African Butterfly-fish Feeding Issue

[OddFishKeeper]

Hello all,
So a week ago I purchased three large(about 3") African butterfly fish. One of them is being very stubborn and doesn't seem to want to eat. I've been feeding them bloodworms and crickets. I also keep the tank stocked with 5-10 feeder guppies to feed my leopard ctenopomas; the butterflies will occasionally go after them as well (minus the stubborn one of course). All of my water parameters check out and there is floating cover for them. The one that is not eating is only slightly thinner than the others, I'm not sure how long he will last or what I'm doing wrong. If anyone has any insight on how to get the fish eating I'd appreciate it.

[deathtroll]

Since they are most likely wild caught it may just need some more time to adjust to life in captivity. Have you tried dropping a cricket right in front of the one that isn't eating?

[OddFishKeeper]

Yes, I should have mentioned that before, I've dropped crickets right in front of him and he just looks at like hes dumb-founded. I'm not 100% sure if they are wild caught, because the store gave me a fifteen day money back guarantee. I've never had a store guarantee a wild caught fish before. However, it would explain why it doesn't seem to want to eat. I am at a loss. Maybe I'll try some fish-flakes ...

[deathtroll]

As far as I know nobody is breeding them commercially. Unless things changed within the last year or 2. As for flakes I couldn't get mine to eat them. But I was able to get the ones I had to take the occasional floating pellet.
How big are the crickets you are offering? If you are getting medium maybe try some small ones.

[Aeonflame]

Are the crickets live? Try dangling a live nightcrawler right in front of it.

[OddFishKeeper]

The crickets aren't that large, if I got the next size down they'd be pin heads (Worth a shot). Like I said before these guys are big, the largest butterflies I've ever seen. And yes, the crickets are very much alive. As for the crawler idea, I won't be able to get any worms for another couple months ... snow and what not. I can't think of any bait shops that carry worms in the winter (I'll make some phone calls though). As to be expected the fish flakes were completely ignored. Friggen fish is starting to stress me out. I'm hoping its hunger will force it to eat something; it sees other eating...

[Fishin Phil]

Not sure where you are, but quite a few of the baitshops around here carry both nightcrawlers and redworms through the winter. It's worth checking.

[Fishkeeper]

Don't those eat shrimp? Maybe you should try feeder shrimp.

[Aeonflame]

Problem is, they are primarily surface feeders and feeder shrimp will immediately hide.

[OddFishKeeper]

Just bought some pin head crickets, will post results in a bit.