Fish refuses to eat food

[PumpKineTick]

I have a 2-year-old jaguar cichlid (around 10 inches). I usually feed him Hikari Gold pellets (medium-sized), and he was always doing fine, he was eating properly, he was active and colorful.
But then a day ago when I was going to feed him, although he looked hungry as usual when I put in his food he spat it out then just stared it at for a bit, then he went to hiding and didn't seem to be interested. I checked the water parameters (which were fine), still changed about 30% of the water, and waited till' tomorrow.
Now as you can guess he still isn't eating, although nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.
First I was thinking the obvious that maybe he got sick, but failed to identify anything, his behavior was the usual, and once again he seemed to be interested in the food up until I dropped it in.
Then I came to the conclusion that he might have gotten bored of the food, but when trying frozen food, live food, and other pellets he still didn't seem interested.
Now I've hit a brick wall and feel like I'm going to lose him. As a last resort I came here to ask other people about it.
I'll provide you with further information if need be.

My Cichlid:

A picture of him to prove that he indeed is really eager to eat and is surfing on the glass waiting for me at feeding time:

 

[HoldenOn]

Hi! What is your tank size, have you added anything recently and how often do you do water changes?

 

[PumpKineTick]

Hi! What is your tank size, have you added anything recently and how often do you do water changes?

Including the sump on the side of the aquarium it's about 550 liters (145 gallons) in volume, it's 155cm L x 65 cm H x 55 cm W.
I haven't added anything to the tank in a while. I do 30-50% water changes monthly.
Much thanks.
It might be that he is just full or I'm just overexaggerating, but it's a first he hasn't eaten in 2 days.

 

[HoldenOn]

Including the sump on the side of the aquarium it's about 550 liters (145 gallons) in volume, it's 155cm L x 65 cm H x 55 cm W.
I haven't added anything to the tank in a while. I do 30-50% water changes monthly.
Much thanks.
It might be that he is just full or I'm just overexaggerating, but it's a first he hasn't eaten in 2 days.

Huh. It's definitely weird for an aggressive cichlid like that to ignore food. Have you ever tried kind of "teasing" him? Basically showing him the food and making him follow it around. That could get him more excited about eating. Is he alone in the tank? If he isn't he could be getting bullied or be stressed. Finally does he have some cover or a few caves? I've heard of cichlids getting spooked by lights and noises and not eating if they don't have anywhere to hide.

 

[HoldenOn]

It's really weird. He looks pretty healthy in the video, if not lacking a tiny bit of color. No sunken stomach or bent spine.

 

[PumpKineTick]

Huh. It's definitely weird for an aggressive cichlid like that to ignore food. Have you ever tried kind of "teasing" him? Basically showing him the food and making him follow it around. That could get him more excited about eating. Is he alone in the tank? If he isn't he could be getting bullied or be stressed. Finally does he have some cover or a few caves? I've heard of cichlids getting spooked by lights and noises and not eating if they don't have anywhere to hide.

He has the whole tank to himself, he has a terracotta pot he usually hides in. Teasing him might work so I'll definitely try that. He usually comes out to feed when the aquarium lights start dimming. At the start I had 3 of them (so I could pick out a male) [they turned out to be 2 male 1 female ] and he was always the shyer and more peaceful of the 2 (although he was the bigger, stronger, and more beautiful one so that is why I picked him). He sometimes gets scared by sounds.

 

[PumpKineTick]

It's really weird. He looks pretty healthy in the video, if not lacking a tiny bit of color. No sunken stomach or bent spine.

That's the weird part, that he looks perfectly healthy. Tomorrow I'll try leaving him with the food so that way he feels more comfortable and he might eat it. It's just the contrast between his behavior is kind of worrying.

 

[PumpKineTick]

Also sorry if I use improper grammar or seem freaked out. I'm just a 15 year old foreigner who worries too much.

 

[Colin_T]

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH (in numbers) of the tank water?

What else do you feed the fish besides the pellets?

--------------------
Don't worry too much about him starving because he is in good shape and a reasonable size and can live for a few months without food. However, it is not normal for fish to stop eating. The most common cause of this is poor water quality and an infection in the mouth or throat.

I would do water changes more often and do bigger water changes. Small water changes once a month allow harmful disease organisms to build up and gradually they affect the fish.

--------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Then do it once a week after that. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

If there's no improvement after a week of water changes and salt, post another video of him eating. Upload the video to YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can go to YouTube to view it.
If you use a mobile phone to film the video, have the phone horizontal so the image fills the entire screen and we can see the entire fish.

--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

 

[Guyb93]

People may dislike this but jags are predatory, go buy a few tetra put them in the tank , if they survive there is something wrong with it

 

[HoldenOn]

People may dislike this but jags are predatory, go buy a few tetra put them in the tank , if they survive there is something wrong with it

If you do decide to do this, quarantine the tetra first. You need to be 100% they aren't sick before feeding.

Also sorry if I use improper grammar or seem freaked out. I'm just a 15 year old foreigner who worries too much.

Not to worry! You have really good english for it being your second language! We'll get your fish sorted, he looks plenty strong and Colin's advice is really good.

 

[PumpKineTick]

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH (in numbers) of the tank water?

What else do you feed the fish besides the pellets?

--------------------
Don't worry too much about him starving because he is in good shape and a reasonable size and can live for a few months without food. However, it is not normal for fish to stop eating. The most common cause of this is poor water quality and an infection in the mouth or throat.

I would do water changes more often and do bigger water changes. Small water changes once a month allow harmful disease organisms to build up and gradually they affect the fish.

--------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Then do it once a week after that. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

If there's no improvement after a week of water changes and salt, post another video of him eating. Upload the video to YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can go to YouTube to view it.
If you use a mobile phone to film the video, have the phone horizontal so the image fills the entire screen and we can see the entire fish.

--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

Thanks a lot! I'll make sure to try my best (as always). I appreciate y'all. I have a filtering aquarium on the right side of the main aquarium, and it has my heater, sponges, wool, and biological media and then the return pump, and I clean it every 1-2 months. I used to feed him bloodworms (and would like to feed him shrimp if it was available fresh where I live). I have to admit it was a pretty one-sided diet (mainly pellets) and I feel guilty about it. Tomorrow I'll have my water tested by my lfs to make sure my readings are correct, then I can tell you 100%.

 

[PumpKineTick]

People may dislike this but jags are predatory, go buy a few tetra put them in the tank , if they survive there is something wrong with it

I just might if this doesn't work out

 

[Colin_T]

clean the filter at least once a month

 

[JemZ]

That's the weird part, that he looks perfectly healthy. Tomorrow I'll try leaving him with the food so that way he feels more comfortable and he might eat it. It's just the contrast between his behavior is kind of worrying.

If it's any comfort, fish won't die immediately if they haven't eaten for a few days. From what you have said this seems like the first time it has happened with him, and I wouldn't be so concerned unless this behaviour becomes a habit, goes on for a long period, or is accompanied by any other worrying signs.