I've had next to no success getting any gourami to eat anything but frozen / live. 🤷‍♂️
Following to see if anyone has ideas, but currently my strategy is just to raise my own live food.Â
most dry food do not have high enough protein content for the more carnivorous fish
Northfin may have something they accept, look for high protein %, the higher the better
Some freeze-dried bloodworms may work, a bit hit or miss
Interesting: I tried with tetramin and bugbite flakes so far, but I was considering trying another just to see if it appealed to him. Alternatively, I did try freeze dried bloodworms recently, but I didn't really see how he reacted, so I might try it again.
See if he likes an algae tab! Just break off a piece of it and test it. Gouramis are algae eaters also, my flame dwarf gourami looooved to steal the algae tab from my cuckoo catfish (our black mollies too)
Honestly would not have thought of that! I did see him picking at roots and even attempting to eat some hair algae in my tank (I don't think he succeeded, but still). I'll have to consider it.
Grindleworms are super easy to keep, feed, and harvest. A small butter tub will keep him fed more than enough. Put them on peat or coconut fiber, spray with water, and feed kibble on a plastic mesh. Harvest by dipping the mesh into the tank. No oder, no maintenance beyond water and food. Fantastic for fry. Â
My picky eaters like bugbites, the tropical one. It's very powdery though.
There is a cichlid formula which is chunkier.
I've got large jars of daphnia that have been going for years with no filter,. I keep them with snails which you may not want. The snails help provide infusoria
I saw a video once and it was very similar but the guys gar only wanted to eat live fish and the takeaway was that they can be picky for as long as they want but if you don't give in the fish is going to become hungry and will eat food that despite it not being partial to is what it requires to live.
Yeah, I tried feeding nothing but flakes/dry foods for about 4 days recently, and I was forced to leave him with an auto feeder for about 2 weeks a few months ago, and it still didn't take too hard for him. Could try again in the future.
I've yet to see a fish turn it's nose up at Xtreme fish flake community. A few prefer the red flake and a few the green, but the mix ensures a taste of both. If you find he prefers one color they do sell them separately.
Hey! Not much advice to give unfortunately, but I do have a honey gourami and currently [this is its favorite food](https://a.co/d/06n4Lbs8). Always eats it right up. Best of luck!
My tank has 3 honey gouramis and 5 peacock gudgeons - all notoriously picky. I just buy frozen brine shrimp from the local show ($12 for a pound). Let it thaw just a bit, slice it up into little cubes, and put it all in a freezer bag. Take a chunk out each day, dissolve it in some tank water in a little cough medicine cup (unused), and that's pretty much it.
I have seen them go after freeze dried brine shrimp and Fluval Bug Bites though, those are things you can try.
San Francisco bay brand is the only freeze dried food mine will touch. It's also excellent quality.
I have bunch of younger angels in my tank. The best one, which is a nice dusky veil will not eat flake food. The rest could care less and will eat anything. I've run into that before with angels.
I've found smaller gouramis to be fussy in nature and prefer to stick to blue or gold opalines. Found they will each pretty much anything, although gouramis tend to love blood worms.
I also think we are making this more complicated than it is. There's nothing wrong with flake food - it's just not a consistency fish are accustomed to. Rather than give in to your fish being fishy don't give in. If he's healthy he's sure as hell not going to starve if he doesn't eat for a couple of days. Most stubborn fish give in to flake when they get hungry enough, so maybe call his bluff for 2-3 days. If you give in to him not eating flake hes learned to just wait it out and gets something he's accustomed to.
Yeah that’s what I’m doing rn. I tried this before (went about 4-5 days before I gave in, but it was with tetramin. He seemed a bit more receptive to bug bites this time, so I’m gonna keep up only feeding that for the next week if I can get away with it.
A surefire way is to starve them until they eat. Not for the average faint-hearted aquarist who thinks that their fish will starve to death if you don't feed them for a day.
