Can A flagtail prochilodus survive off of eating plants?

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labeo said:
Mine takes prawn, frozen peas, and floating protein sticks and has grown very fast.


frozen peas sounds good and the protein sticks are perfect because I feed my aro's that. i think i'll try the peas. Thanks!

but how fast is very fast?
 
They are mainly herbivores but in the wild also eat a lot of associated inverts, they will nibble any food that you feed to other fish as well. They love the occassional earthworm.
 
awesum said:
frozen peas sounds good and the protein sticks are perfect because I feed my aro's that. i think i'll try the peas. Thanks!

but how fast is very fast?


He,s grown to about 7in in about 4 months
 
awesum said:
what would be the best food to get them to grow faster? i need them to catch up with my 2 foot aro's . right now my flagtails are about 3" inches.

Flagtails are very slow growing fish so i wouldn't expect them to grow much faster with any growth enhancing pellets or foods.
 
labeo said:
He,s grown to about 7in in about 4 months


what size he start at to get to 7inches and that's by feeding him everyday? if so, how many times a day? i usually feed my fish every other day.
 
awesum said:
what size he start at to get to 7inches and that's by feeding him everyday? if so, how many times a day? i usually feed my fish every other day.


He started off at about 2/3in and he is fed everyday on a variety of foods, also i have no real plants in with him but he does also graze on the plasit plants and aquarium glass.
 
okay thanks everyone for your help. i appreciate it. feel free to add more info if there is any.
 
I had mine in with some amazon swords, some with alage growing on it. He cleaned off all the algae but didnt eat the swords. I don't know if thats typical since they are herbivores, but he pretty much eats any prepared foods.
 
johno27 said:
I am not sure if it is a proper diet for a flagtail but beefheart makes everything grow faster.
:iagree:
 
Yes your prochilodus will eat plants, however I don't advise to feed them only that.

First off, i find they rip the plants up, and floating leaves and such easily clog up filters..

If you want them to grow fast, give them lots of prawn. leave chunks (not too much mind you) overnight in the tank for them to munch on.

I got mine from 3" to 12" in about 2 years.

One thing , they will eat anything they can!! Live food usually escapes them, but most vegetables, meats and pellets are fine for them.

I currently feed my 16+ inch prochilodus pellets every day, brocolli, spinnach and carrots a few times a month and the occasionally feeding of prawn.

Oh, when my phoenix was growing the fastest, it was living with a 15 inch oscar that was very well fed.. The oscar would take theses giant "thumb sized" craps, and the phoenix ate it up!
Result was a spotless clean tank and a fast growing FF..

That being said, their still slow growing fish, and if your aro is 2' + like you say, then don't put them in untill 1 foot!!!

My 2' RTG ate a 7~8 inch FF !!!
 
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