I posted this in another thread and thought it would be helpful to post here as well.
So, your poly absolutely refuses pellets, but accepts the unhealthier, and messier frozen alternative. It is a problem that is both frustrating and common.
Fortunately there is a solution. You can get any poly to eat pellets with a little patience. I had a few seemingly hopeless cases that I trained in the last few months. They now eat 90% pellets.
The Solution?
Week One- grind the pellet of choice up to the point where the pieces are very small--mix this with their favorite frozen food (also ground up unless blood worms) and a few drops of garlic extract (garlic optional). Let it sit for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. If done right you will have a substance somewhere between a solid and a paste. Put this on the substrate by hand so it does not dissipate (turn off your impellers). I thawed 4 days of blood worms at a time and kept them in the fridge in an air tight container, using a portion of the blood worm 'juice' in the mix.
Week two- same thing as week one, add larger pieces of pellets progressively throughout the week. You will need to mix some of the blood worm/krill/etc. 'juice' you used to thaw the frozen food to the mix to allow larger pieces to soften up. *Make sure they are mixed well enough so that one cannot be eaten without the other*
Week three- continue increasing the size of the pellets. You will definitely want to soak it all in the water you use to thaw your frozen food at this point if you were not before.
Onward- continue decreasing frozen and stepping up the amount of pellets in the mix. After a certain point you can wait a day or two without feeding, then add only pellets.
Works wonders. You will need to make sure you are not missing water changes with this method, and monitoring params. It can be messy at times, but once they're pellet trained--its forever.
So, your poly absolutely refuses pellets, but accepts the unhealthier, and messier frozen alternative. It is a problem that is both frustrating and common.
Fortunately there is a solution. You can get any poly to eat pellets with a little patience. I had a few seemingly hopeless cases that I trained in the last few months. They now eat 90% pellets.
The Solution?
Week One- grind the pellet of choice up to the point where the pieces are very small--mix this with their favorite frozen food (also ground up unless blood worms) and a few drops of garlic extract (garlic optional). Let it sit for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. If done right you will have a substance somewhere between a solid and a paste. Put this on the substrate by hand so it does not dissipate (turn off your impellers). I thawed 4 days of blood worms at a time and kept them in the fridge in an air tight container, using a portion of the blood worm 'juice' in the mix.
Week two- same thing as week one, add larger pieces of pellets progressively throughout the week. You will need to mix some of the blood worm/krill/etc. 'juice' you used to thaw the frozen food to the mix to allow larger pieces to soften up. *Make sure they are mixed well enough so that one cannot be eaten without the other*
Week three- continue increasing the size of the pellets. You will definitely want to soak it all in the water you use to thaw your frozen food at this point if you were not before.
Onward- continue decreasing frozen and stepping up the amount of pellets in the mix. After a certain point you can wait a day or two without feeding, then add only pellets.
Works wonders. You will need to make sure you are not missing water changes with this method, and monitoring params. It can be messy at times, but once they're pellet trained--its forever.
