jaguar cichlid not eating

Question
Hello Ron,
I really appreciate your sharing your expertise with newbies like me. I've kept community tanks for years, but just recently had the opportunity to buy out a fish hobbyist's 25 year collection of tanks, equipment and fish - mostly cichlids. Among many "treasures," I brought home a beautiful 10 to 11 inch jaguar cichlid - male, we suspect. He was housed alone in a 35 gallon tank, having killed his mate a couple of years previously. His former owner warned me that he hadn't been eating for the past week or so, but she didn't know what was wrong. I have had him a month now and he has consistently refused every kind of food I offered him: cichlid pellets (large and small), worms, cocktail shrimp, flaked cichlid food...  He just swims up to whatever I put in his tank, examines it, then swims back into his cave. Soon after bringing him home, I moved him to a 70 gallon tank. He seems very active (though thinner than when I got him) and moves rock and gravel around constantly. I was advised that this kind of fish prefers hard water, so I added a lot of crushed coral to his tank. The water is now quite hard, and I do regular partial water changes. I also added some crushed coral to his big cannister filter. The nitrite levels are very low and the PH is at 7.8.  The water temperature is 76 degrees. Although he seems active and curious about everything, but quite timid. If I have to put my hand in the tank, he just backs away. He looks great, but he just won't eat. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Dana

Answer
Hi Dana,
 I would not keep adding crushed coral.  I don't know why someone would say that these fish prefer hard water.  They are sometimes found in hard water (e.g., in certain lakes in Nicaragua) but they are also found
in neutral water (e.g., in Costa Rica).  I would not deliberately make his water hard.  When you say "regular" partial water changes, how "regular" is "regular"?  You should be changing 25% of his water once a week, every week.

  As for the food, his behavior is pretty typical.  They can be very fussy.  I have a very large wolf cichlid (about 18 inches long) that I have raised from a baby.  He ONLY eats algae wafers.  Keep trying and eventually he will eat something.

  If you email me a photo of him, I can probably tell you which sex he is. Email to the address below.

-- Ron Coleman
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>