Blue Dolphin wont feed except live fish - please help

Hi there !

Thanks for the kind replies, friends and thanks for caring. I dont have pics of my Fish but I got this from a website - http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cichlid/bluemoorii.php

Its a African Chichlid and it didnt seem so aggressive when I bought it... I mean its peaceful among other fish but it just loves live fish (not even freeze-dried blood worms...)

So what do you guys suggest - should I feed it with live fish for a few days till it settles down a bit or should I just let it starve and then may be its takes the normal food ?

Please advice and help me friends...
Thanks again for the replies....
Regards
Kush
 
Haplochromis Moorii. They are haps from lake malawi. They should NOT be fed live fish at all and are subject to malawi bloat. Try to feed them lots of vegis and spirulina to flush them out and hopefully save them. Do research on your fish before you buy them and start feeding them crap.
 
tarheels910 said:
Haplochromis Moorii. They are haps from lake malawi. They should NOT be fed live fish at all and are subject to malawi bloat. Try to feed them lots of vegis and spirulina to flush them out and hopefully save them. Do research on your fish before you buy them and start feeding them crap.
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Actually, Malawi Blue Dolphins (cyrtocara moorii) are carnivores or at least omnivores with strong carnivore tendencies which thrive on high-protein diets, (more precisely, they're micro-predators which dine on small crustaceans and other small prey which they capture by sand-sifting; and don't really algae-graze and aren't really susceptible to the malawi bloat).

I own a half dozen of these fish (most of them 6"-8" now). They're not herbivores as mbuna species which also originate from the same lake are, and will benefit from high-protein crustacean based diets (such as mysis, krill, prawn, raw shrimp from the supermarket, etc). They also will accept bloodworms and will hunt down live fry born in the tank. They will, however, also eat pellets, flakes, veggie-based foods and spirulina (the latter will probably enhance their blue coloration).

For them to accept non-live food, try fasting them for a 2-3 days, then offer them the food you're trying to get them to accept. If they reject it, try again in 2-3 more days. Eventually they'll come around. They can go for quite awhile without food so they won't starve to death. If they don't accept the food after 2 weeks, provide them the live food they will eat (such as brine shrimp), then repeat with the fasting. Avoid providing them with feeder fish, you don't want to introduce disease to your tank.
 
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kay-bee said:
Actually, Malawi Blue Dolphins (cyrtocara moorii) are carnivores or at least omnivores with strong carnivore tendencies which thrive on high-protein diets, (more precisely, they're micro-predators which dine on small crustaceans and other small prey which they capture by sand-sifting; and don't really algae-graze and aren't really susceptible to the malawi bloat).

I own a half dozen of these fish (most of them 6"-8" now). They're not herbivores as mbuna species which also originate from the same lake are, and will benefit from high-protein crustacean based diets (such as mysis, krill, prawn, raw shrimp from the supermarket, etc). They also will accept bloodworms and will hunt down live fry born in the tank. They will, however, also eat pellets, flakes, veggie-based foods and spirulina (the latter will probably enhance their blue coloration).

For them to accept non-live food, try fasting them for a 2-3 days, then offer them the food you're trying to get them to accept. If they reject it, try again in 2-3 more days. Eventually they'll come around. They can go for quite awhile without food so they won't starve to death. If they don't accept the food after 2 weeks, provide them the live food they will eat (such as brine shrimp), then repeat with the fasting. Avoid providing them with feeder fish, you don't want to introduce disease to your tank.
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True. They are carnivores and do need protein in their diet, but feeding them soley feeders is wrong.
 
I dont even get Frozen Fish food here... All I can get is the prepared food pellets and a few low quality freeze-dried worms etc...

I'm planning to buy some freeze-dried HIKARI food for my fish, from an online store, but the Shipping costs are more than even the cost of the purchase items... It would be a great help if somebody can kindly guide or let me know any website or online store who ship hikari food internationally...

Also btw, is hikari the best for freeze-dried food ? anything better that I should get ?

Kindly help...
 
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