Jag feeding/eating habits?

[MarineMike]

I've read in more than a few threads that unless you have a breeding pair it's not suggested to give them feeder fish. Can someone explain why that is, besides the potential for disease brought in by the feeders?

Second, I've noticed that my jags will spit feeders or worms back out sometimes several times before finally eating it or swimming away. Is this normal eating behavior or are they just having fun catching & killing the rosy reds and worms I drop in for them to eat? Sometimes after dropping in a dozen or so feeders I'll find a few floating at the surface that have either just their head eaten or sometimes the entire back half of the fish is gone. I'm guessing it's the jags that are doing this because the only other fish large enough to do it is a tiger oscar and that greedy pig eats everything he/she can get too.

 

[MarineMike]

I just thought of another question. What is the best temp to keep the tank at for maximum growth potential? I know that lower temps @ 77 - 78 degrees is suggested to lower their aggression and metabolism which helps keep the waste levels down, but if the metabolism is lower wouldn't that mean the fish will grow slower too? So far I've been keeping it at 80.5 with a JBJ true temp 800w system and doing weekly water changes of 30-50% with less that 10 ppm nitrates.

 

[Crazy mike]

Depending on how large they are the food maybe to large. As for feeders my Jags would either eat them whole or rip it in half and eat the parts separately

Sent from my VS840 4G

 

[brich999]

Feeders arent recommended because they lack nutrition, high in thaimine(spelling) and as you know have a chance to introduce parasites and disease into your tank

 

[JRT8783]

I just thought of another question. What is the best temp to keep the tank at for maximum growth potential? I know that lower temps @ 77 - 78 degrees is suggested to lower their aggression and metabolism which helps keep the waste levels down, but if the metabolism is lower wouldn't that mean the fish will grow slower too? So far I've been keeping it at 80.5 with a JBJ true temp 800w system and doing weekly water changes of 30-50% with less that 10 ppm nitrates.

I would say anything between 81 and 82 would be best for growth, but im pretty sure I've heard that cichlids are more prone to getting duck lips when the temp is above 82. I keep my jags tank around 79, although I've thought about bumping it up to around 81 to see how he reacts.

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[Crazy mike]

All my tanks are kept in the mid 70s to keep aggression low. But if the fish is alone I say bump it to 80-81 for growth.

Sent from my VS840 4G

 

[MarineMike]

Alright thanks for the info. I've had the controller set for 80.5 so i guess I'll leave it there for now unless they start acting overly aggressive. I'll try to ween them off the feeders even though I like watching them stalk their prey. The only problems I see with that are the (2) 4" peacock bass don't seem to want to eat anything else. They'll accept red worms or meal worms, but don't seem to like the floating or sinking pellets (API) and none of the fish like the freeze dried krill I just got them. I'm hoping that everyone will like the Hikari cichilid bio gold+ I plan on ordering for them.

Which brings up another question, what size pellet should I be getting for fish in the 4"-6" range? I was planning on getting the medium size because they all have such large mouths.

 

[Crazy mike]

Get the smaller size,they may be capable of eating the medium but they'd chew it a lot more and you'll get excess coming out the gills

Sent from my VS840 4G