Jardini tail?!?

[Cabinetman 1]

Happy New Year! I believe this is a first for me, I mean biting self in fish in general and I don't think I ever saw it with our fish. Bizarre and interesting. I've already learned from Thiswasgone's replies and hope to learn more.

I do wonder if the jar could be doing it out of hunger. For a 17" fish 4-5 nightcrawelers may be a bit too little, depending on the worm size. Also at 5.5 years, a jar should be solid 2ft, another clue supporting the underfeeding.

Not criticizing, only thinking together.

I appreciate the input, he has always been a very difficult one to feed. When I have fed him a lot in the past, he gets constipated (anal area gets inflamed, red) also at one point his eyes would actually get buggy. The night crawlers are the large Canadian crawlers. I will increase the feeding maybe a few times a day and see if that helps. Thank you for your input on this. Always learning I guess.

 

[Cabinetman 1]

I appreciate the input, he has always been a very difficult one to feed. When I have fed him a lot in the past, he gets constipated (anal area gets inflamed, red) also at one point his eyes would actually get buggy. The night crawlers are the large Canadian crawlers. I will increase the feeding maybe a few times a day and see if that helps. Thank you for your input on this. Always learning I guess.

Is there a formula for how many grams of food a fish should be fed?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

There may be but IDK it. In first approximation I'd go by the stomach shape after feeding. Jardini and silver arowana (no first hand experience with others) usually feed well until the tummy is well distended. After that one could wait until the tummy goes back to the norm, probably from a couple to several days, depends on season and water temp too.

 

[thiswasgone]

In the fish farming industry 1.5-3% of body weight until market weight is the typical feed rate IIRC but as hobbyist we want to keep our fish healthy and long-term.

There is no clear cut answer as thebiggerthebetter said since there is evidence that suggest overfeeding (fatty liver & other organs) and high temperatures (higher metabolism due to being "cold-blooded" animals) will negatively affect a fish's lifespan but there is also evidence that suggests a higher metabolism does not determine overall life expectancy but rather evolutionary traits to avoid danger do (toxins, shells, etc.).

Personally I like to go with a mix up depending on species and fish size. For species that grew large and don't sexually mature until several years I feed them a lot in one go with intermittent fasts as suggested above. I determined fasting days based on the overall shape of the fish. For smaller species I found that frequent feedings (1-2/day depending on stocking) were better but of course in much smaller quantities in terms of pellets.

Ultimately I would say just try not to "overfeed" and use your best judgement to determine what that means for your fish.

 

[Cabinetman 1]

In the fish farming industry 1.5-3% of body weight until market weight is the typical feed rate IIRC but as hobbyist we want to keep our fish healthy and long-term.

There is no clear cut answer as thebiggerthebetter said since there is evidence that suggest overfeeding (fatty liver & other organs) and high temperatures (higher metabolism due to being "cold-blooded" animals) will negatively affect a fish's lifespan but there is also evidence that suggests a higher metabolism does not determine overall life expectancy but rather evolutionary traits to avoid danger do (toxins, shells, etc.).

Personally I like to go with a mix up depending on species and fish size. For species that grew large and don't sexually mature until several years I feed them a lot in one go with intermittent fasts as suggested above. I determined fasting days based on the overall shape of the fish. For smaller species I found that frequent feedings (1-2/day depending on stocking) were better but of course in much smaller quantities in terms of pellets.

Ultimately I would say just try not to "overfeed" and use your best judgement to determine what that means for your fish.

Thank you, that makes sense. I appreciate it.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The dry feed vs frozen difference also should be taken into account because the dry is a LOT more concentrated in nutrition. Average water content in dry is 10%, while it is 75%-90% in frozen, if memory serves.

So this is not only about the volume or weight of the feed served.

On the other hand, digestibility of dry vs frozen may also differ, with one being digested faster than the other - this will bear on how fast a fish's stomach flattens and it is ready to feed again, which is important for a predator such as the jardini arowana, who may eat a lot but occasionally.