American Flag Fish - help

[Shawn]

Hello :

I had a wicked case of beard algae and I tried everything to get rid of it.
Finally, I had my LFS order me 4 American flag fish. In the last 4 weeks
they've completely eliminated the problem. The trouble is now they have
nothing left to eat. They don't seem to eat the flake food I feed the rest
of my community fish, or the pellets. They're beginning to look very skinny
and unhealthy. I lost one recently and now I suspect it starved to death.
Anyone have any ideas to save these little guys ?

Shawn

[NetMax]

"Shawn" > wrote in message
...
> Hello :
>
> I had a wicked case of beard algae and I tried everything to get rid of
it.
> Finally, I had my LFS order me 4 American flag fish. In the last 4
weeks
> they've completely eliminated the problem. The trouble is now they
have
> nothing left to eat. They don't seem to eat the flake food I feed the
rest
> of my community fish, or the pellets. They're beginning to look very
skinny
> and unhealthy. I lost one recently and now I suspect it starved to
death.
> Anyone have any ideas to save these little guys ?
>
> Shawn


I've got about 20 AFF in a 55g Angelfish tank which gets mostly
bloodworms, flakes & brine shrimp. Admittedly they haven't finished all
the algae (and I think they are loosing enthusiasm for it), but they are
all fine fat fellows, being pushed around by one XL and very colourful
AFF. With my limited experience, I haven't found them difficult to feed,
though I don't observe them very carefully.
--
http://www.NetMax.tk/

[Cris]

There are several possible reasons why the fish are getting skinny.
1)They are sensitive to water quality- perhaps you need to increase
your water changes amount and/or frequency.
2)They suffer at high temperatures- make sure it doesn't rise above
77F.
3)They can be very aggressive toward each other, stressing each other
out.
4)They could have a parasite or bacterial infection (possibly as a
result of any of the above cercumstances).
5)They are incompatible with their tankmates - It's pretty important
that they get veggies in their diet. Also, veggies don't provide as
much nutrition as other foods, so the fish need to eat more of the
veggies to get their requirements. However, AFFs are not omnivores so
they will also eat other foods.

Do a Google search on Jordanella floridae. There is info on The Krib
www.thekrib.com/Fish/J-floridae.html, too.

Cris



On Tue, 4 May 2004 18:05:27 -0400, "Shawn"
> wrote:

>Hello :
>
>I had a wicked case of beard algae and I tried everything to get rid of it.
>Finally, I had my LFS order me 4 American flag fish. In the last 4 weeks
>they've completely eliminated the problem. The trouble is now they have
>nothing left to eat. They don't seem to eat the flake food I feed the rest
>of my community fish, or the pellets. They're beginning to look very skinny
>and unhealthy. I lost one recently and now I suspect it starved to death.
>Anyone have any ideas to save these little guys ?
>
>Shawn
>

[NetMax]

All good points by kristy. I think what was meant in the last line is
that they ARE omnivores, (swamp killifish) so they will eat all foods.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/profile.asp?id=Jordanella+floridae
Diet: Omnivore
Care: Feeds on algae, flake, frozen and live foods. It has a fondness
for peas and spirulina tabs.

http://ichtyonb1.mnhn.fr/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=3209&genusname=Jordanella&speciesname=floridae
"Feeds on worms, crustaceans, insects and plant matter"
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Cris" > wrote in message
s.com...
> There are several possible reasons why the fish are getting skinny.
> 1)They are sensitive to water quality- perhaps you need to increase
> your water changes amount and/or frequency.
> 2)They suffer at high temperatures- make sure it doesn't rise above
> 77F.
> 3)They can be very aggressive toward each other, stressing each other
> out.
> 4)They could have a parasite or bacterial infection (possibly as a
> result of any of the above cercumstances).
> 5)They are incompatible with their tankmates - It's pretty important
> that they get veggies in their diet. Also, veggies don't provide as
> much nutrition as other foods, so the fish need to eat more of the
> veggies to get their requirements. However, AFFs are not omnivores so
> they will also eat other foods.
>
> Do a Google search on Jordanella floridae. There is info on The Krib
> www.thekrib.com/Fish/J-floridae.html, too.
>
> Cris
>
>
>
> On Tue, 4 May 2004 18:05:27 -0400, "Shawn"
> > wrote:
>
> >Hello :
> >
> >I had a wicked case of beard algae and I tried everything to get rid
of it.
> >Finally, I had my LFS order me 4 American flag fish. In the last 4
weeks
> >they've completely eliminated the problem. The trouble is now they
have
> >nothing left to eat. They don't seem to eat the flake food I feed the
rest
> >of my community fish, or the pellets. They're beginning to look very
skinny
> >and unhealthy. I lost one recently and now I suspect it starved to
death.
> >Anyone have any ideas to save these little guys ?
> >
> >Shawn
> >
>

[Cris]

Oops! Yeah, sorry.

On Wed, 5 May 2004 10:40:59 -0400, "NetMax"
> wrote:

>All good points by kristy. I think what was meant in the last line is
>that they ARE omnivores, (swamp killifish) so they will eat all foods.