Almost a month...

[LBathory]

try beefheart or something with a really stong smell. In my expirience beef heart is the best for weening off feeders.

 

[Venom SS]

Feed them frozen silverside trust me they will love u for it no disease and cheaper than feeders IMO

Mine hate frozen silversides They will eat a bite or two if they are really hungry but thats it. If I throw in market shrimp though its on!

 

[channarox]

Outside of cost feeders really arent that bad if you prep them right. Ive seen lots of fish raised to enormous sizes on only live. The key is in the quarantine. I keep lots of feeders on hand, but I treat them all is if they have ich 100% of the time. I keep my feeder tank at 87 degrees and salted, and 25% water change weekly. I also let the tank sit for a week after adding a new batch to make sure all the sick ones weed themselves out and that the ich and things have time to go away. Ontop of that I keep them fat on color enhancing flake food. And just before they meet their demise I gut load the hell out of them. Another key to live food is variety. Crayfish, goldfish, rosies, live bearers, ghost shrimp, crickets, earthowrms etc. If it moves and can fit in their mouth, it will get eaten!

Pellets are the ultimate food source but I wouldnt be too hasty to get off of live, it also has benefits. Live food is 100% of their diet in the wild.

this is very true.
many asian fish keepers only feed feeders to their predatory fish for the whole of their lives.
they keep lots of feeders in the tank so the fish can eat as it wants.
and yes,i agree variety is very very important.
but you'll need ALOT more filtration.

i personally prefer dead foods and dont like feeding live.
because i find that the fish become much more personable when they arent exposed to live foods.
also,i can watch them eat when i want.

 

[channarox]

try beefheart or something with a really stong smell. In my expirience beef heart is the best for weening off feeders.

IME shrimp fresh from the market not,de-shelled,works best.
not the ones that are frozen already from the supermarket.

 

[LBathory]

IME shrimp fresh from the market not,de-shelled,works best.
not the ones that are frozen already from the supermarket.

Interesting... ill have to try that.

 

[PeacockKeeper]

Well, I went and got some silversides and some goldies. Tried the silverside and one of the ones that had not eaten anything took down two big silversides. The other one was chasing others that had silversides sticking out of their mouths but would not take any down. So, I had to do what I had to do...bring out the egg crate and separate the one that has not eaten at all by itself. Threw two large goldies in and he sort of hesitated like "is it what I really think it is" and then the two disappeared.

 

[bOOsteN aUdI]

get that guy eating small feeders one at a time.. when he is hitting one at a time, everytime they smash the surface dont feed him for a day and then get a piece of market shrimp.. cut it kind of longish so that it holds a similar shape to a minnow and toss that in kind of hard at the surface or try the silverside... you have to make sure he is smashing the feeder instantly at the surface.

 

[gnuisance]

I am doing the same thing with my 5 monos. I am banking on the fact that they will eat food sticks before they will starve. every 10 days or so I toss in a few nightcrawlers or feeders to keep them from strarving.