advise on auto feeding and getting cardinals to eat pellets

Colin_S · Jan 14, 2019

Hello all

We're going away in September and i don't want to rely on someone to feed my fish daily. So i'm looking into a auto feeder for that period of time. my only problem is and its a commn one, i can't get my cardinals to eat anything other than frozen food. i've used 2 different types of flakes and 2 different types of pellets, and soaking them in garlic, they wont touch it. has anyone managed to get their cardinals to eat pelletes when they wouldn't touch them?

CC13 · Jan 14, 2019

Colin_S said:
Hello all

We're going away in September and i don't want to rely on someone to feed my fish daily. So i'm looking into a auto feeder for that period of time. my only problem is and its a commn one, i can't get my cardinals to eat anything other than frozen food. i've used 2 different types of flakes and 2 different types of pellets, and soaking them in garlic, they wont touch it. has anyone managed to get their cardinals to eat pelletes when they wouldn't touch them?

This has worked for me.

When starting to train my tank to eat pellets, I disguise the pellets in some of their more normal and more easily eaten foods. My fish ALL love frozen foods. So at the beginning, I would put a pinch of pellets in the same small container of water and at the same time the frozen foods thawed out. The pellets absorb the fish juices and flavors from the frozen foods, and to a fish that's hungry, it all tastes the same. After a week or two, I put slightly more pellets in until now, I feed pellets first (all the fish eat it). Followed by a nice serving of frozen foods which covers all the fish in my tank.

I have a pair of Cardinals also in my tank. They eat pellets now as well as frozen foods.