L239 help feeding

[abaigael04]

I have treated the L239 for ich, he is on the other side and now has no ich. However, I STILL cannot get him to eat. He showed some slight interest in food when I first got him but then he came down with ich and has not shown any since.
I have tried:
egg white on rock
algae wafers and shrimp pellets (soaked in garlic but once or twice not just in case he didn't like garlic!)
bloodworms
brine shrimp
beef heart
watermelon
grapes
peas
I feed him with the lights out and even try and make sure no one walks by the tank for an hour or two after I feed.
I know there is some 'argument' on whether ancistrines eat wood - but I there has always been a piece of wood in there, even if he does not I figure there is a good amount of 'aufwuchs' on it at this point. He shows no interest in this, either.

I have seaweed but IME no one likes it so haven't tried it, though I think I will tonight. I cannot make an algae rock as we have had NO sun lately. Is there ANYthing I can do to get him to show some interest in food? Please help! I will try any ideas!

[Suckermouth]

My recommendation would be to keep trying, making sure there is food in the tank often so it has as much chance as possible to eat. I also had difficulty feeding my L239 when I first purchased them. I was also getting pretty worried. I tried the egg white on rock with no effect. I also tried garlic soaked food, dried and frozen, to no effect. I tried about four different frozen foods (bloodworms, brine shrimp, beefheart, etc.). But they eventually took to lettuce. Try lettuce and/or zuchinni/cucumber. When they took to lettuce I just made sure there was lettuce in the tank at all times, changing the food/water accordingly to prevent decline in water quality, to make sure that they were eating. Since then they have learned algae wafers are also edible.

Good luck.

[jd_7655]

I would cut back on feeding too much variety and just stick with one thing. Try just algae waffers. Put half a one every night in the same area near where the fish hangs out. I've had stuborn plecos before that take a while to ajust to new foods. Almost every pleco I've kept will eat hikari algae waffers.

It could be your fish is finding another food source too. If you have alot of algae in the tank it may be grazing on that.

[krazyGeoff]

Hi,
I feed mine on JBL Nova Fect, and raw Zuchinni (but they only like the skin so I scoop out most of the white flesh). Daphnia for a treat.
Having said that they are in a tank by themselves, and I only rarely see them actually eating.
They do seem to generate a lot of "sawdust", which is odd since I did not think they had the teeth for accomplishing that.
I am pretty sure that meat is not good for them.

In contrast to jd_7655, nothing I have ever had will eat the hikari algae waffers.

For my Ancistrus ranunculus I had to go back to where I purchased them from, and find out what they fed them on. Perhaps wherever you got yours could help?

Best of luck.
Geoff

[abaigael04]

Thanks everyone. I wasn't feeding tons of meat - just thought I'd try it. I was feeding algae wafers very consistently. I THINK he is eating something - he is still skinny but I don't think quite as skinny. Of course since I don't get to see him eat, I can't be positive. I did go out and buy a different brand of wafers, though - so maybe that is it? I had never thought of that before as mine seem to just eat whatever. He seems more active and is about the Q tank more the past 2 days, hope that is a good sign. It is very, very difficult to get a good view on him as the L239's are so shy! I have been trying cucumber/lettuce religiously for the past 4 days and nada though will keep offering as I would like him to eat it! Of course my other L239 weaned onto algae wafers and still will take barely any veggies(and only comes out when he is 1000% positive no one is watching him!). Am now just hoping he IS eating, continues to eat and gain weight and that I have no other problems with him and I can just finish out his time in Q! Here's to hoping!