# My new fish don't seem to eat readily. Is this normal?



## motaro (Jan 26, 2009)

I'm a new 10 gal. aquarium owner who just purchased 1 gouramis, which has since died (refer to other thread in gouramis section), 3 neon tetras, 1 fancy male guppy, and 1 algae eater. 

The algae eater appears to have eaten some of the Hikari algae wafer I dropped in, but it took him awhile. He also did not come close to finishing the tablet, I hardly noticed any was missing, and the packaging says to remove tablet if not eaten in 2 hours. I left it in for about 2 days and still the fish was not making much of a difference (I have since removed the tablet and cleaned all the residue). 

For my other 4 fish I purchased omega color enhancing fish flakes. They are of the floating variety, and when I drop them in the tank, the fish don't seem to notice they're there until they become caught in the current of the filter and pushed underwater, in which case the fish will chase and sometimes nibble on the flakes. I've been feeding three times a day, as the package advises, but the fish don't seem to eat hardly any of the food I put it. I tried crumbling it a bit, which achieved slightly better results, but nothing seems to cause them to eat quickly and regularly. The package also says to feed as much as can be consumed in 2 minutes, but the fish might take only one nibble of a flake in the two minutes and never finish the small amount I put in. 

Is this normal? Any advice from any members would be appreciated. I'm new at this and don't have any idea what I'm doing, my only sources of information being the packaging of materials bought and store clerk at Petsmart. Thanks!


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