Retroculus Xinguensis and Lapidifer Growth Journal

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Mythic Figment said:
Sweet. I just bought three wild lapidifers. They arrived today. Unfortunately, one didn't make it, but the other two seem to be doing well. They ate spirulina brine shrimp and blood worms for their first meal. :)

Any advice on keeping them? They 1.5-2" and are in a 20 high with 4 very small geo red heads and 7 small notatus severums temporarily. They will get their own 20 long in a couple weeks. I don't have a power head just yet to give them a current, but the tank is running on 2 sponge filters, so its plenty oxygenated.

I have read they are difficult to transition to pellets. What do you feed yours?


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That sucks one didn't make it but that's good the other two did. These are awesome fish. Personally I have a fx5 and a xp3 on my 180 which provides good flow but nothing crazy. Mine where a little stuborn getting them on pellets but eventually they will take them. It took me about a month to get my lapidifer on pellets and my xinguensis a couple of weeks to get onto pellets. When they weren't excepting pellets I fed them market shrimp. I also still feed them shrimp often but mainly new life spectrum 1mm pellets.
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baseballman1321 said:
That sucks one didn't make it but that's good the other two did. These are awesome fish. Personally I have a fx5 and a xp3 on my 180 which provides good flow but nothing crazy. Mine where a little stuborn getting them on pellets but eventually they will take them. It took me about a month to get my lapidifer on pellets and my xinguensis a couple of weeks to get onto pellets. When they weren't excepting pellets I fed them market shrimp. I also still feed them shrimp often but mainly new life spectrum 1mm pellets.
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I fed flakes and NLS 0.5mm pellet this morning and the lapidifers raced around sucking everything up and spitting it back out. :(

What was your method for transitioning them to pellets? I know the norm is to starve fish onto other foods, but these are exciting and expensive new fish, so I don't want to risk killing them if possible.

I was a little upset about the third lapidifers not making it. I had the option to spend $10 more in gas and driven to get them personally. But I didn't do it, so I am a bit upset with myself because I could have likely gotten them all home alive. Oh well. I know better for next time.


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Mythic Figment said:
I fed flakes and NLS 0.5mm pellet this morning and the lapidifers raced around sucking everything up and spitting it back out. :(

What was your method for transitioning them to pellets? I know the norm is to starve fish onto other foods, but these are exciting and expensive new fish, so I don't want to risk killing them if possible.

I was a little upset about the third lapidifers not making it. I had the option to spend $10 more in gas and driven to get them personally. But I didn't do it, so I am a bit upset with myself because I could have likely gotten them all home alive. Oh well. I know better for next time.


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Thats a good start if they are already sucking in some pellets. Personally i would stop feeding flakes because i think when the retros get bigger your going to be feeding alot more flakes than pellets because pellets have more mass depending on the size. But thats up too you on what to feed them. I dont think there is a reason to starve then yet but i would by some market shrimp because thats better than bloodworms because if they dont take the pellets for a few months then you will be feeding them basically water


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baseballman1321 said:
Thats a good start if they are already sucking in some pellets. Personally i would stop feeding flakes because i think when the retros get bigger your going to be feeding alot more flakes than pellets because pellets have more mass depending on the size. But thats up too you on what to feed them. I dont think there is a reason to starve then yet but i would by some market shrimp because thats better than bloodworms because if they dont take the pellets for a few months then you will be feeding them basically water


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The flakes are mostly for the small severums and the betta they are in with. The sevs are still pretty small and only a few are large enough to take the 0.5mm pellets. Once they are big enough, I will only feed a very small amount of flakes for the betta and only once a day.

I will definitely go get some market shrimp and feed that alongside the occasional bloodworm or spirulina brine shrimp cube. How much shrimp do you think I should feed for two 2" lapidifers and how often?

Thanks for the advice. :)


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Mythic Figment said:
The flakes are mostly for the small severums and the betta they are in with. The sevs are still pretty small and only a few are large enough to take the 0.5mm pellets. Once they are big enough, I will only feed a very small amount of flakes for the betta and only once a day.

I will definitely go get some market shrimp and feed that alongside the occasional bloodworm or spirulina brine shrimp cube. How much shrimp do you think I should feed for two 2" lapidifers and how often?

Thanks for the advice. :)


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Oh I didn't now you had the other fish you feed the flakes to. But I feed them till their bells are a little plump no real way to measure how much shrimp to feed them. And no problem

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baseballman1321 said:
Oh I didn't now you had the other fish you feed the flakes to. But I feed them till their bells are a little plump no real way to measure how much shrimp to feed them. And no problem

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I bought uncooked shrimp. Does it need to be cooked or is raw okay? Sorry if that is a stupid question. I have never used shrimp like this before. :)


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haven't updated these guys in a while not much has changed but the lapidifer is starting to get red on his caudal fin and the xinguensis has got some ornage on his anal fin. heres a quick video you cant really see the red starting to show up on the lapidifer because it is still very faint. [YT]92nd_GZ9zI8[/YT]
 
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