a couple weeks and he'll be begging for food


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## Grosse Gurke

My rhom has gone months without eating....so these large fish can go for very long periods of no food. I wouldnt worry about it unless he starts to use up his fat reserves and starts too loose a noticeable amount of weight. You have seen my rhom...he looks fine...but when there is a change....they sometimes fast.


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## assclown

this one is has a thin belly so thats im concerned


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## jp80911

what about it's back? is it paper thin? or it's still nice and thick? the fat reserves are on the back so as long as it's not too thin then it's fin.
if you worry then just pick up some nice cheap cichlids (better than feeder goldfish)from lfs and gut load them and see if your rhom will go after them.

by the way, any picture of your 15-16" blue diamond? I wanna see (I'm sure I'm not the only one)


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## assclown

here he is......









as stated, his back id fine......


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## Gerrad

Nice rhom! I've never seen a bldr that look's like your's?


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## Guest

I am sure it is a nice Rhom but I cant tell from that picture! lol More pics please









and dont worry, my little Black Diamond took 2 mths before he would touch anything I gave him.


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## Blue Flame

I would just sit back and relax. He will come around. It's the way they are. Hell, I decided to switch my tanks to live plants, and just about all my rhoms won't eat now. Rather than keep wasting the food. I'm just gonna wait 3 or 4 weeks to feed them again. Then we'll see what they do.

That fish of yours sure looks like a peru rhom from the pic. Probably just a bad angle though.

Blue


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## jp80911

I agree with others have said, just wait a week then see if it eats, if not wait an other week and just keep it going.
if you really worried then gut load some cichlids and see if it eats


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## weerhom

If you want him to eat, try a piece of catfish fillet at night with all the lights out and he is sleeping. Drop it in and leave the room. Come back in 10 minutes. If that don't work, i don't know what will. Maybe check your nitrates. If they are high the fish won't feed.


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## 1rhom

jp80911 said:


> I agree with others have said, just wait a week then see if it eats, if not wait an other week and just keep it going.
> if you really worried then gut load some cichlids and see if it eats


what does gut load mean?


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## bigshawn

It means to fattin up some live feeders, I like tetra's (I would crush up some pellets I intend my piranhas to eat) then feed them (the feeders) to your rhom...


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## Buckman

bigshawn said:


> It means to fattin up some live feeders, I like tetra's (I would crush up some pellets I intend my piranhas to eat) then feed them (the feeders) to your rhom...


hikari pellets are also really good for that. tons of protein.


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## assclown

still treking guys.....might have to buy some fish for him to hunt


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## TJcali

Nice rhom hopefully youll put some more pics


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## T-wag

thats what i did when first added my compressus...he wouldnt eat anything so i threw some feeders in there and he went right after them...of course with a fish as expensive as yours i think i would try feeding him somthing a little more healthy then feeders....even try a huge nightcrawler, but if ur gonna go feeding try like fancy guppies or somthing


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## assclown

he ate today, large piece of whiting fish...


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## jp80911

congrats, now what we need is a feeding video


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## TJcali

happy for you bro glad to see he finally ate


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## assclown

false alarm, went to do my daily inspection and found the stupid pleco hid the food under some wood,
he didnt eat


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## Buckman




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## jp80911

that sux.


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## assclown

i tossed in some big feeders (i know i dont do the live let alone feeders) and he just killed them
he didnt eat them.....it was very strange to me


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## jp80911

is it in the divided tank? maybe you should give it a tank to its own.
some rhom will get stressed out when seeing other in the same tank, some wouldn't mind.


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## RhomZilla

Aside for just being moved into a new environment, Im truely not surprised. IMHO, of all the P's, Rhoms are the most pickiest and most finicky eatters and can go weeks and months without eatting. All I can offer is to turn up the temp and starve him for a couple of days after. It should help settle in, rise aggression and help speed the hunger


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## assclown

ok so just dosed with priazipro today, waiting for 4 days and im going to dose again and yes i need to raise
the temp of the tank to 85, its 80 right now......

if this doesnt work, i found some vitamins for the tank including b's and i hope it goes well from there
wish me well guys, because im pulling out my hair with this fish


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## Tensa

if your tank is at 80 already i wouldnt raise it to 85. but thats just me. i tend to have success with lower temps in all cases. if you are going to raise it to 85 anyways makes sure you do it slowly over the course of atleast a day. keep a eye on the fish make sure there is no heavy breathing or erratic behavior as well.


