C. Regani feeding? what to feed?

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softturtle

softturtle

Piranha
MFK Member
Jun 9, 2005
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N.W. Indiana
I recently purchased a few C. regani. They are about 2" long. All they have shown intrest in is live brine shrimp and baby guppies. So, my question is what do you feed your Crenicichla regani? I would like to put some weight on these fish and get them ready to spawn in a few months.
 
Have you tried frozen foods, like bloodworms, krill, brine shrimp, etc. ?
 
Yeah, with no luck. They do eat a little frozen brine shrimp(mostly spit it out), but I have live adult brine all of the time and they go crazy for them, so I feed them that instead. I had to cut each krill into 10 peices for them to even be able to get it in their mouths but they didn't like it. I have a feeling these fish are wild and are not going to take any non live for a while.
 
If you want quick growth and prime breeding readiness, nothing beats live black worms. I just barely received three little pikes today and have already started pumping them full of the worms. Within 3 months they ought to double in size.
 
How big are these black worms? Becuase these pikes are small! I'll try to post a picture of these little guys.
 
Here is a pic of the biggest male so you can see how big these pikes are (that plant on the surface is amazon duckweed- about .5cm-.75cm across). Do you think they could eat these black worms?

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Definately go with live blackworms. You can find them from a couple of sellers pretty easily. I think TFD has some right now for a great deal. Most LFS that get them in actually get in Tubiflex worms, which aren't really a good thing because they have a higher potential for housing parasites and disease.

As for them bein able to eat them, you bet. They will practically gorge themselves to the point of not being able to swim on these highly nutrious food. You gotta be careful feeding it because it is so high in protein. You HAVE to be sure to have at least one day a week for 'fasting'...just like you do with most predators. It allows them to clean out their gut, blah blah blah. For younger pikes, only do this about once a week. For older ones, you could do it up to two times.

Bloodworms, mysis, and live blackworms are the BEST conditionin foods if you want to get your fish to put on size and beef up. As far as breeding, bloodworms, live blackworms, ghost shrimp, and live brineshrimp are GREAT. All in all the live blackworms are your best bet.

BTW...they look great!! Can't wait to see them larger and ready to spawn!
 
Well... just by chance a new store opened up about a mile from me and he is all about SA cichlids and other cool monsters. He said he is ordering in some blackworms for me.

Update on the pike situation- I was doing some reading and everyone was talking about RO. So I put in 10 gal and bam- the next day two paired up and are defending a rock they can just barley fit under. The female looks twice as fat/pink?!?! Just from RO water? I do have a couple pairs of guppies that make a lot of little guppies, maybe they ate themselfs into condition? I don't know but I will keep you people updated.
 
You're simulating what happens during the breeding season. It rains hard. The rain is soft like RO water thereby dropping the hardness of the tank water. The rain is typically accompanied by slightly cooler temps so if the RO water was cooler than the tank water that would contribute. Also associated with the rain is increased food availability.

1. Softer water
2. Increased feeding
3. Slightly cooler temps
4. decreased water metabilites

BAM!!

Breeding... :naughty:
 
Scatocephalus;751860; said:
You're simulating what happens during the breeding season. It rains hard. The rain is soft like RO water thereby dropping the hardness of the tank water. The rain is typically accompanied by slightly cooler temps so if the RO water was cooler than the tank water that would contribute. Also associated with the rain is increased food availability.

1. Softer water
2. Increased feeding
3. Slightly cooler temps
4. decreased water metabilites

BAM!!

Breeding... :naughty:
Click to expand...

Man, you went into detail..haha, but ya nailed it. Doing water changes is very helpful in gettin your fish to spawn. The fresh, new water, cooler temps, and lower waste in the water is pretty much like the rainy season, which is when they do the most breeding. RO is the best to stimutale this in SA cichlids...as the drop in pH is a BIG trigger. Addin peat to your tank or beech leaves, will also drop the pH. I knew someone who kept his dwarf pikes in 4.5 pH water...and they breed like a mo fo for him!

I hope you have great success with them! Speakin of success, you will get better results if you put in a couple of pieces of PVC or coconut halves with a hole drilled in it...that will make a better spawnin sight.
 
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