Tetras and gel food

[Suzanne B]

Greetings. Just bought some Repashy community plus gel food and my tetras refuse to eat it. I've tried adding garlic guard to it and they still won't touch it. I put some at the bottom of the tank, then tried adding a string and dangled it at the middle of the tank. 

Anyone ever had this problem? Any suggestions?

[Gwallace]

No...and I am very surprised.  You could try to fast the tank for 2 or 3 days and then feed the Repashy.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/31/2022 at 9:44 AM, Suzanne B said:

Greetings. Just bought some Repashy community plus gel food and my tetras refuse to eat it. I've tried adding garlic guard to it and they still won't touch it. I put some at the bottom of the tank, then tried adding a string and dangled it at the middle of the tank. 

Anyone ever had this problem? Any suggestions?

What mixture did you use when making it?  Some fish will have a hard time eating it at the 2:1 ratio and 3:1 is a little easier to bite into.  You can also try putting it on a stick or hardscape to try to get it higher up in the water column.

[Suzanne B]

I used 2 tbs of gel food and 5 tbs of water, so 2 1/2 to 1 ratio. 

My ember tetras are very finicky eaters. They won't eat dried tubifex worms or granules. They will only eat crushed flakes soaked in water and frozen baby brine shrimp. Oh, and if they don't get fed on schedule, they start nipping at one another.

[Katherine]

Mine wouldn't eat it until I put it in the tank little slivers at a time, a bit bigger than their usual pellets. After that they realized it's food and will eat it off the bottom, though that's harder for them.

[Suzanne B]

Katherine, how did you get the slivers small enough for them to eat?

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/31/2022 at 11:00 AM, Suzanne B said:

I used 2 tbs of gel food and 5 tbs of water, so 2 1/2 to 1 ratio. 

My ember tetras are very finicky eaters. They won't eat dried tubifex worms or granules. They will only eat crushed flakes soaked in water and frozen baby brine shrimp. Oh, and if they don't get fed on schedule, they start nipping at one another.

If you can, please record a video of the tank and just their general, normal behavior when not feeding. 

They should be "fine" with something like the nano pellets, something like the flakes from xtreme.  feeding those every day is perfectly fine, but I understand wanting to sub in some diverse nutrition and that's awesome you're trying to do so for these fish!

It's odd to me to have to soak flakes, you can try a pepper mill to grind them up very fine as well (or pellets very fine using that method) and that might be much easier, keep the feeding times lower/easier for you as well as give the fish what they need.  

How long have you had the fish, have you treated them with bacterial meds?  Erythromycin or Maracyn as an example when you first purchased them.  Do any of them have sunken bellies or look very thin?  Stringy white poop?

On 7/31/2022 at 11:00 AM, Suzanne B said:

I used 2 tbs of gel food and 5 tbs of water, so 2 1/2 to 1 ratio. 

Next batch I would try 3:1 and see if they do anything different. Try just the repashy with no garlic. (some fish just don't like it)

[Katherine]

On 7/31/2022 at 1:26 PM, Suzanne B said:

Katherine, how did you get the slivers small enough for them to eat?

I use a spoon. Get a tiny bit on it and dip it in the tank. Repeat and repeat and repeat...

[Flumpweesel]

I was going to suggest grating it or maybe freeze in a bag and smash it into little pieces. 

[Suzanne B]

On 7/31/2022 at 3:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

If you can, please record a video of the tank and just their general, normal behavior when not feeding. 

They should be "fine" with something like the nano pellets, something like the flakes from xtreme.  feeding those every day is perfectly fine, but I understand wanting to sub in some diverse nutrition and that's awesome you're trying to do so for these fish!

It's odd to me to have to soak flakes, you can try a pepper mill to grind them up very fine as well (or pellets very fine using that method) and that might be much easier, keep the feeding times lower/easier for you as well as give the fish what they need.  

How long have you had the fish, have you treated them with bacterial meds?  Erythromycin or Maracyn as an example when you first purchased them.  Do any of them have sunken bellies or look very thin?  Stringy white poop?

Next batch I would try 3:1 and see if they do anything different. Try just the repashy with no garlic. (some fish just don't like it)

Won't let me upload a video. Had the fish about a month. No bacteria meds administered when I got them. No sunken bellies and none thin. I never see them poop, but they are really small fish.

I soak everything so it sinks because they won't go to the top to eat. Also, they won't eat it if it isn't soft, they spit it out. They're spoiled I guess.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/1/2022 at 5:32 PM, Suzanne B said:

On 7/31/2022 at 12:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Expand  

Won't let me upload a video.

Please try to upload it to youtube and post the link here. You can upload it as unlisted so only people here with the video in this thread are able to see it if you wish 🙂

On 8/1/2022 at 5:32 PM, Suzanne B said:

Also, they won't eat it if it isn't soft, they spit it out.

This might just be them chewing the food to get smaller bites.

ACO has the fry food in a squeeze bottle as well as nano pellets. I would recommend either of those for you in future to make it a bit easier on you.  Try to get the flake into a fine powder and it should be much easier for them to eat without chewing.

[anitstuk]

On 8/1/2022 at 2:44 AM, Suzanne B said:

Greetings. Just bought some Repashy community plus gel food and my tetras refuse to eat it. I've tried adding garlic guard to it and they still won't touch it. I put some at the bottom of the tank, then tried adding a string and dangled it at the middle of the tank. 

Anyone ever had this problem? Any suggestions?

My Harlequin Rasboras did that when I first got them. They ate the food overnight when they realised that they have to eat it to survive XD. Like someone said before, fast the fish and feed when they look hungry. 

[Ricklax96]

On 7/31/2022 at 12:44 PM, Suzanne B said:

Greetings. Just bought some Repashy community plus gel food and my tetras refuse to eat it. I've tried adding garlic guard to it and they still won't touch it. I put some at the bottom of the tank, then tried adding a string and dangled it at the middle of the tank. 

Anyone ever had this problem? Any suggestions?

Hey so I know it's been awhile since this was posted, but I was having a similar issue with cardinals, black neons and rummy's with repashy. Anything on the bottom was being hogged by the Corys and the top feeders weren't getting much. I ended up crushing up the repashy adding some tank water and using a turkey baster to feed and it worked wonderfully. Hope this helps and it's not too late.