My two subadults never seem to eat. THey completely ignore anything I put in their tank- wafers, flake, frozen mysis, frozen daphnia, frozen bloodwoorm, frozen brineshrimp- nothing seems to get these two to eat. They don't appear to be starved but neither one has ever eaten in front of me and I often have to remove a whole lot of food after feeding.
Is this normal?
FEeding issues
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jerms55555
- Obsessed!!
- Posts: 360
- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:50 pm
- Location: Los Angeles
Pretty much the same thing with me as well....My two large adults never eat in front on me but I have 8 others that range from .5" - 2" that eat everything I throw in the tank, with the lights on and everything...As with the the two that don't eat I just make sure I feed them at night when i turn the lights off and to make sure their bellys are nice and fat... 
Hey Ed_R,
I wouldn't worry too much about the two zebras as long as they don't appear to be emaciated, sunken eyes and hollow bellies. If they were recently purchased they are likely to be shy for some time until they settle down. However they may just be particularly elusive, most of my lot are very shy some I don't see for weeks at a time and they never feed in front of me, I guess it's just the way it is with zebras. If you are still worried consider deworming them.
I wouldn't worry too much about the two zebras as long as they don't appear to be emaciated, sunken eyes and hollow bellies. If they were recently purchased they are likely to be shy for some time until they settle down. However they may just be particularly elusive, most of my lot are very shy some I don't see for weeks at a time and they never feed in front of me, I guess it's just the way it is with zebras. If you are still worried consider deworming them.
Similar treatment to that of cats and dogs. It gets rid of intestinal parasites such as tapeworms and nematodes that can cause a fish not to put weight on or lack appetite. Check for stringy/white faeces this can be a sign that all is not well internally. Treatments to consider are: Octozin, Huey Hung H-6 Tapeworm Fluke Care and Discus dewormer plus. I'm not sure if you will be able to obtain some of these treatments in the US.
Hi Ed,
When I first got my Zebras in '99 I was VERY paranoid (even though I was lucky enough to get them for nothing - when they cost hardly anything) about feeding.
I never saw them (in their 20gal tank) during the day so each night about 30 mins after lights out I would use a pooter to place quite a bit of bloodworm and tetra prima etc in the same place in the tank. After a few nights all the food would be gone by the morning. Then gradually over a year the zebras became more active, especially when I added some dither fish. After a while they would come out and fight with the other fish for food during the daylight hours!
The trick with these fish is providing good quality water, plenty of food at night and little (but not too much) competition for food. It worked for me to the point where I would not feed the fish for a couple of nights to give their fat stomachs a rest! 
When I first got my Zebras in '99 I was VERY paranoid (even though I was lucky enough to get them for nothing - when they cost hardly anything) about feeding.
I never saw them (in their 20gal tank) during the day so each night about 30 mins after lights out I would use a pooter to place quite a bit of bloodworm and tetra prima etc in the same place in the tank. After a few nights all the food would be gone by the morning. Then gradually over a year the zebras became more active, especially when I added some dither fish. After a while they would come out and fight with the other fish for food during the daylight hours!
The trick with these fish is providing good quality water, plenty of food at night and little (but not too much) competition for food. It worked for me to the point where I would not feed the fish for a couple of nights to give their fat stomachs a rest! There activity levels increased during daylight hours after I added a pair of kribs and some neons. I thought at first this was a coincidence but just before I got rid of my last three middle of last year I had to put them into my 55gal community tank. They had previously been in a 28gal on their own. When I moved them into the community tank they would come racing out at anytime as soon as food was added to the tank. When in the 28gal on their own, I would not see this behaviour??
