Hey everyone. I have questions in this thread. I am keeping fish from the family Brachyplatystoma for the first time, and from reading other threads I assume that others have the same problem. I've noticed that both fish that I own(flash zebra, and piraiba) are very picky and from day one would only take live fish. When I first got them they were very sickly and I did not want to starve them. After two weeks of eating nothing I broke down and got them guppies. They were only 2", and 3" at this point. I also got a jau with them. So anyway after fattening them and getting them to around 6" I decided it was time to ween them. So I started starving them. After a month they were again sickly and refused to even look at shrimp, fresh fish, bloodworms, or anything else I would put in the tank. The jau on the other hand took a liking to shrimp, and fresh fish. He outgrew them 3to1. So he's in a seperate tank now. My concern is that I had to start feeding them minnows again for fear they would die. I could see their ribs, and their backs were sunken in. So now I have them to 10" and I am trying again to ween them, and I have decided to stick it out til either they die or get off live food. Anything you guys have done with fish from this family to get them off live food? Feeding them the crappy feeders from around here has given them numerous illness, but I have been able to save them everytime. I'm just sick of them being sick and would like to get them on to healthier foods. I just need to know any tricks of the trade. I've weened many, rtc, tsn, hybrids, native cats, ect, but these two take the cake, and imo seem unweenable! Please post up your expiriences for me and everyone else to learn from!
Don't worry I won't let my fish die, if need be I'll get some more feeders, but for the next couple of months til they look like they are dying again they get nothing but whatever I am trying to feed them.
Don't worry I won't let my fish die, if need be I'll get some more feeders, but for the next couple of months til they look like they are dying again they get nothing but whatever I am trying to feed them.
My plan is to now not put any more feeders in with the fila and see how long it takes me to persuade him to eat something besides feeders. So now I can fatten up the now skinny jur. The fila btw has grown 3" in the past month while healing up. He's eaten about 200 feeders in that time frame as well. I'd love to be able to post on here next month and say he's off live for good as well!
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) the way they sink I guess can make it seem like the sardine is alive for the split second it takes for your fish to eat it... you should have no problem finding small ones in the supermarket and they are really cheap... although not the best quality food it's not far off...and you can always load them with some vitamins and or shrimp or blood worms or what ever you want if you can get them eating them. If your lucky enough you should have your choice of head on or off as well... Never hurts to get the head on if your trying to "fool" your fish... Maybe if you still have some feeder Guppies you could test it out by freezing them and seeing if your able to fool your Fila