dopic goldfish?

Question

I finally got a friend for Jeannie like a month after Johnnie died. as soon as I put her in he tank they became best friends. the new goldfish is a pearlscale named Pearly Mae.

the problem is I'm worried she's going to starve to death. now this isn't the usual case of new tank, to nervous to eat. I'm beginning to think she formerly lived in a test lab where every time they fed her they'd electrocute her lol. every time pick up the can of food she swims under the filter and sits on the rocks behind some plants, completely hidden. I thought maybe pellet food would be better (couldn't use it because Johnnie would only eat flake so I only had flake). so I soaked the pellets, as always, and plopped them in the water. they slowly drifted down but before they even got an inch from the top of the water Jeannie swam over and ate one. one pellet drifted down to where Pearly Mae was hiding, she saw it and swam away in horror.

help?! it's been over a week and she's losing a lot of weight.
more

anyway, I know a lot of times fish won't eat when they're new to a tank because they're nervous, but I've never seen this before. I usually say the fish won't die, it will eat once it gets hungry, but how if she refuses to go near the food. I realize she has a while yet before she starves, but I'd rather not get to that point, so any ideas on how to make her not run from the food?

oh yeah, before anyone asks...

other than the being afraid of her food she's completely fine. no signs of disease or anything. she's quite lively and swims all over he tank right next to Jeannie. Jeannie swims faster so it's funny to watch, Jeannie swims away hem Pearly Mae realizes she's gone and starts shaking her rear end like a propeller winding up then tries to catch up. usually Jeannie will turn and come back for her friend.

well the tank is right next to my computer, so I'm around her all the time. I take pictures of them and trace my finger on he tank, she loves attention and people. she's never afraid until the food jar gets picked up. and she stays hidden for a good hour or so.

tried peas. tried an orange slice. no luck.

:D I know all about the groups, I'm rather experienced at fish keeping and just ran out of ideas. they're fine. Jeannie is a Ryukin, she had a previous tank mate (Johnnie) who had a deformed fin and couldn't swim well. she always left enough food for him to eat and, as I knew she would, leaves enough food for Pearly Mae to eat. Pearly Mae just refuses to eat.

Answer 1

Kylie,
I know you have quite a bit of experience with fish so I won't bore you with basics. It does sound like Pearly Mae has been conditioned to fear feeding time. Did you get it from a store or from a friend or acquaintance? It is always a good idea to ask a pet shop to feed the fish before you buy one to see which ones are good eaters. A friend may have had a child that tormented the fish when it was fed. Or maybe she doesn't recognize the food as food. Possibly she was raised on something that you haven't tried yet. I know some saltwater fish are so specialized that they will starve to death unless they have what they normally eat in the wild.

I don't know if goldfish are aggressive or not, but sometimes cichlids will be bullied by a dominant fish to the extent that they refuse to eat and eventually die from malnutrition even when removed from the aggressor.

You might try turning out the lights on the tank and only have a small dim light in the room when you feed her. Then after dropping in the food (try different foods), leave the area and watch from afar to see what she does. Does Jeannie seem to be the dominant fish and could she be aggressive at feeding time?

Let me know how it goes.

8

Answer 2

I can honestly say that I have never encountered a fish afraid of food. I too have always been of the school of thought that a fish won't starve it's self to death.

I'm also stumped as to any particular cause, it's certainly doesn't sound like any disease reaction I have every encountered or even heard about. Obviously its not the quality of the food or any type on food contamination. With such other normal behavior you're right in ruling out new tank jitters. It's pretty obvious it's nothing based in water quality as the other fish is fine, she acts otherwise fine and anything severe enough to cause a strong reaction would have other signs by this time.

Honestly nothing fits except the possibility that she doesn't see it as food. Is there any way you can contact the place you bought the fish and see what they were feeding? If it's a mature fish someone kept it for an extended period and it certainly ate something. I would say try fresh foods if you haven't already, who knows, it might work. At this point most anything is worth a try. You have obviously ruled out all the typical and normal causes of such behavior or even of strange behavior so it's time to think outside the box a bit. Have you tried feeding at different times of the day or with the lights off? What about turning off the filter while you feed? Perhaps feeding in a different place in the tank? Hide the food jar so that it can't be seen before you feed. All just wild guesses gotta try something. As an old time breeder once said to me, if it's not working, change something, time to start changing even the long shots that make no since to you, maybe it will make since to the fish lol
Best of luck and let me know when you find something that works.

MM

Answer 3

Hi Kylie: I'm not sure what kind of fish Jeannie is. There are 3 different types of goldfish and they shouldn't be mixed together. Type 1, the comets and koi, are really fast and will pick on those in groups 2 and 3, either stressing them to the point of illness or eating all the food and starving them to death.
Fancy goldfish in Group 2 like fantails, orandas, etc..are slower but are still to quick and will likely eat all the food and stress out the ones in Group 3.
Group 3 are like lionheads, bubble eyes, celestials...ones that have vision or body impairments.
Check to see if the goldfish you have are from the same Groups.

Answer 4

Awww. Its nice you care about your fish its really sweet and i could never hurt an animal, but if the fish wont eat its probably sick and you may want to flush it or just take it out of the water then bury it if flushing it is to mean. Or if the fish means that much to you take it to a vet if they could do anything.

Answer 5

This is how my betta used to be. whenever i would put its food in it would just stay under its bridge. like 5 minuts later it would go eat it . let your fish take some time to eat. it might not be hungry or its just to nervous to eat in front of you.

Answer 6

hmm... odd. maybe trying a variety of live foods might entice her to eat... bloodworms... even shelled peas or boiled or frozen greens . Also if it continues maybe try to seperate them and see if it helps, maybe its just really shy.

Answer 7

I know this probably won't help, but maybe you could ask the breeder what they fed her?