cardinalfish feeding problems

i have a pair of wild bangaii cardinalfish. I've had them for 7 or 8 months and they aet frozen foods but will not eat pellet food. I have fed the tank only pellets for 2 days now to see if they'll take it. One took one and spat it out instantly. The other didnt even offer at a thing. Should I keep throwing pellets in there for a couple of days to see if that gets them hungry enough to eat? Any other ideas? I want them on a good varied diet

i believe there are appetite stimulants that you can use to enhance some foods.as far as the one trying a pellet that means he probably will again especialy if hungry.if he will eat one it might entice the other to try one as well.if it were me i would wait a day or two more and keep trying.then after i give in and give em some frozen foods i would try again possibly extending the fast until they accept the food or start to suffer negative effects.my friends cardinals only eat frozen but thats because he spoils them not because they wont eat the pellets.

yeah these guys are spoiled with frozen foods. Thats mostly what I feed. The scarf up as much as I can.

I will try to starve them out a little it. I need to on that tank right now anyway since I have all that friggin' cyano!

Wild cardinals will die before eating pellets 90+% of the time. I wean them onto live brine. Then frozen foods, and they are picky about that also, hikari only. Then usually the only thing they will eat prepared is ocean nutrition freeze dried mysis cuz it has moisture left in it. Not any other brand. Never flake or pellet. I want them to breed so starving isnt ok. Pellets just arent natural and these seem to be fish set in their ways. My babies are different. They usually take much more diverse diet but thats because i can control it. And yes, badx is right they do show each other and the competition makes them eat before thinking.

Also i have noticed the stimulants dont really have an effect with these guys. I have tried. It seems to be a texture thing. They are definately hungry and hit the food hard, but spit it out after a sample. They try but refuse. These are picky fish. Spoil them with what they like, and once they are settled, mix in foods really close to what they are eating already....baby steps. Their live food to pellet is too drastic, and they usually would rather starve

fortunately these guys are already on frozen foods and when they were in my care i am pretty sure i had them eating pellets at some point.although i could be wrong as there are lotsa copapods to feast upon.this is all really good information about feeding as i forget that many of these fish are from the wild.no floating pellets there! its good to know about the apetite stimulant not being very effective as i was thinking about purchasing some but what i really need is some more palletable food.