Tilapia or smelt? Wich is a better food?

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Andradde1994

Andradde1994

Black Skirt Tetra
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2020
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São Paulo - Brasil
Its me again! 😅 Ive been feeding my fish (mainly my stingray, silver aros and catfish) frozen smelts that i cut in pieces no more than 1cm wide... They eat it... But not with the voracity i would want them to... This week i started mixing some tilapia fillet and they seem to like it a lot more than smelts... Im considering switching to tilapia as a base food... But im afraid that it will have too much fat... Am i wrong? If i am... What would be better? Only the fillet or the whole tilapia (bones, skin and all) just gutted and cut in pieces small enough for them to eat?
 
And apparently smelt is a high-thiaminase food, so that's definitely a reason to go with tilapia.

But...I would be feeding the entire fish...meat, skin, bones and all internal organs...in an effort to get the most complete nutrition. Why on earth would you gut them?

And in any case, the fish would be an occasional treat, with the principal portion of the diet consisting of high-quality pellets. I assume your fish are still pretty small if you need to cut their food into 1-cm pieces. Now is the time to get them all onto pellets; you can supplement with whole fish, earthworms, shrimp, etc. as they get older and grow larger.
 
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jjohnwm said:
And apparently smelt is a high-thiaminase food, so that's definitely a reason to go with tilapia.

But...I would be feeding the entire fish...meat, skin, bones and all internal organs...in an effort to get the most complete nutrition. Why on earth would you gut them?

And in any case, the fish would be an occasional treat, with the principal portion of the diet consisting of high-quality pellets. I assume your fish are still pretty small if you need to cut their food into 1-cm pieces. Now is the time to get them all onto pellets; you can supplement with whole fish, earthworms, shrimp, etc. as they get older and grow larger.
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tbh the easiest to find near me is fillet or tilapia already gutted... thats why i said that :'D... but the fish are not that small... ray is over 30cm... and my aro is arround 40cm... i cut small pieces bc its a lot less messy (at least i think it is)... specially the ray... gave half a smelt to him once... i thing my wather would be cleaner if i blended it to a juice and dumped in the tank :'D smaller pieces are more likely for them to swallow without chewing too much
 
jjohnwm said:
And apparently smelt is a high-thiaminase food, so that's definitely a reason to go with tilapia.

But...I would be feeding the entire fish...meat, skin, bones and all internal organs...in an effort to get the most complete nutrition. Why on earth would you gut them?

And in any case, the fish would be an occasional treat, with the principal portion of the diet consisting of high-quality pellets. I assume your fish are still pretty small if you need to cut their food into 1-cm pieces. Now is the time to get them all onto pellets; you can supplement with whole fish, earthworms, shrimp, etc. as they get older and grow larger.
Click to expand...
and about the pellets... most of them eat pellets as the staple diet... but my ray, aro and one catfish only eat fish yet... no luck getting them on pellets so far... but i hope to do it soon tho
 
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Try putting the fish and pellets in a jar, with a minimum amount of water and let them soak. You’ll get some fishy taste to it. You could also use menhaden oil, just remember it’s strong! 1 small drop will do it.
 
Tilapia soaked in some vitamins.
 
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