Asian Red Tail Diet?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Ok, got up this morning and the piece of catfish fillet was still in the tank so he obviously didn't eat that.

I did bring home a crayfish from work though yesterday and stuck it in a 5 gallon bucket so that I could try to feed the Red Tail at night without my oscars eating the crayfish. For whatever reason the crayfish didn't last in the bucket but I decided to throw it in the tank anyways and see if the Red Tail would eat it.

From what I can see I can't see any remains of the crayfish anywhere near where I placed it in the tank where the Red Tail likes to hide under a rock. So I'm thinking that he possibly ate it even though it was dead. I was hoping that it would be alive and moving around to perhaps somewhat spark some interest from the Red Tail so I may have to get another crayfish and hopefully can keep it alive long enough for feeding.

I think my next attempt at food sources will be some nightcrawlers and possibly some squid or tilapia as others on this thread have suggested.

RBP - I've had mine for about 1.5 months now so I guess it could still be possible that he is adjusting to the tank. He doesn't seem to be afraid of the oscars at all since he will swim along/under them when they are moving around. There is very little traffic/movement around the tank as well so that isn't an issue as far as him still not being comfortable.

I'll report back with more findings as things progress and if anybody else has any ideas or suggestions I'd love to hear them. Thanks to all for the help already!
 
you will lose your oscar's as soon as he is comfortable i am telling you mine killed 3 different 8 inch flower horns when my ART was only 5 inches. scaled them alive then finished them off and oscar are teddy bears with teath i have never been able to keep an oscar alive in my tank with my Midas Festae's grammode Green Terror's and the oscar's were bigger. the ART will have no prob with your oscar's
 
Still no luck with the shrimp, silversides, frozen beefheart or the catfish fillets.

I've read through a few other threads on here and have seen people recommend Hikari Massivore Sinking Pellets for bottom dwellers. Gonna have the LFS I work for order up a case and hopefully the ART will eat those.

When I feed the oscars and while they are making a huge mess, I've noticed the ART starts to show interest and swim around the bottom of the tank trying to eat up the floating pieces of the Hikari Cichlid Staple pellets that I feed the oscars. So I'm hoping that the ART will like the sinking pellets and I'll actually be able to feed him.
 
When mine was small he would devour the HBH African Cichlid Attack pellets and I eventually switched him to Jumbo sticks which were very messy. Mine would eat shrimp tail when he was small, but never the first day, he waited at least 24 hours until they were nasty. If he didn't eat them in 2 days I would take them out so they wouldn't pollute the tank so much.

Now mine eats massivore and cooked shrimp tails.

Occasionally he'll get 4" goldfish, but that wouldn't work with your oscars.

I'd say pick one type of sinking pellet and drop it in front of he face when you turn out the lights at night. Do it every night for a couple of weeks. Take out what he doesn't eat in the morning. He'll learn to eat it. Once he starts, he'll be hooked. I think that by constantly changing what foods you're offering he doesn't get forced to take something. He'll get tough and learn to eat whatever you settle on. He's a preditory catfish afterall.
 
Hey Mystus, thanks for all the great input!

I'll go ahead and try out your suggestions and will report back with my results.
 
i am not going to "flame" you, every1 on here whines about forum members being too harsh so ill just say, i hope you have a very large tank lined up soon
 
okkkkkk what are ur plans?
 
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