Knifefish teaching itself to eat pellets
- Thread starter Angelphish
- Start date
I have this issue too. On the way down, the silver dollars grab as many as they can. Then the bichirs get a few. By the time my BGK has come to have a look there's often none left. So I've developed tricks.
Another reason I wanted to comment here: I recently got a Clown knife fish. A fairly decent sized guy. Anyway, the previous owner had him as a sort of show off pet. The same way people keep a big python just so they can invite their mates around to watch them eat a live rat. More of an image thing for this guy rather than an actual interest in the fish itself. As a result it's become a very fussy feeder. I had the option of buying a muuuch smaller one that's eating hikari sinking carnivore pellets but I didn't want to chance him going in the tank with the other fish at that size.
Now, I've been watching this clown knife very carefully from a chair near the tank after lights out with some dim lighting on in the room so I can see. He'll seem interested when the pellets are dropped. He'll sort of sniffle around them like BGK and bichirs do, even picking one up sometimes but he sorta bites a bit then spits them out. I've dropped him some prawn pieces and he ate that. Problem is I don't want to be forever feeding prawn to everyone as he's not the first there, the bichirs grab a bit of it and I don't want them to start getting fussy. Plus my arowana's grab some on the way down too and I had a few weeks where I experimented with feeding them prawn and I didn't like the results. They suddenly started spending all their time near the bottom 1/3 of the tank, not skimming the surface with their barbels like normal. I remedied that and just give them prawn as a treat but I'm trying to think how I can get him onto pellets to make it easier to feed them all. He doesn't seem interested in meal worms at all either. I've dropped a bunch in and they get snapped up by my pearl arowana or silver dollars. If they make it to the bottom bichirs get them.
Any suggestions? I was thinking of maybe pressing bits of the pellets into the prawn to get him used to the taste. Then gradually reducing the prawn amount. Someone else suggested just letting him get hungry enough to where he'll eat the pellets.
Welcome to the forum
C
Cordyceps
!
That will likely work, I feed my knives after the lights go off and lure them out with bloodworm. Its sad that people keep pets for novelty, I have a snake but he is a pet not a decoration....
Does he have a hiding spot that he frequents? it might work to put food in there, and how long have you had it since It may still be warming up to the conditions.
For example my brother rescued a khuli loach from someone we know but he rarely saw it and all the food was picked off by his danios before it hit the gravel, but now I put it in my betta tank with sand and he spends more time out of hiding than he ever has! make sure your conditions are right and give him time. Good luck!
That will likely work, I feed my knives after the lights go off and lure them out with bloodworm. Its sad that people keep pets for novelty, I have a snake but he is a pet not a decoration....
Does he have a hiding spot that he frequents? it might work to put food in there, and how long have you had it since It may still be warming up to the conditions.
For example my brother rescued a khuli loach from someone we know but he rarely saw it and all the food was picked off by his danios before it hit the gravel, but now I put it in my betta tank with sand and he spends more time out of hiding than he ever has! make sure your conditions are right and give him time. Good luck!
Thanks for the welcome. I've been lurking for a while but figured it's finally time to post. Went to sign up and realised I already had at some point!
Yeah I've not had him long. For a while I had him quarantined as I saw the guy had lots of tanks that were just covered totally in algae (like you couldn't see a thing inside) plus he fed goldfish so I was worried about that. I'm not sure if the stories are true. Whether they're as bad a feeder as they say or not but I'm not feeding goldfish.
So yeah, after thinking it's likely that he's probably still warming up. He doesn't seem to have just one. He's not that shy really. He seems to just swim a loop around the wood. The tank's driftwood is quite thick at places (about as thick as an adult's leg) and thin at others. It has twists and turns and overlaps creating a lot of gaps between the wood and sand where he sits. It's hard to see exactly where he is without standing over from the top. It's like a little maze at the bottom, but most of it's towards the back wall with a clear spot at the front of the glass where I drop the food. It's quite neat watching the bottom guys appear out of their hiding places in the wood to eat.
Any other techniques known for getting them eating something more manageable?
Starve him. Only feed pellets or the desired food till he caves in or doesnt eat for 3 weeks. Its the easiest way, especially if other fish are eating the pellets too.
There is a sticky thread on the use of goldfish as feeders, they are not good enough as food. I am having to quarantine one of my goldfish for (90% sure) internal parasites but im sure the rest have it too. knives love wood as well, i have a bunch i am adding this afternoon
There is a sticky thread on the use of goldfish as feeders, they are not good enough as food. I am having to quarantine one of my goldfish for (90% sure) internal parasites but im sure the rest have it too. knives love wood as well, i have a bunch i am adding this afternoon
