Neon Tetras not Eating

irmuddled

irmuddled

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Jan 4, 2009
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I bought five neon tetras, and so far everything's great with the exception is that they're not eating. I bought them New Life Spectrum Small Fish Formula, which I can smell even but they're not even realizing it's there. Is it possible the pellets are too small? The food is for fish like them in mind but it's day 3 that they totally ignore their food. :(
 
More tank info and details please...
 
You may have luck if you try other food... small fish will generally be able to eat flake food without trouble.

Have you asked who sold them to you what they were eating before?
 
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That's a shame, food was pretty pricey. No tricks to making them eat the food? It's a 12 gallon fluval edge. I'll ask them about the food.
 
I've had trouble transitioning fish from flakes to other foods sometimes. Flakes fall more slowly, are more colorful & often larger bits than tiny pellet foods. They don't recognize it as food before it hits the substrate where tetras are much less happy eating (they can learn to lesser an extent but it's not their usual feeding style).

If flakes were their previous food you can try adding a small amount of pellets to each flake feeding, gradually reducing the flake to pellet ratio. Or same thing with say, frozen brine shrimp or cyclops.
 
12 gal tank right? Do you have plenty of cover objects and what substrate are you using? Are there other creatures in the tank or just the neons?

I agree with above use flake. At this point buy some cheap stuff just to convert them. Just an FYI, i use Ken's flake food and the first time you toss it in the fish go bonko like their possessed.
You could also use a little froozen brine shrimp and for sure they will eat.
 
If you had lived your life from the McDonalds dollar menu, and then then someone ga,e you a gourmet meal... you might be hesitant to try it yourself.

the first priority is to make sure they are eating at all, and then to move them over to the better food.

my big issue is that I have small fish, and it's difficult to find suitable food that they can fit in their mouths, pellets can be a little too big and hard at first for some fish, if you see them try to eat it but spit it out, maybe wetting the food before dropping it in the tank would help to soften it a bit.


My personal preference recently has been for NorthFin food, You can get samples of up to 7 types of food from Super Cichlids.. https://www.supercichlids.com/collections/frontpage/products/northfin-samples
(I think you have to pay shipping, no idea what it is)
I have had good luck with Fry starter, Krill, and 0.5mm community


HTH
 
Golden Peaarls 200-300 micro will work as well. I'd spike what ever with froozen brine shrimp. Pet What Ever has it.
 
I went to Petco today and bought the exact same food they were feeding the neons (omega one freshwater flakes) at the store and sure enough they didn't eat again. I'm not sure why since the water is fine. One of the neons ate the flake food and spit it right out. They're nice and colorful too so they don't look stressed.

For substrate I'm using CaribSea Instant Aquarium Sand and I have the tank with a bunch of live plants. Their tankmates is a betta fish I got today which isn't eating either but he's too busy hiding so maybe that's why. Will try the food from Super Cichlids but I'm afraid that they might go a week before I receive that food. Will stop by Petco again to get brine shrimp I guess.

How long can fish go without eating anyway?
 
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