kissing gouramis wont eat!

Question
i have a 20 gallon set up with albino corys, pigmy corys and 3 pink kissers. the tank is only temporary for the kissers but i've had them for about a week, a little longer, and afer they cleaned all of the algea on the glass they pretty much stopped eating! sometimes they'll chase the corys away from their algea discs but they dont really eat those either, they just gaurd them. i dont know what to do! ive tried fresh romaine lettuce and cucumber, flake, pellet, freeze-dried, frozen, i even bought frozen brine shrimp with spirulina (which was expensive and they didnt even swim up to check it out!), and larger algea wafers (so they'd leave the corys alone, didnt work out that way) and nothing seems to be appetizing. they seem healthy and active enough that i dont think their sick, i just think they have a peculiar appetite! and in case you ask, i did ask the store owner, where i got them what they fed them and he said just flakes, so i have no idea what's going on, please help!

Answer
Hi Sable,

I pulled your question out of the question pool.

You obviously know, since you mentioned the tank is a temp tank, that 20 gallons is far, far too small for 3 kissers.  I am guessing that the ammonia spike that probably happened a few days after entering the kissers into a 20 gallon tank that already had the other fish caused them to stop eating.  This can eventually cause them to get diseased so I would get them out of there asap.  Even a clear plastic rubbermaid of 40 gallons with a hang on filter would be better than being in the 20 gallon tank.  I would encourage you to test your water asap for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.  You should always have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5-20 ppm nitrate.

I would hold off on all foods for a few days (this won't hurt your cories either) and then try a few meaty foods, like tubifex worms or brine shrimp.  Try live or frozen, these seem to go over better.  However, most fish won't eat with ammonia present.

Good luck : ) April M.