New RTS not eating

unwritten law

unwritten law

Superstar Fish
#1
Sep 2, 2008
1,471
0
0
36
DC
#1
So I got a new Red Tail Shark to my tank. Its' been set up for awhile, moderately planted etc., and my stock is in my sig.

I got him/her Monday and initially he was hiding in one of the 4 or so caves I have. That night i think I fed the tank just flakes/ bloodworms. The next day was crushed pellets and a algae wafer. Today I added some more flakes and some more pellets... The entire time I have not seen him be even slightly interested in eating.

He fits in pretty well even if my tigers and cichlids like to follow/chase him a little but its not enough or aggressive enough to make him stressed. He now hangs out in either the mid range of the tank or the bottom. I do see him looking for food on rocks, wood, and plants the same way that my cories do in my small tank. He will brush his nose back and forth on algae and stuff sometimes... Does he think he is a pleco? HE does float upside down sometimes on the underside of my wood.... any ideas how to get him to eat? He doesn't look thin... yet.
 

jo3olous

jo3olous

Large Fish
#2
Aug 6, 2008
909
1
0
Philadelphia, PA
#2
it's going to be pretty hard to get him to eat in front of you. Chances are he will eat when your not looking, or scavenge for food. I wouldn't worry about it unless he starts to get dangerously thin. my RTS never eats in front of me, it just gets aggressive during feeding time, but for the most part he is just chasing pellets then running away. Mysteriously the pellets are gone overnight though o_0
 

simplyfish

simplyfish

Medium Fish
#3
Feb 18, 2008
89
0
0
#3
Totally agree with that, my RTS "does drive" by eats and will kind of swim up and then away from the food, I think he is taking small bites but not sure. Anyway I have had him for more than a year, never actually seen him eat properly and he is a nice fat fish.

For the most part when there is any food in the tank he starts chasing the rest of the fish in the tank whereas most of the restof the time he circles the lower part of the tank swimming between the different decorations.
 

simplyfish

simplyfish

Medium Fish
#7
Feb 18, 2008
89
0
0
#7
I wish mine would stop doing that too, but I think thats how they are built...

Can't wait untill my firemouths are fat enough to argue, they are growing quickly and are approaching a similar mass to him already. Will be interesting to see what happens when he is no longer big boss in the tank. I suspect he will have to go at that point, or might just start another tank.....
 

unwritten law

unwritten law

Superstar Fish
#8
Sep 2, 2008
1,471
0
0
36
DC
#8
The only fish that is truly larger than him that he doesnt bother is the gourami... He wouldnt win a fight with my keyholes so he doesnt try but he does bother them cause you can see their stress colors come out. Also the pleco doesnt back down but my barbs are gonna have to get use to it.
 

Matt Nace

Matt Nace

Superstar Fish
#9
Oct 22, 2002
1,470
1
38
Pennsylvania
#9
My RTS was stocky and he would never really chow down in front of me. He would do as was said above and he really skimmed my plants a lot.

He was very aggresive at feeding time and would endlessly chase my Rosy and Ruby barbs around. I had a banded loach and they would bang sides and fly around like they were stuck together. It was crazy . But the shark never really did any harm and there were enough fish for him to chase that nobody got picked on too much.

Then..he was done and he would just go sit on a rock lol
 

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