[brook392]

Hi All
I've had small school (8) of Espei Rasbora, they were healthy and everything was ok for the first few days, unfortunately they didn't eat properly since the day 1 and I started losing fish. They ignoring flakes, even free-dried blood worms, now i have only 4 of them and I am afraid they will die eventually. They're nibbling more than feeding. I've tried every fish food including frozen. I am sure they would eat live daphnia but its not easy to get this kind of food at pet store. At the pet store where I got them I've been told that they are feeding their Rasboras with flakes and they loved it. Any ideas how to solve this problem?

 

[CeceliaJ]

I feed mine Hikari Micro Pellets and they love them, they also hover around my dwarf crayfish when it eats algae pellets and grab what floats up. They wont touch the pellets on their own but as soon as they see the crayfish or shrimp start eating one they swarm. You might be able to try crushing an algae pellet/wafer and see if they'll go for that. You'll have to crush it up pretty fine but it might work.

Also, what's your water chemistry like? Is your tank mature/has it been properly cycled? Whats water temp?

 

[Varmint]

I have least and chili Rasboras. New life spectrum's small pellets were too big for them, so I crush them with a mortar and pestle. They are able to eat the coarsly ground pellets easily. I am not familiar with Espeis. If they are micro Rasboras like mine, you may want to try this. My Rasboras live in small schools with a Betta ruler in each tank. They see their Bettas eat an array of frozen foods, they have now become adventurous enough to eat daphnia, brine shrimp and blood worms (which are as big as they are). But they started out finicky.

 

[CeceliaJ]

I have least and chili Rasboras. New life spectrum's small pellets were too big for them, so I crush them with a mortar and pestle. They are able to eat the coarsly ground pellets easily. I am not familiar with Espeis. If they are micro Rasboras like mine, you may want to try this. My Rasboras live in small schools with a Betta ruler in each tank. They see their Bettas eat an array of frozen foods, they have now become adventurous enough to eat daphnia, brine shrimp and blood worms (which are as big as they are). But they started out finicky.

Espeis aren't quite as small as Chilis, but I do think they're smaller than Harlequins

 

[brook392]

I feed mine Hikari Micro Pellets and they love them, they also hover around my dwarf crayfish when it eats algae pellets and grab what floats up. They wont touch the pellets on their own but as soon as they see the crayfish or shrimp start eating one they swarm. You might be able to try crushing an algae pellet/wafer and see if they'll go for that. You'll have to crush it up pretty fine but it might work.

Also, what's your water chemistry like? Is your tank mature/has it been properly cycled? Whats water temp?

Hi, my tank is cycled and is 3 months old, temp is 74F, I've bought today frozen daphnia and it looks like they like it

 

[Varmint]

Hi, my tank is cycled and is 3 months old, temp is 74F, I've bought today frozen daphnia and it looks like they like it

That's great. Once they get used to the daphnia, you may want to introduce other foods. Just make sure they don't over eat.

 

[Nordic]

Just feed a tiny nip of the normal food with whatever they are eating. They will make the association in no time.
As always if fish don't quite act healthy when new, it may have been harmed in transit at wholesale level.