Sparkiling Gourami still not eating

[FrozenFins]

I received two sparkiling gourami in the mail on Tuesday. Along with 6 CPDs, that were supposed to serve as dither fish. However the CPDS were a DOA.

So as of right now its just the two gourami in the 5 gallon.

They are extremely shy and almost never see them. They still aren't eating.

I'm wondering what I can do to get them less stressed and more adjusted to their surroundings. I don't have anything that I could put in to serve as dither fish, as I think that would really help this situation.

Anything thats helped with you in the past?

I tried feeding them some frozen brine shrimp that all my fish love. Still not eating.

Edited March 4, 2022 by FrozenFins

[Flumpweesel]

Keep the lights low and add some things for them to hide in/behind the less "in the open" they feel the more they will hopefully relax

[FrozenFins]

@Flumpweesel I just turned the lights off completley - totally didnt think of that. I'm feeding some live baby brine sunday evening. So I'll turn them on sunday afternoon to see if they will go after the BBS.

Its very heavily planted and lots of hiding places. 

Heres a photo of the tank:

[Mmiller2001]

Sparkling gourami are notoriously aloof and elusive. It's just how they are. I would try to plant more and I would add frogbit to the tank as well. Adding some non aggressive fish would help too. Pencil fish come to mind.

[Robinlikescories]

To be honest something like that that happened to me. Only this time the CPDS died off because

1: stress from Endlers

2: tank slightly overstocked

3: not enough plants

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Live foods help. BBS are a great choice. They are micro-predators so they like to stalk their prey. Daphnia, mosquito larvae, etc work very well. If you eventually mix in a bit of flake with the live foods like bbs they may take some but you’ll have to see. Feed small amounts. Also you can do a little classical conditioning and knock 2-3 times on the glass before you feed and they’ll associate the sound with you and food. Sometimes works. 

[FrozenFins]

I fed some Live Baby Brine today, I was pleased to see the gourami go after them.

The plan is to get some CPDs or other dither fish shortly, however the seller only gave me store credit and I'm not willing to spend $50 on shipping for just a small group of cpds. Maybe I'll get other dithers at the fish store coming up. 

The light was turned off all of yesterday and then half of today.

Thanks for the help you guys!