I feed my Delhezi a combo of fresh shrimp, tilapia, carnivore pellets and he also snags some of the cichlid pellets I give his tank mates
Best food for bichirs?
- Thread starter TakkerDada
- Start date
I went with Hikari Carnivorous Sinking Pellets. Everyone's eating them except for the ornate. He's always hiding in his cave, because of this it's really difficult to feed him cause the food is over by the time he comes out. Is there any way to make him active? I don't really wanna remove the cave cause I don't want him to be stressed or anything. Also, Thanks for the help guys
I remove anything like a cave, and I make sure there is dim lighting when being fed. You need to figure out what times of day it comes out. Can it actually swallow the Carni pellets? I've found some of my bichirs don't like spending time breaking down hard pellets. They prefer softer gel food or smaller pellets easily swalloed.
If you haven't seen it eaten in a month, check to see if the belly looks normal or sunken. I've had a couple bichirs that were slow eaters and eventually get sunken bellies. At that point I had to put them in a breeding net closer to the waterline and feed them frozen blood worms for a month to get them eating again and competing with the others.
I myself prefer dim lighting most of the time. The carni pellets aren't that big and he's about 5 inches so I guess that shouldn't be a problem (I'll still break it in 2 pieces and try again tomorrow). Also, I used to feed him massivore (which he used to enjoy) which I personally feel is harder to break down compared to the carni pellets. Since massivore got over I was feeding him shrimp but as he is a slow eater he used to not get much food, as I mentioned earlier the aro and other bichirs used to reach to it before he did. Point being that he doesn't have a sunken belly as of now.
Forgot to mention earlier that I got from the LFS like 45 days ago, is it possible that he hasn't settled in yet?
Here's a picture of him hiding in his cave. (You'll have to look closely, you can see his tail below the drift wood). Also, Can it be because of his tank mates that he's hiding all the time? One more thing, can y'all give me an ID on the PBass, I was told that he's a kelberi when I first got him and his colour has completely changed since then, he was much lighter back then when he was around 4 inches. (He recently started eating pellets prior to that I was only giving him live food).
Dimensions of the tank are 4ft in L 18inch in width and 2ft in height. I change 20% water every 3 days and 70% in 7-8 days so I doubt the ornate is hiding because of the water conditions.
Dimensions of the tank are 4ft in L 18inch in width and 2ft in height. I change 20% water every 3 days and 70% in 7-8 days so I doubt the ornate is hiding because of the water conditions.
Well, the big predators are the reason why it's hiding. I can easily seeing the PB and aro possibly going after it. Drop carni pellets at night with the lights off above and off in the room, before you go to bed. See if its belly looks weird shape in the morning.
Post extended bottom fins of the bass, yellow spotting on fins would indicate kelberi.
Post extended bottom fins of the bass, yellow spotting on fins would indicate kelberi.
Su
Surprisingly the Aro and PB don't bother the bichirs at all. I'll drop some pellets tonight. Thanks for the help
fascinating! Thank you. I've been searching for a smaller fish-that isn't live- for my UJs. I just looked up silversides, and it looks like they can come in a frozen 8oz slab.
1. How often should these be fed, if alternating with tilapia and pellets?
2.Any suggestions for making frozen fish more appetizing to the polys? Or any suggestions for keeping it fresher longer? I find the more days I have my cut tilapia pieces in the freezer, the less excited the polys are about them.
