Armatus eating habits?

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lix.ma14

Hydrolycus Armatus
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2011
7,182
21
92
Ontario, Canada
My armatus seems to have a weird eating habit. My armatus just finally snapped his 5 day eating drought by downing 3 small chunks of talapia and shrimp yesterday. Today, whan i tried to feed it talapia, it only downed one and left the other chunks to sink to the bottom. Is this normal? On the most COMMON occaisions, my armatus eats two or three chunks of fish fillet and then ignores every kind of food I throw in the tank the next day. REPEAT that process. Is it because armatus are interval eaters and only eat once every 2 days or is there a problem of my fishkeeping?

My tank is very pristine and I WC 50% everyweek.
My armatus is very healthy looking and active.

How often do you feed ur armatus or payara. Is it common for it to totally swim away and ignore the food or just take abite of the fillet and spit it out?
 
What's in the tank with him?

My experience is that if there is little or no competition for food, they will eat their fill and leave food that they don't want. I've also found that if they're fed regularly they'll only eat their fill because they know they'll get fed tomorrow. Pretty much exactly what you're describing.

When I started adding more fish which created competition and when I started not feeding at the same time every day, I got much more interesting results.
 
dont feed him day by day. They will get in the habbit of eatting when ever they want b/cs they know youll just feed them the next day. You want them to eat when you want them to eat them to eat. go afew days inbetween feedings (2 or 3days) so then they will eat every chance they can get. My armatus would do the same thing, then I starved him alittle and now I have to watch to see how much hes eating so he dosent exploade! they will not turn down food unless theres something exstreamly wrong. give it a try youll se what I mean.
 
Mine pigged out every day, I added a bichir last Thursday and he has not eaten since. He usualy hangs out in his corner all day. I know when they are small they are shy and skittish still. These fish can be very stubborn from what iv expirenced and read so far.

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thanks guys. My tankmates are just 3 juvi bichirs that never move. The other side of the divier is a juvi largemouth bass. The bass eats EVERYTHING I put inside.
 
So you still have that bass?..Soon it might be food for the armatus....Mine eats pretty much everyday except for those times when it goes on a fast and won't go after anything for a few days...
 
My bass actually is the bully. I'm going to divid it until next spring and i'll make a pond for it in my backyard. How often does your armatus go on the fast?
 
How big is that bass?...Sooner or later the armatus will outgrow the LMB and turn the tables on him,and try to eat him...But then,I'm not sure how fast bass grow.....My boy goes on his little fasts randomly,there does not seem to be a pattern to when he does it.I gave him some salmon filet today for the first time and he took chunks of it down with gusto!


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bass 3.5 inches. Armatus roughly 6.5 inches. TBH, I consider my armatus a gentlISH beast even though it killed both my angelfish. It doesn't bother my bichirs and it never chases my bass.
 
krichardson said:
How big is that bass?...Sooner or later the armatus will outgrow the LMB and turn the tables on him,and try to eat him...But then,I'm not sure how fast bass grow.....My boy goes on his little fasts randomly,there does not seem to be a pattern to when he does it.I gave him some salmon filet today for the first time and he took chunks of it down with gusto!


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Click to expand...

does the fast approxiamtely happen once per month or once every few weeks etc.
 
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