Two weeks ago I was sold what I thought was a "Mated pair" of Festivum. First, I am not convinced they are a pair because the store clerk chased them all over the tank, separating all the pairs... Secondly, they do not hang out with one another as a mated pair is supposed to.
The one who we think is the male (slightly larger and with longer fins) was injured when he was caught (we did not know this until we got him home). His external injuries (spit caudal fin and was not using one pectoral fin) have since healed as best we can tell. He spent several days with clamped fins, hiding, and refusing to eat. The other one was active and feeding within hours after introduction to my community tank. I asked my LFS, where he was purchased, and they suggested I put him in a breeders net so he could eat without competition, but that only stressed him more. I have since lured him into eating by feeding him frozen and/or freeze dried blood worms (often with tweezers one at a time). When the other fish feed he just hangs back and watches. He is a definite hunter, however, because he ate one of my platy fry (too big for the other fish to eat) who was swimming above him at the time. He spends hours hovering below some Hornwart waiting and watching for prey and although he allows Platys, Tetras, and Rainbows to swim around his hunting ground and dart in to steal his food, he runs the other Festivum (supposedly his mate) away. My problem is he will eat nothing but the bloodworms and if I do not distract the other fish and feed him slowly he misses feeding...every time! It seems he has to eat very slowly. If he eats a couple of bloodworms quickly, he usually has to spit them out and try again, often by that time another fish sees it and swoops in to steal it.
Does anyone out there have any idea how I can get him to eat something other than bloodworms and not have to hand feed one at a time? So far I have tried New Life Spectrum Pellets, Omega One Tropical Flakes, Omega One Chiclid Flakes, Frozen Brine Shrimp. He just looks at all of these and turns away. He tried a frozen brine shrimp and spit it right out!
The one who we think is the male (slightly larger and with longer fins) was injured when he was caught (we did not know this until we got him home). His external injuries (spit caudal fin and was not using one pectoral fin) have since healed as best we can tell. He spent several days with clamped fins, hiding, and refusing to eat. The other one was active and feeding within hours after introduction to my community tank. I asked my LFS, where he was purchased, and they suggested I put him in a breeders net so he could eat without competition, but that only stressed him more. I have since lured him into eating by feeding him frozen and/or freeze dried blood worms (often with tweezers one at a time). When the other fish feed he just hangs back and watches. He is a definite hunter, however, because he ate one of my platy fry (too big for the other fish to eat) who was swimming above him at the time. He spends hours hovering below some Hornwart waiting and watching for prey and although he allows Platys, Tetras, and Rainbows to swim around his hunting ground and dart in to steal his food, he runs the other Festivum (supposedly his mate) away. My problem is he will eat nothing but the bloodworms and if I do not distract the other fish and feed him slowly he misses feeding...every time! It seems he has to eat very slowly. If he eats a couple of bloodworms quickly, he usually has to spit them out and try again, often by that time another fish sees it and swoops in to steal it.
Does anyone out there have any idea how I can get him to eat something other than bloodworms and not have to hand feed one at a time? So far I have tried New Life Spectrum Pellets, Omega One Tropical Flakes, Omega One Chiclid Flakes, Frozen Brine Shrimp. He just looks at all of these and turns away. He tried a frozen brine shrimp and spit it right out!