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## assclown

yeah planned that...thanks man.......i feel like a tard with this fish, im pretty proficiant with
pygos but rhoms are different for sure


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## chomp chomp

mine didn't eat for almost a week. I tried almost everything and he finally ate when I tried some smelt. Defrost a few in some room temp watter, drop in a few b4 bed and walk away. I only feed with the lights off BTW. If mine didn't eat by morning I would take out the remains.. Keep at it, it will eat


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## jp80911

so any luck? did it eat?


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## Buckman

chomp chomp said:


> mine didn't eat for almost a week. I tried almost everything and he finally ate when I tried some smelt. Defrost a few in some room temp watter, drop in a few b4 bed and walk away. I only feed with the lights off BTW. If mine didn't eat by morning I would take out the remains.. Keep at it, it will eat


i don't like to leave stuff over night, its not the best for the water. if my rhom doesnt eat in 30 minutes tops i take the food out and he has to wait until the next day.


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## assclown

second dose of priazipro and a water change, will try to feed mondayish.....


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## xeloR

good luck man ill keep my fingers crossed. he'll come around!


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## assclown

ty mike......

i offered a nice juicy piece of bloody beefheart and left it over night.......

NADA.....i still need to do a nice big water change, the priazi pro is still
in there.............this fish, man its killing me....


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## jp80911

have you tried smelt? none of my fish can resist smelt, even if they don't eat at first they will after few try.
try to turn off all the power heads and just use the current from your filters.


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## thedude8

you can also try soaking the food in garlic.

When I get a new fish, I usually do not even try to feed until at least a week, if it doesn't eat the first try Ill wait another week.


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## assclown

yeah i did the garlic thing but only for an half hour or so. im tempted to remove all of the powerheads
in the tank, he came from a tank that had HOB and no currant other than the filters, now he has a ton
of currant, so that may be the issue?????????????

tried to feed shrimp today...........nada


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## assclown

so i did something bad today.....i went out and bought 10 small convicts and boy did that piss him off
i know convicts dont belong with piranhas, but i was hoping to pull him out of his shell and hunt, and it
sure did....lets see if this helps him along the way.................


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## Buckman

any new pictures of this guy?


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## assclown

just some today















keep im mind, hes approx 16" and these pics suck ass....let me know what you think


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## Buckman

looks good! has he eaten yet?


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## assclown

i added a few feeders, they were small.....a few days ago and they are gone...still didnt
pick off the convicts.....im going to try a large koi weds


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## Ægir

assclown said:


> i added a few feeders, they were small.....a few days ago and they are gone...still didnt
> pick off the convicts.....im going to try a large koi weds


Try salmon... it was the first thing my Xingu rhom ate, and was about the only thing he would seek out when placed in the tank.


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## assclown

GREAT NEWS......i bought 2 koi and cut off their tails, he snagged them up and 
ate them in a heartbeat.....!!!!!


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## assclown

better pics with my camera


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## jp80911

nice looking diamond. good to hear that it's at least eating feeders, if you are going to keep feeding live to fatten it up you should try not to use goldfish or koi, maybe get some cichlids, like oscars and gut load them.
have you tried smelt? is it in a tank all by itself or the tank is divided?


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## assclown

He's got the 240g to himself, I added small convicts too and he leaves them alone....I'm going to add some exodons to the tank soon bit he is starting to beg for food so I'm not worried anymore at least he is eating the koi...!


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## assclown

UPDATE

he ate cat fish yesterday, on a whim i warmed up some cat fish, showed it
to him and waited at the top of the tank before tossing it in, blam he ate 2
medium pieces right in front of me.....i am happy.............


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## Buckman

good. half the fun of owning a rhom is interacting with it and watching it eat. your patience paid off!


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## jp80911

congrats man, glad to hear it ate.
you know what we need now? a feeding video of that bad boy.


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## xeloR

Great news Dennis- im glad to hear he ate! your not planning to keep him on live are you?


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## assclown

no, hes eating catfish everyday, 1 to 2 pieces.....you need to come by sometime mike
plenty of beer to drink....


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