blue eye (longspine) cardinals not eating

M

mayjong

New member
hey all-

got 4 blue eyes last thursday,2 year old mixed reef (tank has been fishless for over a month ) they are the only fish in my tank (do have a cleaner shrimp they are terified by)
as of yesterday night, i have not seen any of them eat.
they just stay in a tight bunch (the reason i got them) in the corner.
i've tried mysis,flake,pellet and cyclopeeze.

any suggestions?
thanks!
 
Ask the person/store you bought it from what they were feeding and try to match as best you can. Sometimes, it takes fish a few days to calm down enough to eat.

Are the fish showing signs of stress? Breathing hard? Loss of color? Or do they just seem uninterested in food?
 
just seem uninterested.
they look great, and do occasionally swim around a bit. they seem scared of thier own shadows.
i doubt they even ate at the lfs, i picked them up the day after they came in...

i've just never seen a fish not exhibit some sort of feeding behavior when food is introduced. other fish i have had, even a fish that didn't eat prepared (like a mandarin) seem to exhibit a feeding reaction (like swimming around faster/looking at/feeding on rocks/etc.
these fish do nothing.
they are large (for a blue eye cardinal) and appeared to be fat (again, for a cardinal) or at least they are not skinny. i dunno.
i'm going to pick up some live blood worms tommorrow.

i have been leaving the powerheads on while feeding. maybe turn them off???
 
They are poor shippers. I ALWAYS lose several when I get a new batch. Mine only ever eat frozen, but are not picky about that.
 
mayjong said:
just seem uninterested.
they look great, and do occasionally swim around a bit. they seem scared of thier own shadows.
i doubt they even ate at the lfs, i picked them up the day after they came in...

i've just never seen a fish not exhibit some sort of feeding behavior when food is introduced. other fish i have had, even a fish that didn't eat prepared (like a mandarin) seem to exhibit a feeding reaction (like swimming around faster/looking at/feeding on rocks/etc.
these fish do nothing.
they are large (for a blue eye cardinal) and appeared to be fat (again, for a cardinal) or at least they are not skinny. i dunno.
i'm going to pick up some live blood worms tommorrow.

i have been leaving the powerheads on while feeding. maybe turn them off???
Click to expand...
I have 9 right now doing the same thing came in nice big and healthy looking they do not eat anything a few are getting really scrawny imo cyanide collecting only thing I can think off .. My prior batch ate everything in site day one.
 
try feeding when the lights are off. I had a group a few years ago that only ate if I fed before or after the lights came on. I'd assume most cardinals are more nocturnally active since they have such large eyes in comparison to body size.
 
still not eating, although they did show some interest in the worms.

fortunatly, my maxi-mini spawned last night, just after lights out. it released thousands of tiny eggs (tiny, round , pale green) which they gobbled up for 15 min. at least they got some good food.
any other ideas on differnet foods they may eat???
 
I've order twelve of these guys so far. Only four have made it to me alive and I could only get two of the four to eat anything at all. The other two had zero interest in anything at all and I tried everything. The two that did eat are solid fish and have been doing really well. Have you tried anything live like black worms or newly hatched baby brine.
 
we always lose a few from each batch shortly after shipping as well. and they seem to dwindle down after that for no apparent reason. i have never had a problem getting them to eat within 2-3 days at most of them arriving at the store. but they always seem to dwindle down to the SAME 1 from the first shipment of them i got in. that 1 does great but the others never seem to make it more than a couple weeks
 
I've heard the same, makes me think they kill each other off like green chromis. I have two that seem to get along pretty well, so I'm gonna stick with that. I always wanted a group of them but I don't see it happening.
 
yea thats what i am leaning towards as well. i know they are supposed to be schoolers, but there is no other explanation as to why i can start with the 1 old one and 12 new and continuously lose 1 every couple days until its back to that 1 original one. i have the same thing happen with bangaiis too, really irritating
 
I can attest territoriality is not the problem. I had a group of six for a long time with no issues. It is just shipping stress.
 
accordsirh22 said:
yea thats what i am leaning towards as well. i know they are supposed to be schoolers, but there is no other explanation as to why i can start with the 1 old one and 12 new and continuously lose 1 every couple days until its back to that 1 original one. i have the same thing happen with bangaiis too, really irritating
Click to expand...

Bangaii should be kept in pairs only IMO, if you end up with two females they won't tolerate each other.
 
they never fight, don't even chase each other at all.
i lost one, still have 3.

tried feeding again last night after lights out. they did show a feeding response (darting around a bit), but i don't think they actually ate anything. hard to tell with no light on.

i just can't keep pumping food in there, and having it not be eaten...
i'll try to get a red cover for my flashlight to observe more closely.
 
These fish are the worst shippers. A 50% attrition rate is easy, thus making these little guys some of the most expensive fish in my tank. There were 7 at my LFS recently and I bought them all. 2 were dead by the time I got home and one more by the next morning. However, once they make it past a week or so, they seem to last a long time for me. For the first two days or so, they seem quite lethargic and with no appetite. But after that, they slowly begin to nibble, and soon they become voracious eaters. They remnd me of little piranhas. The only foods that I have had luck with are cyclopeeze (dried or frozen), and New Life Spectrum (get the tiny pellets).
 
they ate live blood worms last night!
definetly eat better after lights out. they don't even look at the food when i feed with the lights on.
after they feed for a few days, i'm going to try to move the time up gradually, so they feed with the lights on...
still have 3 out of 4 alive...
 
mayjong said:
they ate live blood worms last night!
definetly eat better after lights out. they don't even look at the food when i feed with the lights on.
after they feed for a few days, i'm going to try to move the time up gradually, so they feed with the lights on...
still have 3 out of 4 alive...
Click to expand...

Since they had such a good time with the spawn, try feeding cyclopeeze and Nutramar Ova.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
help with new dracula goby
Replies
5
Views
423
leebca
L
A
First SPS coral. Is this bleaching?
Replies
6
Views
383
apavlik2
A
D
Coral beauty Sick - how do i treat
Replies
3
Views
1K
leebca
L
BigEZ77
Urgent Help Requested - Wrasses Won't Come Out - CB Blue Tang Arriving Today (NO QT)
Replies
8
Views
655
rrrrob
rrrrob
S
Tomini Tang…not eating..help!
Replies
13
Views
2K
Paul B
Paul B
Back
Top