about a week ago i rescued a 6" jd and things seem to going fine. he seems to have adapted to his new home,swims around digs pits everywhere, but i have a problem getting him to eat. i've try pellets which he completly ignores(even tried various sizes) freeze dried shrimp fresh shrimp beefhearts and bloodworms. the only thing i've seen him eat in the week i've had him is 2 earthworm. any ideas on what i can try would really be appreciated.

my water is acceptable ammonia 0

nitites 0

nitrates 25 (at last water change)

It could be he is still settling in. Are there any other fish in with him and check there is no bullying.

Do you know what he was fed before? If not try to find out and try him on that and slowly wean him onto what you want to feed him. Is he trying the food and spitting it out or does he ignore it. Does he come up to the top of the tank when you go to feed

It is never good when a fish doesnt eat but it has only been a week and he has eaten something. Fish can go for a few weeks without food so dont panic yet. Keep the water good

well, there no bullying because he's the only one in the tank.when i picked him up i was given some floating pellets from his previous owner and he ignores these. when i feed he stays wherever he happens to be taking no notice of me or the food. he doesnt try the food and spit it out he doesnt pay any attention to it at all. the only other fish in his tank is a baby convict i put in to see if live food would interest him and he ignores that as well. hopefully he's still adjusting but i guess only time will tell. i'll keep an eye on things and update if there is no change.

hmm... jacks are alot like os, so u know when they dont eat, thats not a good thing. when i had my male jack with my os, he beat the one o up so bad he couldnt swim. the o was just floating around. but as soon as food hit the water, hed come right to life. and he did make a full recovery.

i dont think this is much to worry about, fish could go days without eating a thing. hes probably just stressed real bad from being in a 10 gallon tank with poor conditions and then being moved out.

for now, just try a variety of different foods, if he doesnt take them, give em to your other fish so there is no money wasted. you can even do flakes, i feed my big jds flakes on occasion.

in the end, his hunger will probably get the better of him and he'll eat like a beast. just keep an eye on him. i dont think youve got anything to worry about

It sounds like he just doesnt want to eat. The 2 possible reasons for this is that he is either not settled in or is ill. I would just hope he eats within the next 2 weeks. Keep the water quality good and take out any uneaten food. As metalhead says keep trying a variety of foods

as i was feeding my fish this morning i finally noticed the jd ate a pellet. it was only one but its a start. hopefully he'll continue eating

thats a good thing, hows he doing now?

just an update on my rescued jack. well he's eating now. not like the o's but enough. i tried to put him with my o's but he would constantly harass the two small ones so it's back to his solitary life in his old tank for now until the small o's grow a little more(im going to try again when they reach abut 8-9").

unless the os are much much bigger your probably gonna have a problem. my jack when he was 4.5 inches or so killed my 8 inch o and nearly the other. jacks sometimes mix with os well. ive had them b4 twice but then failed the 2nd. in my opinion ur better off getting him a female

when i tried to introduce him to my oscar tank he constantly harassed the 2 smaller o's(one is now about 6" the other only 4.5"). he didnt bother the bigger ones(a 12" and an 11")so im thinking if i can get the smallest one to about 8-9" i'll try again.

the only problem with introducing a female into his tank is that he has a history of killing everything that has ever been put in with him.

when i tried to introduce him to my oscar tank he constantly harassed the 2 smaller o's(one is now about 6" the other only 4.5"). he didnt bother the bigger ones(a 12" and an 11")so im thinking if i can get the smallest one to about 8-9" i'll try again.

the only problem with introducing a female into his tank is that he has a history of killing everything that has ever been put in with him.

i had the same deal with mine. i was forced to put them together when 1 tank started to leak. surprisingly, she lived and now, 2 years later, they breed. jacks are pretty smart fish. they will hide and take cover. if u can get a female about the same size. which believe me isnt easy u might get lucky.

funny thing that mine did. the male would always chill out in this cave i made. he would stick his head out, but wasnt able to turn around inside because he was too big. so the female would go in from behind and go next to him. the male didnt like this so he would leave the cave to chase her away since he couldnt just turn around. the female was able to turn around, so she knew whenever he left the cave he was comin for her, and shed find another spot.

before u try to mix them again, definatly make sure the o's are bigger. the bigger the better. the o's wont bother the jack. and if they do, he'll findh imself a nice hiding spot