Armatus Finally Off Live!
- Thread starter ceejaye23
- Start date
T;3542930; said:
im giving this advice from my own experience. this may not be applicable to everyone.
-i started doing it at 4-5", when he was fattened up from feeders.
-i didnt put feeders in the tank with him and just let him eat whenever he wants. i had the feeders in a QT tank, 2-3x a day, i would drop 1 feeder on the same spot. the purpose is to let him recognize you as his food source.
-then i started putting "teacher-fish". i used thinbars in my case and tinfoils.
these guys would chomp down on anything i put.. fish fillets, shrimps, smelts, even pellets. again, the same purpose, to show the armatus im the one giving food.
-then i started starving it. 4-5 days, everyday dropping non-live food, if it doesnt eat, ill put 1 feeder in the freezer and when its dead, ill give it to the armatus. at first he didnt want a dead feeder so i was forced to give him 1 live feeder then let another 4-5 days without food.
- i kept repeating this until he took dead and frozen feeders.
-i kept repeating and this time altering between dead feeders and smel or anchovy until finally, last night, it accepted smelt then anchovy.
-a few things to add, i saw his attitude changed when i moved it to a way bigger tank with 3 16" black arows and lots of competition for food. he charges me when i approach the tank or looks up to check if i dropped something.
and finally, they ultimate key is PATIENCE.
i hope this helps.
OnceLoyal;3543730; said:
thank you sir! i found out one more thing, these fishes can definitely go for a week without food. i may have problems or it may take longer for the other one to eat non-live tho coz i just got it from IA and it has been fed with feeders all its life.. when i just got it, it wouldnt even eat with the lights on. but now it eats even when there's people around.
so im thinking maybe 3 months then this will take non live.
OnceLoyal;3544145; said:
2 weeks?? how's the aggression?
i know in the wild they can last longer than 2 weeks without food so that's not my main concern. what im scared of is the aggression level going up if they are starved. my bigger armatus gets way more aggressive if starved in 2 days, he chases everything in the tank except for my black arows.
if you dont mind, can you tell me what happens with your couple if you starve them that long?
thanks man!
I like your technique.... were both armatus in the tank while training them? I have several in a tank and don't know if this will work on a small shoal. I'm thinking of moving them into a larger tank and throwing in some of my silver dats to help train them. Or... maybe look for a group of barbs or silver dollars to help "teach" them.....
House 64;3548097; said:
thank you sir! yes, both of them are in the tank. the black arows and orino helped in teaching my armatus. but i think the real key is when it begins recognizing you as food source and the stuff you drop are food.
now whenever i approach the tank, he would look up and follow my hands.
Congrats!
Wonder if you can help me on this one... It only took 3 days for me to wean mine on dead, but they don't slam at it aggressively and don't eat alot of it also. The thawed feeders float at the surface and it takes a good few minutes for the guys to finally eat it. I don't know how to improve their enthusiasm towards frozen foods.
Wonder if you can help me on this one... It only took 3 days for me to wean mine on dead, but they don't slam at it aggressively and don't eat alot of it also. The thawed feeders float at the surface and it takes a good few minutes for the guys to finally eat it. I don't know how to improve their enthusiasm towards frozen foods.