tub rice fish not eating.

[CT_]

I put mymedaka in a tub 5-6 days ago and they haven't eaten sense.  The flake I give them just stays on top for hours.  They mostly just stay still at the surface until I startle them and they swim down. 

Any idea why this is? Paramiters are 72f, 300 gh, 80kh, 7.4-7.8ph,  0/0/0nitrogens (5 new fish in 30gh.  They were living at room temp (68-75) in a 5g before the tub was ready and we're always excited about food.

 

 

[Colu]

 I would do a 50% water change just in case anything got in to the water 

[KBOzzie59]

How long has the tub been up?  Maybe they are getting food from the tub surfaces?  But then again I know of no fish that will not eat food when given.  Maybe something else is scaring them?  Birds flying over/by?

[CT_]

They're super mellow hanging out on the top.  and only get scared down my me.  I've watched them just hang out and have a flake bump off their head. 😕  in the 5g tank at the same temp they were much more active. and swimming around mid water (though in a 5g thats only 2-3" below the surface)

 

I set up the tub about 2 months ago and just kept throwing my excess floaters in there, with the plan of starting when the floaters don't die from the night cold.  I gave up on that and threw a heater in there a couple days before I put the fish in.  I also have an air stone going.

 

I did a unknown size water change the day before this post (>20%) and another maybe 10-20% change yesterday.  My current plan is to just keep daily 10-20% changes and hope they start eating 😕

[TioTeo]

Stumbled across this because I started a tub recently and I am planning on getting some rice fish. I am not an expert as I have not even gotten my fish yet (currently cycling the tub), however, I know it is frustrating not to know what might be going on.

Thinking outside the box, what kind of tub is it? Is there a possibility that something might be leeching into the water?

You mentioned that you were placing your excess floaters into the tub, is the top too densely covered? (I have to assume no, if you can see food bounce off the fish.)

Is the tub outside? Are there plenty of insects that they are filling up on?

Hope they get acclimated soon. But please continue to post if you have any news.

[CT_]

It's a half barrel.  I'm sure wood tannins are leaching but my understanding is that okay.  Theres mosquitos and other weird things living in there and I've now changed enough water that it's clear as it was murky before. 

 

The fish still aren't eating flake but they're hanging out mid water near the lilly pads which I think is a more healthy place for them to be I think and they're a bit more active too which is encouraging.  Hopefully something bad fell in there and now they're recovering now that it's washed out.

 

 

[Hobbit]

Is it possible they just don’t realize the flake is food? I have a hard time getting new fish to eat anything except live baby brine, because apparently everyone knows that’s food. 😆 But once the fish realize I’m feeding them, they eat no problem. If they’re snacking on mosquito larvae and other live critters, they’re probably not motivated to try new things right now. And if they came from a farm, they may have only been fed live foods up until this point in their lives.

[CT_]

I was feeding BBS and flake while they were in the house.

 

They're looking better today too.  It may have just been a really harsh transition to pond life.  I gave them flake and pellets today and they got curious and ate and spitout the flakes and eventually one of them actually ate a bit.  so hopefulyl they'll have it figured out this week.

[CT_]

Just to update this.  I just kept feeding every day regardless and eventually one and then two of them tried and rejected the food.  And now two of them are taking flake now and seem bigger and happy(they're really cautious about it still, attacking it and hiding again).  The runt is still being a runt and not dying but not growing, still probably half length or less of the others.  That leaves one unaccounted for and presumed dead too. 

 

I also noticed two days ago a TON of fry.  I'm not sure if they're rice fish or the white clouds I added two weeks ago so we shall see.   I'm going to post a bit more about the fry later in the breeding section later after I  get some new pics.

 

Since there's fry and dead fish, I'm assuming that some of them just somehow never learned to eat in the new environment.  Not sure what else to conclude 🤔

[Tedrock]

I have raised rice fish and found that flake food is tough for them to eat.  Grinding it up for them helps.  Also switch to like a extreme nano slow falling pellet.  They respond well to it.