What does the thorny devil eat?

RED DEVIL FISH SICK, swimming bent, checked water and its normal and wont eat. what can i do for him?

• I have a red devil who is sick. He is 7 years old and is swimming bent. Yes bent. I have checked his water, and its normal and he refuses to eat! What can i do? any suggestion? I have pics please request by email

• Answer:

  Do you mean that he is physically bent, like his spine or fins, or that he is just having trouble swimming? A bent spine indicates an abundance of excess ammonia/nitrites in the tank, and possibly some internal parasites. If he's having trouble swimming, that indicates swim bladder disease, which can be caused by a whole lot of things, but the main causes are overfeeding/underfeeding and parasites. How much and what do you feed him? Red devil cichlids are opportunistic predators that will eat a wide range of different foods in the wild. Even though it is primarily a carnivore, it will need some plant matter in its diet. If he is housed in an unplanted aquarium, it is very important you supplement his diet with boiled veggies frequently. On top of that, he should be on a staple diet of high quality cichlid pellet food for predators, supplemented with fish, snails, insects and earthworms. He may eat California black worms and blood worms, that might be something to think about. If his diet is not varied enough, he will start suffering from lack of nutrients. Only feed him a little bit, and don't overload him on protein. It's helpful to fast your fish at least once a week to make sure their digestive system is cleared out - otherwise they'll be more susceptible to bloating and swim bladder disease. Make sure you're fully soaking his food in tank water first, it's better for fish that don't require to breathe air such as betta's that they eat underwater and not risk swallowing air bubbles which can also make them swim lopsided. A seven year old red devil cichlid has to be full size, and therefore should not be in anything under 100g with double the filtration. Make sure you are housing him properly, he could be just suffering from an inadequate environment.