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Okay, long story shortened, I stopped giving my yo-yo's the ponds snails out of my 40gal. (I feared passing on whatever was contaminating the 40gal to the 55gal.) Now I've noticed the yo-yo's won't wiggle into the gravel and eat the extra food that trickles down to them. If the other fish are to full to pick it, it doesn't get eaten. Do you have any idea... how hard it is to vac food out of java moss without sucking up half of it?!

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Hi Kelly
They are sort of like kids and some adults I know...

If the kids are used to eating ice cream all the time
for dessert, and suddenly Mom decides that for their
health, they have to eat Jello with fruit in it, only,
for desert. What are the kids going to do? Hunger strike.
Until- they really get hungry and they start eating what
is being given to them. That is what has happened to
you and your fish.

Now, the problem is that fish can be far more stubborn than
kids, and some may actually starve as they don't have the
higher brain function to realize that the stuff falling is
actually food and good for them. They are simply waiting
until they get what they are used to.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

The pain of cleaning java moss is why I don't use it anymore...

In any case, I have never relied on bottom feeders to clean up the leftover food (or algae) in my tanks. The irony is that my tanks contain primarily bottom feeders.

I'm surprised that the yoyo's are going on a hunger strike, since they should be fairly flexible in terms of diet. They should be eating pellets and whatnot quite soon if they aren't already.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I've tried sinking pellets and seaweed sheets. NO-ONE in the tank will even go near it. (that includes the piggy barbs!)

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I've never tried seaweed in a FW tank, but my assumption is that barbs and loaches aren't going to eat it. I'm surprised at the sinking pellets, though, as they should have enough meat content to make the average fish go for it.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

The problem is... I've cleared up the problem with the 40gal, but I have to wait on my pond snails to recover. I either had a huge die off or they burrowed deep when I started treatment of the tank. I've just recently started seeing one or two on the glass. I also noticed that the emperor tetras were eating the smallest snails and I haven't seen any new egg clutches on the glass. We use to see them all over the place, glass, plants, driftwood, intake tube... So even if I get more pond snails, I'll have to wait for them to reproduce to enough numbers for the yo-yos. How long do you think they can go without eating?

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I highly doubt fish as adaptable as Yoyos would starve to death rather than feed on whatever you give them after some time... That's something I would expect of wild-caught fish that have never seen a pellet before. But, if you're worried, I'd head out and grab some frozen bloodworms. Very few fish can resist bloodworms!

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.