My new fish wont eat

[BChen7106]

Hey all,

New to this whole aquarium thing, but I'm totally sucked in. My fiancee got a free tank from the school that she works at. So far I've got it all set up and bought a guppy and a platy. The first few days, the water became really white and cloudy, but that has improved now that the bacteria have started to cycle.

But now the problem is that the platy wont eat our flake food. The guppy is plenty hungry and will eventually eat, but the platy just refuses. Rarely, he'll nip at the food, but then spit it out and swim away. He is otherwise acting fine, seems active and as far as I can tell the cycling is going well.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Kuli_Loach]

He is stressed from the cycling probably. Water changes can help with that along with detox. I would also add aquarium salt and stess coat. To endorse him into feeding more, try a very little amount of frozen bloodworms or the likes.

[Nick_Pavlovski]

Perhaps also don't feed them for 24 hours - let them build up their hunger.

[KcEE]

Yeah, just follow those step and in a few days your fish should be fine. They're just stressed cause of the new enviroment. Good luck!

[BChen7106]

Thanks for all the feedback.

Yeah, I figured that it might be the stress of cycling. The only thing is that the other fish seems to be eating fine. And both fish are behaving normally, so I just thought maybe someone else had some incite.

How long do people advise waiting until I add another couple fish?

[Faith_at_Large]

I would wait until your tank finishes the cycling process before adding any more fish, and you should be prepared to lose the fish that you do have - not many can survive the cycling process - nevertheless, with lots of water changes (which will lengthen the cycling process) you might still be able to whether the start-up and keep your fish.

How big is your tank and is it fully equipped (filter, heater)? How many fish you can add will depend a lot on the size. You might want to also invest in a water testing kit to monitor the cycle so that you will know when it is finished.

Good luck and have fun.

[richberstler]

You might want to try algae wafers for the platy once it seems interested in eating. Or any wafers for that matter, I believe they are omnivores. i would have to suggest if they aren't eating don't make the mistake of over feerding since you are still cycling.

once you cycle seems to be completing you also might want to get 1 or 2 other guppies so keep the one you have from being stressed out. Get yourself one of the opposite sex and you will probably end up with a bunch of babies in no time.

If you decide on the breeding I would also find something for the fry to hide in. A floating plant could do the trick.

[BChen7106]

Woohoo he ate!

I guess he was just stressed from the whole cycling thing. He really ate quite well tonight. I figured that he'd only eat a flake or two, but he just kept eating what I gave him. I eventually stopped feeding though because I didn't want to slow the cycling.

Thanks for all the advice ,by the way.

I was just at Petco looking around. Man, I'm already looking forward to getting a bigger tank than my teeny 10 gallon. Kind of expensive though.

[kurly]

Glad he ate. I know how you feel about wanting a bigger tank. I have a 10 gallon too but I am getting a 75 gallon in the future and I can't wait.

[shockshockshad]

I know how excited you are too! I am going to get a 125 gallon in about 5 months, maybe march. I am glad he ate.