Chewing and spitting...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thank you for your input. Does that get better next time you feed or when?

So because I was inpatient I fed right now instead of 5 hours from now like I normally would, i couldn't wait. So I thawed 10 smelt, dumped half for prego female, half for the other two. Pounced on it as usual, and at the end there was one extra piece on each side. On the side with 2 rays the male got a lot of the food, so I thawed two more. Now here is the thing, the small female hovered over the piece that was left over (chewed a bit by the male a refused), mouthed it, no interest. I dropped in 3 more pieces, she ate 2/3. I dropped in 1 more for the prego female, she had no interest. So now 2 pieces left in her side, and 2 left on the other side. Pretty much what I predicted a few posts above, but i fed 12 instead of the 10 I was. It was earlier, but they didn't eat much yesterday. The little female refusing the piece the male refused and after accepting another 2 pieces confuses the living hell out of me. Why they leave 1 or two when similar and even larger feedings before yielded a quick eat and no pieces also bothers me. Tomorrow I will try with pellets. Why so much worse eat % with shrimp? They still did a lot of chewing and spitting before getting it down.

I really dont feel like I'm overfeeding cuz this never was an issue before. I also only feed once a day. Tomorrow I will test with pellets, but assume it will be about 95%-100% eat ratio. I guess the question is, for 2 rays about 15" in diameter and a prego female 22" in diameter, how much would you guys say I should be feeding/should they be eating?

Anyone recommend starve for a day?
 
Last edited:
1 of the pieces from the side with two of them was eaten, the one that wasn't chewed and refused.
 
Sounds like they are deff being picky for some reason. My adult rays are still eating about 4 lbs of food per day for 5 adults. I also feed twice per day

I would guess something with the water. A few months ago i had pups that wouldnt eat, turned out i had alot of sediment in my water, i added 5 micron filters to my drip and they started eating the next day

Last batch of bd pups took off slow because we had chlorine in our water. You could actually smell it if you poured a glass of water to drink. I doubled up on carbon filters and the pups started eating better a few days later.

Im guessing you are having something similar going on. Maybe small amount of chlorine? Sediment?

Your biggest problem is going to be getting the pups to eat when they are born. What are your housing plans for the pups?
 
Ya that's all that's on my mind, is if these guys aren't eating well I got no chance getting the pups to eat. They are going in a 44x32 footprint tank that's looped into the same system. The only thing maybe I am missing here is the big female is being stressed holding 145 days, the little female stressed from the male trying to breed her unsuccessfully, and the male is having the least problems eating, could be a little bit of stress from not getting the job done either, but he's eating the best. I think too much of a coincidence though for all 3 to have an issue at the same time. Chlorine testing at 0, still trying to figure out the tds thing.

I'm a bit worried pulling the fx5, not sure if I am having water quality issues that will not make stuff worse. But on the odd chance it is the stupid silicon I better do it. Would feel better if that damn k1 seeded, i hope the fact that it didn't means I have more than enough bio a pulling fx5 isn't an issue.
 
Last edited:
Prego female ate another piece too. She's gone a bit quiet, other two are crawling over each other and glass surfing, seemingly not a care in the world.
 
Fx5 is pulled, put the ceramic rings in my sump in panty hose. That filter never ever got dirty, would clean in once every 6 months and there was nothing to clean. Just used it cuz i had it, so probably wont see any effect removing it. I highly doubt it is the silicone but better safe than sorry.
 
My pellet guy is on vacation and I wanted to save some pellets for the pups, so fed smelt again. Fed a dozen. Mama left 2, two left kinda chewed on the other side too. On the bright side the little female ate great today. I also finally got my uv bulb after the 4th try not broken, so that is up and running again. Going to wait and see if the smelt disappears from mama's side for an hour or two.
 
So today I fed 1/4 my usual shrimp. The pair ate all of them, the mama left 6 pieces. Then fed maybe 1/2 regular amount of smelt. Pair ate it all, mama left 2 pieces. I see like constant movement on her right side for like 5 minutes at a time, 147 today, wonder if this is a good sign and not a bad one...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom