# Red Tailed Shark not eating!



## mileshs95 (Sep 24, 2011)

Hello, i have had my RTS for about 3 days now and he/she will not eat! i have tried flake food but it doesnt sink to the bottom and my gourami eats it all, i tried brine shrimp which also gets eaten by the gourami, i tried a food block which i may have seen him nip at once or twice, but i cant be sure, and i tried an algae wafer right in the center of his territory and he wont bother with it. i also tried blanched lettuce and cucumber, neither of which the RTS will eat. please help!


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## BarbH (May 23, 2011)

For getting flake food to the bottom a couple of things that you can try. You can either presoak the food and then place it in the tank, or hold some of the food below the water line and let it go, it will sink to the bottom. Another thing that you can do in combination with this method is placing the food on one side of the tank for the gourami, and on the other side place the food in for the RTS. Also there is sinking waffer food that might work also, I use this for my corys and usually works well.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

For substrate fish you should always feed some prepared sinking foods, such as tablets, pellets or wafers. Those made by Hikari and Omega One are nutritious foods, and both manufacturers make several types. A variety is important, select 2 or preferably 3 different types [this applies to flake foods too]. When you feed the fish in the tank, the flake goes in for the upper fish and you can drop in one pellet/tab/wafer for the substrate fish.

Sometimes fish take a while to get used to vegetable foods like cucumber and similar, and some may not touch them. If you can get 3 good prepared foods, the fish will get all the balanced nutrition they need.

Byron.


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## mileshs95 (Sep 24, 2011)

i got some sinking pellets for her and she seems to like them. thanks everyone!


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

Be sure and keep up with weekly water change for your tank.
I sometimes feed more food than I intend to, and water changes are fastest way to remove the uneaten food on substrate.
My fish normally get fed once a day and the cory's, pleco's, get fed after light's off for the day.


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