Bichirs completely refusing pellets

[SpecialKay]

Hey everyone. My bichirs have recently refused to eat any pellets I give them, and will only eat meaty food (cut tilapia, worms, etc.) I was alternating meaty foods with pellets every other day, and it was fine for the past year. However, now it's as if all of them are on a pellet strike.

Tbh I don't mind feeding them only meaty foods if they didn't foul up the water very quickly (2 of them take 1 hour+ to find and eat the food); I'm having to do 90% water changes every 3 days now, because nitrates are quickly climbing up from 0ppm to >30ppm. Before, it took a whole week to go from 0ppm to just 15ppm.

I've tried Hikari Massivore Delit and New Life Spectrum Thera A, and the bichirs just spit them back out.

 

[kno4te]

I’d wait it out. Retry the food. Eventually they should eat….short of being sick.

 

[Norsynth]

Do you mind providing your livestock as well as tank dimensions and filtration?

 

[SpecialKay]

I’d wait it out. Retry the food. Eventually they should eat….short of being sick.

I'll try that, but 2 of the bichirs has a habit of biting things when they get hungry. I'm worried it'll kill one of the other bichirs or a rainbowfish. Last time I starved them, the female ripped apart my 7" african brown knife, and the male ate my albino Senegal (4 inches).

Do you mind providing your livestock as well as tank dimensions and filtration?

Sure:
Tank is an IM SR2 80G AIO
Tank Dimensions: 46.5” x 18” x 16"
Filtration: AIO filtration (Replace all stock filters with sponge+floss) + Fluval 407 (Sponge + bio spheres)

Livestock:
3x Platinum Bichir (5-6 inches)
1x Long Fin Senegal (6 inches)
5x Van Heurni Rainbowfish (5-6 Inches)

 

[Norsynth]

Your set-up looks good. So in the marine hobby we often lace our food with other things for picky eaters, maybe dip the pellets in a tilapia mix to the get the smell on it?

 

[tlindsey]

Do you mind providing your livestock as well as tank dimensions and filtration?

Welcome aboard

 

[SpecialKay]

Your set-up looks good. So in the marine hobby we often lace our food with other things for picky eaters, maybe dip the pellets in a tilapia mix to the get the smell on it?

That sounds good, I'll try smearing some blended tilapia with the pellets!

 

[Caveden]

What I used to do: stuff the pellets into the tilapia, bichir is forced to eat the tilapia together with the pellets. Then eventually just feed the pellets by itself when the bichir is accustomed to the taste!

 

[jjohnwm]

My experience with Polypterus is limited to a single Ornate that I owned for many years, so this is more of a generalized suggestion rather than a Poly-specific one, but...it sounds as though you might be overfeeding. Fish that get too much food can become picky about eating the least-attractive portions of that food...which might be your pellets? Fish that are aggressive and/or highly predatory will become seemingly more laid-back and tolerant of tankmates when they are stuffed to the gills...and then, when "starved", turn back into killers.

The increased speed of nitrate accumulation is very typical of a tank in which smaller fish are grown out; an aquarist becomes accustomed to a certain water change regimen to maintain nitrates at a certain level...and a year later the fish have doubled or more in biomass, so naturally the nitrates accumulate much faster, making what was once an acceptable rate of water changes completely inadequate now.

I wouldn't expect it to take an hour or more for four predators in the 6-inch size range to find and devour a typical feeding portion in a 48x18 tank...unless there is too much food in the first place. Personally, I would never leave the food in that long before removing it, unless perhaps with brand new fish that are not feeding regularly yet; and if I found myself removing uneaten food, my first step would be to put in much less in the first place. I get that Polys in general are perhaps slower feeders than many predators...although you would never have known it from observing my Ornate...but an hour seems, IMHO, excessive...unless the amount of food presented is also excessive.

Again, very generalized comments and observations; I await more experienced keepers of these particular species to chime in with more specific comments.

 

[SpecialKay]

So I starved my Bichirs the past 2 days, and tested the feeding suggestions today.

Food was placed directly 1 inch in front of fish in equal portions, and recorded for 1 hour 30 min for each test. Each test took place immediately after the previous one.

1. First test: New Spectrum Life Thera pellets soaked in distilled water.
   1. No response from the pair of 6 inch Plats or the Longfin.
   2. The 5 inch Plat finished all pellets after 00:45:37.
2. Second Test: Diced Shrimp mixed with finely ground up new Life Spectrum Thera Pellets.
   1. No response from the pair of 6 inch Plats or Longfin.
   2. The 5 inch Plat chewed a bit of food, but is already full.
3. Third Test: Diced Shrimp.
   1. The pair of 6 inch plats devoured 80% of the shrimp after 5 min.
   2. Longfin began eating after 1:15:18.
   3. The 5 inch plat chewed a bit, but is already full.

My smallest Plat (5 inch) seems to have begun eating pellets again, but the other 3 still have no response. They wouldn't even touch shrimp seasoned with pellet powder. I will try mixing ground Hikari pellets in 2 more days, and see if that takes.

My experience with Polypterus is limited to a single Ornate that I owned for many years, so this is more of a generalized suggestion rather than a Poly-specific one, but...it sounds as though you might be overfeeding. Fish that get too much food can become picky about eating the least-attractive portions of that food...which might be your pellets? Fish that are aggressive and/or highly predatory will become seemingly more laid-back and tolerant of tankmates when they are stuffed to the gills...and then, when "starved", turn back into killers.

The increased speed of nitrate accumulation is very typical of a tank in which smaller fish are grown out; an aquarist becomes accustomed to a certain water change regimen to maintain nitrates at a certain level...and a year later the fish have doubled or more in biomass, so naturally the nitrates accumulate much faster, making what was once an acceptable rate of water changes completely inadequate now.

I wouldn't expect it to take an hour or more for four predators in the 6-inch size range to find and devour a typical feeding portion in a 48x18 tank...unless there is too much food in the first place. Personally, I would never leave the food in that long before removing it, unless perhaps with brand new fish that are not feeding regularly yet; and if I found myself removing uneaten food, my first step would be to put in much less in the first place. I get that Polys in general are perhaps slower feeders than many predators...although you would never have known it from observing my Ornate...but an hour seems, IMHO, excessive...unless the amount of food presented is also excessive.

Again, very generalized comments and observations; I await more experienced keepers of these particular species to chime in with more specific comments.

I do overfeed my Bichirs, because 2 of the platinums are insanely aggressive when not fully stuffed. It's to the point where they approach and snap at any fish within half a foot. They've already ripped apart my 7" African Brown Knife, and killed a 4" Albino Senegal. I don't even have another tank to put them in right now, aside from a 10 gallon, which is absolutely not sufficient for a pair of 6 inch bichirs.

You're spot on with growing fish generating more nitrates, but it would be a gradual change. In my case, the nitrates quadrupled within a few days of me feeding chopped meat. I do believe this is because I have to leave the food in for an extended period of time, since the Longfin and 5 inch platinum take their time to actually get up and move around to find the food. The other 2 Bichirs actually finish eating after 2-5 minutes.