feeding

[RonTheRHOM]

im feeding my both my pleuro and micro blood worm at the momment as they are both 5"
when is the best time to move them onto more meaty foods... whitebait etc...

[tropheus]

i would start introducing more foods about now ron , i started mine at 5" on small frozen prawns from supermarket (may need to snap in half) , lancefish ,mealworms ,garden worms, my reds have even started taking the odd pellets , the more variety the better ,they seem to get a preferance for certain foods after a while and sulk if they dont get it , it took my reds 2 days without the bloodworms before they decided they where hungry enough to try the shrimps , once eating more meaty stuff you will see some rapid growth

good luck with them

[RonTheRHOM]

ok cheers mate
i'll finish off the rest of the bloodworm pots ive got left then get them on prawns and chopped up whitebait then
is whitebait ok?

[tropheus]

whitebait is fine mate

[Gaz_ham]

mine were eating prawns from 2/3 inch. they like lob worms recently, and fresh mackerel(recent addition to diet!) at 5-6 inch. Nice to see them with a fat belly after a feed i think

[RonTheRHOM]

ok im getting them to eat whitebait and prawns. but they wont..lol the micro hasnt touched anything and the pleuro has had a little piece of whitebait not even enough to fill that belly.
how long should i expect them to hold out before i should get worried about them not eating?

[channarox]

at that size they have no problem eating a few one inch pieces of prawn.

[tropheus]

ok im getting them to eat whitebait and prawns. but they wont..lol the micro hasnt touched anything and the pleuro has had a little piece of whitebait not even enough to fill that belly.
how long should i expect them to hold out before i should get worried about them not eating?

hi ron ,like most channa they will sulk when you do not give them there fav food , they shoud start eating within 2-3 days of not offering them the food there used to , if they still do not eat give them a feed of what you normally feed them then starve them for 2-3 days again , they will come round there just stubern

[RonTheRHOM]

hi tropheus
well the pleuro has now decided to eat the whitebait, he ate yesterday and filled his belly. i feed them twice a day, once morning and once night, ive just fed them again and still the micro wont eat and this is the third day. im not sure what to do because if i do feed them bloodworm again coz of the micro it might have a backwards effect on the pleuro. should i maybe give it 1 more day?

[tropheus]

it will be fine another day , theese fish will not starve themselves ,honestly the red will come round , if you just give one feed of the bloodworms the pleuro should not go backover , once they have accepted a new food you can normally alternate differant foods with no problems at all , i have found my reds to be by far the easyiest channa to get hooked on a certain food , and often sulk for days when trying them on something new , also i would start to drop down to once a day around now ,then when they are a year old drop to every other day or so ,or they easly become overweight

let us know how it goes

[RonTheRHOM]

well im glad i did wait an extra day. ive just fed them this morning on chopped up whitebait, and the little micro now has a bulging belly :D

so just once a day from now on then

[tropheus]

great stuff ron , glad he started eating again , and yes i would drop down to once a day now ,until approx 1 year old

cheers col

[RonTheRHOM]

thanks for the advice col
well pleased now, they just look so skinny that i get worried when they dont eat..lol
its easy with piranhas you just starve the little ****s untill they eat coz they can go for months without food

[tropheus]

no worries ron , the channa can go for months also without food , i know pascal lost one inside one of his filters and it survived for 6 months with no food , only the scraps that the filter picked up and he said it was his best looking channa out of that group , but with channa even after 1 day they look skinny as hell , esp. micros and pleuros ,glad there back feeding again though

[RonTheRHOM]

lol thats possibly the most crazy thing ive heard in this hobby... wow my respect for these fish has just doubled...hard as hell