Are fish flakes a good stable diet for a baby Bichir?

[Ryan029]

oh seeing that other pic, now I see what you all have been talking about. It is an atypical pattern...maybe it'll fill out as it grows? we'll see.
So I just gave them some lunch and introduced tilapia for the first time, both ate it readily which is awesome! Interestingly the Delhezi still doesn't really care for the feeding tongs I use, it prefers to scavenge off the bottom of the tank, whereas the teugelsi eats right from the tongs, it's cool how they have their own little personalities.
The tilapia I found was frozen raw fillets, ingredients say tilapia, and then salt..I couldn't find any without salt listed in the ingredients though...is this ok?

 

[Vancouver_98683]

There's 3 fz tilapia categories - Natural, w/salt, & most commonly (CO) carbon monoxide treated.

https://www.google.com/amp/thehealt...-how-to-tell/amp/?client=ms-android-sprint-us

 

[Ryan029]

There's 3 fz tilapia categories - Natural, w/salt, & most commonly (CO) carbon monoxide treated.

https://www.google.com/amp/thehealt...-how-to-tell/amp/?client=ms-android-sprint-us

hmmm...alright. Well I'm assuming tilapia WITHOUT salt is best right? After reading that article, what I am certain of is that it's not carbon monoxide treated.... I'm going to costco tonight. I'll see if I can't find some without any salt added.

 

[Polyaddict86]

hmmm...alright. Well I'm assuming tilapia WITHOUT salt is best right? After reading that article, what I am certain of is that it's not carbon monoxide treated.... I'm going to costco tonight. I'll see if I can't find some without any salt added.

Go to walmart frozen section, they have frozen tilapia for $5 per bag, each tilapia in individual pack.

 

[Ryan029]

Ok, I appreciate the help with this.
I guess what I'm wondering is if salt is bad or if it's fine. I imagine the ones at walmart would have salt too? I could be wrong though. I'll do some investigating and let ya know what I find out tonight. Hopefully I'm not the only one who has wondered about this?

 

[Vancouver_98683]

The ones with salt is fine. It's a normal process for IQF (individual quick frozen) to be dipped in either salt solution or CO treatment . This causes a glaze on your fillet. This preserves the freshness. Many fz seafood for human consumption are mostly these 2.

If it's a concern. Simply rinse the fillet to thaw, and cut up the pieces. Use what's needed, then freeze the remain. This works primarily on the salted. The CO treatment is absorbed into the flesh. That's why most CO fillet is a bright red in the bloodline(center). All natural and salted will be brown in the middle.

 

[Ryan029]

Thank you much! This clears it up nicely for me.

 

[Ryan029]

Hey just wanted to give a quick update. I've got some of the super naturals sand on order, should be here by Monday, I'm looking forward to getting some sand in the tank for em'. I was contemplating getting something unique for the substrate but then decided against it as this tank is just a temporary home. I'll wait and spend money on the big one when it comes time. In the mean time, I just went with the sunset gold sand from super naturals as I know it's very very soft.

The little fella's have continued to take to the Tilapia nicely and I've been doing it about 50/50 with their old food. They are getting pretty used to the feeding routine, here they are after dinner tonight! I think they were expecting more haha.. I'll update again with the new sand in a few days.

 

[Polyaddict86]

Hey just wanted to give a quick update. I've got some of the super naturals sand on order, should be here by Monday, I'm looking forward to getting some sand in the tank for em'. I was contemplating getting something unique for the substrate but then decided against it as this tank is just a temporary home. I'll wait and spend money on the big one when it comes time. In the mean time, I just went with the sunset gold sand from super naturals as I know it's very very soft.

The little fella's have continued to take to the Tilapia nicely and I've been doing it about 50/50 with their old food. They are getting pretty used to the feeding routine, here they are after dinner tonight! I think they were expecting more haha.. I'll update again with the new sand in a few days.

View attachment 1234921

View attachment 1234922

They looking good

 

[Ryan029]

Alrighty so I've got the sand in and the bichirs love it! Since I was going to have everyone out of the tank, I decided it would be the perfect chance to add just one more poly to have 3...so I went to the same store and bought this other feisty teugelsi...But I woke up this morning and found that it was seriously fighting with my other teug!!! What? I thought these were friendly to one another? Also, I've seen people keep bichirs literally one on top of each other and see no fighting...Why are these two fighting with so much room? Is it because they are the same type? I'm gonna be taking my new teug back to the store at this point :/