Brichardis--food!?

[SBee]

I hear that Brichardi's will eat ANYTHINg.......

except mine won't eat at all!

The first night I had them, they devoured some blood worms...but since then, they pretty much ignore food (other than trying veggie flakes and spitting them out)

I've tried blood worms, veggie flakes, normal tropical fish food flakes, cichlid pellets, shrimp pellets, and then there have been algae disks in the tank as well (for the plecos)

any suggestions?

[ChilDawg]

Well, here's the list of food organisms which Brichardis will eat, according to Sabine Melke:

Size:
Up to 4 cm: Artemia nauplii

10 days old to 5 cm: Cyclops

Juveniles 2-5 cm: Fish and crab roe (more for predatory
Neolamprologus spp.)

3-5 (or 7) cm: Bosmina

4-15 cm: Artemia (as a treat)

5-15 cm: Bloodworms in small amounts

5-12 cm: Mosquito larvae

6-16 cm: Glassworms (more for plant eaters and grazers)

4-12 cm: Daphnia

7-15 cm: Mysis

8-15 cm: Small krill

12 cm +: Large krill

12 cm +: Gammarus

3-15 cm: Tubifex with caution


How long have you had them? They might have OD'd on bloodworms and need some time to work that off...

[SBee]

I've had them for just over a week.....

I think the presence of the pleco's (added a day or two later) might have spooked them...I dunno.....

[Deb2]

Try some live blackworms and/or frozen blood worms. Also frozen krill chopped up finely. They are new to the tank and sometimes it takes some time and persuasion to get fish to eat. You could also call the store and fisn out what they were feeding their fish.