boulengerelia lateristriga (Striped Characin Gar)

[kniesh]

Hi, not sure if this is the correct place for this. Figured here or Gars, and as it isn't a real Gar I opted for here.

I recently bought 2 of these, unfortunately misjudged the sizes and one I think has been eaten by my 12" Ornate Bichir. I just havent seen it at all since the first night in. I moved the other (roughly 6") but reasonably slim, to another tank to grow out. I decided I would try my luck with a few frozen and dry foods before anything live, and the only thing he has taken to so far are the Hikari Cichlid Pellets. He seems to eat these pretty freely but I am worried he wont take anything meaty like bloodworms or Prawns/Mussels/Squid. Is this an ok diet for him until he starts to pick up the others, and if so, how many do you think I should be feeding him a day/how many times a day? He is around 6" now but skinny, not an unhealthy skinny though.

Thanks in advance

 

[Industrial]

Id say that is fine for quite a while. A lot of characins are insectivores or carnivorous and do fine on just flake even. Watch out for his excited speed bursts. These do best in really large tanks where they have room to stop in time or small tanks where they cannot build up speed.

 

[kniesh]

Thanks for the response. Thought it may be ok with thse but just wanted to make sure. At the moment he is in a 2 foot cubed - 55gallons. Should just be small enough I think. Intention is to go in a 12x4x3 in the end so that should be big enough too.

Thanks a lot

 

[Industrial]

No problem, and make sure you post some pictures of it when it gets larger. Large boulengerella characins are an awesome sight!

 

[lix.ma14]

It'll be fine for a while.