how to train your dat to eat anything but live food?

[Ade]

When I first learned about starving dats I attempted it with a young NGT and I allowed it get very thin before I gave in and dropped in some Rosie's...It took a few but eventually died anyhow.If they are extremely stubborn,I think it is best to offer their natural food after some time before they get too sunken and then continue,or,restart with the starving while offering pellets.

I remember the thread krich. Seems ages ago now.

I think many members are in too much of a rush to get baby dats onto pellets... they try the eat or die method and craxk after 3-4 weeks...
I dont promote eat or die...
I just dont set a time limit.
Basically chopped prawn amd muscle say every other day so they grow a bit amd put on weight. Pellets daily... as all my fish eat pellets.. so the babt dats see amd smell pellets daily.

After a month or so... and they still not wating pellet... I do chopped prawn amd muscle say every 3rd day.. keep doing this... then every 5 th day...
Keep feeding pellets daily for the other fish.
Eventually the small indos seem to get pissed off with being hungry whilst all other tigers are eating pellets... then they start sniffing the pellets.. eventually they will take them.
All my indos converted this way.
No need to do eat or die...
This is my "top up" method.... so they never go more than 7 days without eating...
But they are kept constantly hungry but fed just enough to keep alive. When food does go in.. they dart out super fast and take pellet ... maybe spit it out... but by then your almost there.

This method can take weeks or many months... but atleast you dont need to worry bout dieing with the eat or die method.

Marinate can also be a good method.. if you got the time to prepare.

Good luck

Dont get me wrong... ive done eat or die method and it does work... but yhere are others ways

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[T1KARMANN]

Your crazy give any tiger live food from day one in your tank

I just got 2 thumb nail size 3 bars they took pellets from day one

Chopped prawn and hikari sturgeon mini all day long eat or die no messing in my tank I'm the boss not the fish


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[Ade]

Your crazy give any tiger live food from day one in your tank

I just got 2 thumb nail size 3 bars they took pellets from day one

Chopped prawn and hikari sturgeon mini all day long eat or die no messing in my tank I'm the boss not the fish


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Im convinced that baby indos convert much much quicker if their in a pup /nusury tank.. typically 70-100L.
Food gets to the baby indos much quicker than in say a 6x3x2. ..wh I ch will have loads of big fish in .
These big fish such as rays and big tigers... get the food first and because of this... baby tigers are often too scared to try to get food. Basically it takes them alot longer to train or feed properly than say in a mini tank.

Hence T1... your conversion rate happens much quicker in your puppy tank...

Take my baby indos.. 3 months before one of them started hammmering pelletz. The other one... not yet.. maybe another month or so.

The fact that yours took pellets from day one meant you didnt even need to convert or starve. That was luck and perfect size grow out tank.

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[5am]

I stuffed 1 pellet inside each piece of mp and my tigers ate the entire thing.. Should I keep stuffing the shrimp or try to put pellets in now?


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[Ian21777]

i started off with live bloodworm which they ate readily and happily. I gradually started adding frozen bloodworm in amongst the live so theyd eat it all together. gradually added more frozen and less live till it was all frozen. cus of the way they would attack the worms when they went in the tank it was easy to add bits of shrimp or fish which they would eat in their frenzy. eventually they would associate with the food and take just the shrimp/fish. as to pellets... I have 4 dats, the smallest still wont eat pellets- which is why he is the smallest!!!