Angel fish: what to look out for with these new little guys?

[PineSong]

I brought these two little angels home yesterday and I have them in a 10g QT set up in the kitchen. 

So far, they mostly hover near each other, standing still. They've shown no awareness that I was adding food to the tank (frozen BBS, dried bloodworms, floating cichlid pellets) and I've not seen them eat.

I did see one of them peck at the filter, and at a piece of cholla that I put in there that came out of my shrimp tank. Other than that, they are very still. If I leave the room they seem to explore more, when I come in I will see them near the front of the tank. If they see me, they go hang in the back.

I know it can take fish a few days to settle in and to realize who brings the dinner, so I am not worrying..Just noticing that since they behave so differently from the bettas, livebearers and goldfish I've had all my previous experience with, I don't really know how to tell if they feel well or poorly.

How does one judge the healthy behavior of such a still fish?

Also, any recommendations for getting them to eat?

 

 

 

 

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/7/2022 at 12:27 PM, PineSong said:

Also, any recommendations for getting them to eat?

I have had some "finicky" fish like this too.  The first method is usually to try other things, other foods, and to see if something entices them.  I have had this work, but still had the 1-2 fish out of the group that just couldn't be bothered.

Second method is usually to try to shift when you feed. So try feeding dusk, dawn, noon, after lights out, etc. and see if one of those changes helps.

Hopefully something works out.

 

On 8/7/2022 at 12:27 PM, PineSong said:

I did see one of them peck at the filter, and at a piece of cholla that I put in there that came out of my shrimp tank. Other than that, they are very still. If I leave the room they seem to explore more, when I come in I will see them near the front of the tank. If they see me, they go hang in the back.

Very typical.  They also probably want some vertical things to hide around or hide behind to feel safe. 

[PineSong]

On 8/7/2022 at 7:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I have had some "finicky" fish like this too.  The first method is usually to try other things, other foods, and to see if something entices them.  I have had this work, but still had the 1-2 fish out of the group that just couldn't be bothered.

Second method is usually to try to shift when you feed. So try feeding dusk, dawn, noon, after lights out, etc. and see if one of those changes helps.

Hopefully something works out.

 

Very typical.  They also probably want some vertical things to hide around or hide behind to feel safe. 

Thank you. I just saw them both pecking at a floating cichlid pellet, so I think that's a good sign. Based on what you said, I recognized that the wood and plants I had put in there were all floor level, so I am going to add some corkscrew val in a pot to give them more vertical cover. The stripey one seems much more active as time goes on and looked more sparkly this evening, so maybe they are destressing.