Best way to feed bichirs in a crowded community tank?

[asm129]

I have a 100 g community tank with an arowana, a red severum, a uaru and other quick fish.

I bought a palmas polli bichir and I want to fatten him up, but it's hard to give him a lot of pellets/worms when my other fish are so quick to get the food first.

I've given him sinking pellets and other food that sinks, but my other fish usually gobble it all up before it even gets close to hitting the ground. I've also tried putting my hand in the tank to drop food close to my bichir, but my other fish see it and get to it first. It's bad because my bichir has to smell the food for a few seconds before he bites it and most of the time it's too late.

I was just wondering, what is the best way to fatten up my bichir in a community tank like this?

 

[Nemesis]

Try feeding it when all the lights are out. They are nocturnal, and have really poor vision. They usually rely on smell to find their food, and will have no problem finding it in pitch black.

 

[Aridd]

^

+1

What he said. I had a big Sen in with some africans for a while (and anyone whos had africans can rightly assume that there wasnt much food getting down to the bichir) so i had to hand feed it while it was in that tank if wanted him to have a full belly.

 

[poly-nomial]

And/or stick your hand down in the tank

 

[erk419]

Use a turkey baster for food that you would be able to put in there like frozen bloodworm's etc

 

[peewee]

my bichirs are with a school of silver dollars that are always hungry no matter how much you feed them, what i do is i first feed floating pellets on the far end side of my tank to get their attention then drop sinking pellets to wherever my bichirs are located, because usually they tend to stay together so i just have to drop in one or two spots which makes it easier.

 

[Burbotman]

Try feeding it when all the lights are out. They are nocturnal, and have really poor vision. They usually rely on smell to find their food, and will have no problem finding it in pitch black.

Agreed,

 

[Sarah88]

yeah just feed at night right after you turn the lights off and he should be able to feed then, i had this problem with my pictus cats always getting to the food before my sens, but now that they are bigger they get right into the mix with the other cichlids, by biggest sen will actually swim up and lay on top of a pile of pellets and then slowly work his way back as he eats the ones in front of him so the cichlids cant get to the ones he wants to eat

 

[Cleanbio]

What I do is I use a smaller pellet (i.e. biogold small or medium depending on the size of the fishes) and I pour a fair amount but no more than they can consume in a reasonable time, all at once. By pouring it all at once in the tank this ensures that some of it falls to the bottom.

 

[moonchild1970]

Mine all know that when I turn the filters off to run to the same drop spot 'cuz it's feeding time lol!