# african butterfly fish not eating.



## JimW/Oscar (Jul 4, 2010)

well guess my african butterfly fish are going to die. this is about their 6th day of not eating. they were eating crickets like little pigs and then one day stopped and wont even look at them. i have tried freeze dried bloodworms,flakes and they wont eat any of that. all the water readings and the temp is the same as when they were eating. anyone have these fish do that to them? debbie


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## livefishcam (Nov 1, 2010)

not had african butterfly before but had giant oscar who didnt eat for weeks but they all of a sudden started eating again. how many crickets you been feeding a day? manybe hes just not hungry


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## JimW/Oscar (Jul 4, 2010)

there are actually 4 african butterfly fish and they all would have maybe like 3 small crickets per day and they all quit eating the same day. weird i say and i dont want them to all die.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

pre-soak the worms, and try frozen food. Or live brine or blackworms. They may be picky, unhappy about water quality, or they may have a serious issue like a intestinal blockage or internal parasite. Try feeding a few cooked, skinned peas or some spirulina flake as a laxative.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

They all quit eating the same day?

Has the barometric pressure in your area experienced a sudden shift? ( major weather change )


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## JimW/Oscar (Jul 4, 2010)

TheOldSalt said:


> They all quit eating the same day?
> 
> Has the barometric pressure in your area experienced a sudden shift? ( major weather change )


what exactly are you talking about? we have went from summer to fall and of course the humity is gone in the house. the heater is on instead of the air conditioner but is that what you are talking about?


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## JimW/Oscar (Jul 4, 2010)

anyway still not eating. all four of them. starting to look thinner too. ya know i wish i didnt get soooo close to every damn creature i bring into my life because i get so hurt when they dont make it. always feel like it is my fault for something i must have done wrong for them. which it probably is but we have tried everything to get them to start eating again. debbie


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I mean have any major storm fronts moved in or anything? Fish will sometimes be affected by that sort of thing. Any angler knows that sometimes "the fish are biting" and sometimes they aren't.


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## JimW/Oscar (Jul 4, 2010)

Well, we've certainly had a major to & fro trying to figure out why our butterfly fish had quit eating after doing so well the first couple of months. I had to break down and conclude those who advised I had too many (4) in a 20 gallon long might well be onto something and maybe they only ate so well at first because it took time for them to establish territories. We also, with the help of a knowledgeable independent lfs owner, found our tap water is just plain too hard to maintain health for african butterfly fish. We traded 2 back into the lfs and after the owner kept our other 2 in one of his RO water tanks and they started eating we now are keeping them only in RO water. Moe devoured 2 crickets at feeding time last night (first feeding back at home), Eenie hasn't yet but he's always been a tad skiddish and we were told he ate at the lfs so I'm not too worried. Both seem healthy and certainly were fast as lightning while I was trying to recapture them at the store.



So we'll try just the two in the 20 long in RO water and hope for the best, otherwise my wife will drive me to drink.


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