My payara wont eat

Question
Hi how are you, Ive recently purchased 2 fish I have a payara(saber tooth barracuda) and a red tail barracuda.  IVe fed them multiple times and the red tail is the only fish to eat currently he is eating live minnows.  The payara will look at the food and not even be interested in them. Ive also tried frozen prawn and minnows.  he doesnt seem sick but he is not very active. ive only had these fish in my tank for 5 days now is this normal what should i do.. how long does it take some fish to eat?

Answer
Hi Alan, (I'm doing well thank you!)
Payara's should be switched to non-living food as soon as you can, so they can get more variety and the reduce the risk of introducing diseases if the feeder fish are not being quarantined. A highly recommended food item to try is frozen Silversides. With the vast variety of frozen fish foods available, feeder fish should not be needed. But you will have to work with the Payara to get him accostomed to eating well and eating non-living foods.
Many people have trouble getting these fish to eat. Most likely do to their stress or adjustment span that they have to go through.

Give him some more time and keep trying different types of meaty-fish foods.It may take your Payara a few weeks to start eating but you just might get lucky eventually. You could try Krill or Earthworms even and similar food.

Keep a close eye on the Payara, make sure he isn't developing a sickness. These fierce fish can be very prone to disease like Ick and bacterial infections.

I would also recommend that you visit these websites for more info on Payaras. Reading other people's experiences with the fish can give you some good info to go off-

             Waterwolves.com
             Aquaticpredators.com
             Monsterfishkeepers.com

I hope this helps!
Best of luck,
Karen~