Picky eater PJ Cardnial

[Pamelahaley]

Ok so, I've had this PJ cardinal for about a year (my time flies) and I'm just finally getting frustrated with the fact that will ONLY eat Mysis shrimp :headwalls:... The LFS I got it from was like "that's weird" showed me to their tank of cardinals and sprinkled in some pellet which they all ate.

I feed pellet, squid, mysis, cyslopeeze, brine shrimp, and Rods food for vegetarians (no one in my tank eats that for some reason)... This particular cardinal has tried it all AND SPIT IT OUT. He used to have a HUGE apetite for anything but pellet but, recently I've noticed the mysis is all he goes for and, even then it's become 1 or 2 shrimp, swim up to the rest, taste and spit.

He doesn't look sick at all and gets just as excited for food as anyone else... I'm thinking of getting another cardinal; maybe he's just lonely.

The only other fish I have in the tank is a yellow goby and an onyx clown.

Any suggestions for expanding his palette would be appreciated

 

[nightOwl]

Pamelahaley - I faced the same thing you are facing with my Cardinalfish-Apogon leptacanthus. I have had some of mine for over a two years and some a little over a year and they still do not care about anything other than mysis. I have tried just about everything and I have concluded they are just stubborn and will eat it when they decide to eat it. I have managed to get mine to eat live bloodworms, dried bloodworms, and dried mysis as well. If given a choice they actively seek out the mysis from the water column like you said. I plan to add more fish in the hopes they will join in a feeding freezy.

 

[Pamelahaley]

Thanks, I haven't tried bloodworms just yet. I might do that before I get another cardinal... There's only room in my nano for 1 more fish... maybe 2

 

[rssjsb]

I wouldn't feed your fish bloodworms, certainly not as a staple. I think the live worms that nightOwl was actually feeding were blackworms - I've never seen live bloodworms offered for sale. They aren't really worms at all. They are insect larvae with an internal skeleton that can be hard for fish to digest - it may not be a big deal right away, but it will take its toll over time. Live blackworms are useful for buttterflies and other fish that eat worms in the wild. I don't know about cardinals, but it might be worth a shot. The downside is that they're messy and kind of gross to maintain (I did this for many years when I kept FW dwarf puffers).

 

[nightOwl]

I wouldn't feed your fish bloodworms, certainly not as a staple. I think the live worms that nightOwl was actually feeding were blackworms - I've never seen live bloodworms offered for sale. They aren't really worms at all. They are insect larvae with an internal skeleton that can be hard for fish to digest - it may not be a big deal right away, but it will take its toll over time. Live blackworms are useful for buttterflies and other fish that eat worms in the wild. I don't know about cardinals, but it might be worth a shot. The downside is that they're messy and kind of gross to maintain (I did this for many years when I kept FW dwarf puffers).

rssjsb - I was referring to live bloodworms (Chironomus sp) and freeze dried bloodworms (Chironomus sp) not blackworms . We have pet store in VA that sells them by live by the ounce so you do not have to raise or maintain them yourself. I feed the live ones as an occasional treat after gut loading them and the freeze dried ones are mixed in with my special blend of flakes, pellets, freeze dried mysis, and Cyclop-eeze. I have not had any issues with them in over 9 years of feeding them to my fish.

 

[rssjsb]

Interesting. I've never seen them offered live before. They may be fine as a treat, but I still think it's not a good idea as a staple food and that blackworms are a better choice.

 

[Jay Hester]

have youtried feeding him at night my 4 pjs only eat at night