My fish, Nereus is a little odd in his eating habits. he never eats food that are floating. whenever i give him flakes, he always waits until they start to sink and then he'll eat it. it's very amusing to watch. i'm not sure if he just doens't notice the food on the surface, or he's being careful.
whatever the reason, i'm having problems trying to feed him vegetables. i've tried to give him tiny pieces of cooked peas, but they sink too fast and he ignores them once they're on the ground. i've tried to give him lettuce, but since they float on top, he completely ignores them too. the same goes for spinach leaves, and other leafy veggies. i've tried to give him cabbage, since they sink slowly, but he put it in his mouth, then spit it out- i don't think that he likes them. he does seem to like the egg whites of boiled eggs, but i want him to eat veggies too.
any advice?

Is your fish a sight impaired type, like a telescope, celestial, bubble eye? If so he's probably not seeing the food very well -- my moors are like this, it took them ages to learn to eat at the top of the water from a feeding ring. If something falls to the bottom of the tank they'll get that fine eventually, as they pick over the gravel; they see things best in mid-water as they're falling.

Have you tried leaving something that sinks (like peas) on the bottom for a while (like all day) to see if he eats it as he searches around through out the day?

Another thing you can try is a veggie clip and put it at mid tank level where he's most likely to eat.

Try making some gel food -- you can put a variety of veggies in that and it sinks slowly. Fish love it and its very good for them too. There's recipes pinned at the top of this forum.

Hope this helps!

yay!! my fish finally ate some peas that i dropped in the tank. He's a shubunkin so he shouldn't have any trouble seeing, but one of his eyes is completely black. i think that it's just the way he's colored, but maybe he has trouble seeing through it...i don't know.
well, i heard that it was better to feed the fish in one spot- drop food around the same place all the time, but i decided to drop pieces of food all around. that way, Nereus wouldn't miss the pieces of food falling down. It worked!! now he's finally eaten peas and corn. he seems to like peas, actually, but i think that it needs to be cooked really well and mushed up because he keeps eating it, then spitting it out.

anyways, thanks valkyrie.

black eye/s are normal normal frankly i prefer a GF with 1 looks like an eye patch ;p two for a cool sun glasses look B)

Glad to hear that things are working out. And really it is better that they don't eat off the surface. Eating floating food off the top can lead to Swim Bladder Disease. Something you don't want to happen. So your little guy is smarter than you think.