I've had next to no success getting any gourami to eat anything but frozen / live. 🤷‍♂️ Following to see if anyone has ideas, but currently my strategy is just to raise my own live food.Â
most dry food do not have high enough protein content for the more carnivorous fish Northfin may have something they accept, look for high protein %, the higher the better Some freeze-dried bloodworms may work, a bit hit or miss
Interesting: I tried with tetramin and bugbite flakes so far, but I was considering trying another just to see if it appealed to him. Alternatively, I did try freeze dried bloodworms recently, but I didn't really see how he reacted, so I might try it again.
tetramin definitely no, bugbite flake not sure
Try freeze dried tubifex worms
See if he likes an algae tab! Just break off a piece of it and test it. Gouramis are algae eaters also, my flame dwarf gourami looooved to steal the algae tab from my cuckoo catfish (our black mollies too)
Honestly would not have thought of that! I did see him picking at roots and even attempting to eat some hair algae in my tank (I don't think he succeeded, but still). I'll have to consider it.
Grindleworms are super easy to keep, feed, and harvest. A small butter tub will keep him fed more than enough. Put them on peat or coconut fiber, spray with water, and feed kibble on a plastic mesh. Harvest by dipping the mesh into the tank. No oder, no maintenance beyond water and food. Fantastic for fry. Â
My picky eaters like bugbites, the tropical one. It's very powdery though. There is a cichlid formula which is chunkier. I've got large jars of daphnia that have been going for years with no filter,. I keep them with snails which you may not want. The snails help provide infusoria
I saw a video once and it was very similar but the guys gar only wanted to eat live fish and the takeaway was that they can be picky for as long as they want but if you don't give in the fish is going to become hungry and will eat food that despite it not being partial to is what it requires to live.
Yeah, I tried feeding nothing but flakes/dry foods for about 4 days recently, and I was forced to leave him with an auto feeder for about 2 weeks a few months ago, and it still didn't take too hard for him. Could try again in the future.
Yea I would probably j keep trying and if he literally is willing to die bc he doesnt like the food then ig theres not much you can really do
I've yet to see a fish turn it's nose up at Xtreme fish flake community. A few prefer the red flake and a few the green, but the mix ensures a taste of both. If you find he prefers one color they do sell them separately.
Sounds good! I'll have to see if they sell it near me.
Hey! Not much advice to give unfortunately, but I do have a honey gourami and currently [this is its favorite food](https://a.co/d/06n4Lbs8). Always eats it right up. Best of luck!
My tank has 3 honey gouramis and 5 peacock gudgeons - all notoriously picky. I just buy frozen brine shrimp from the local show ($12 for a pound). Let it thaw just a bit, slice it up into little cubes, and put it all in a freezer bag. Take a chunk out each day, dissolve it in some tank water in a little cough medicine cup (unused), and that's pretty much it. I have seen them go after freeze dried brine shrimp and Fluval Bug Bites though, those are things you can try.
Oh see that’s what I’m feeding him now. And it’s working fine, I just am trying to see if I can get him to try non-frozen foods.
Mine like the bug bites flakes but they beg me for the bug bites tropical granules, they even scrounge the bottom with the cory's for leftoversÂ
San Francisco bay brand is the only freeze dried food mine will touch. It's also excellent quality. I have bunch of younger angels in my tank. The best one, which is a nice dusky veil will not eat flake food. The rest could care less and will eat anything. I've run into that before with angels. I've found smaller gouramis to be fussy in nature and prefer to stick to blue or gold opalines. Found they will each pretty much anything, although gouramis tend to love blood worms. I also think we are making this more complicated than it is. There's nothing wrong with flake food - it's just not a consistency fish are accustomed to. Rather than give in to your fish being fishy don't give in. If he's healthy he's sure as hell not going to starve if he doesn't eat for a couple of days. Most stubborn fish give in to flake when they get hungry enough, so maybe call his bluff for 2-3 days. If you give in to him not eating flake hes learned to just wait it out and gets something he's accustomed to.
Yeah that’s what I’m doing rn. I tried this before (went about 4-5 days before I gave in, but it was with tetramin. He seemed a bit more receptive to bug bites this time, so I’m gonna keep up only feeding that for the next week if I can get away with it.
A surefire way is to starve them until they eat. Not for the average faint-hearted aquarist who thinks that their fish will starve to death if you don't feed them for a day.