Eartheater question(s).

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jeffries

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 20, 2009
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Philadelphia, PA
I recently rescued a S. jurupari from my LFS that was being beat up on by his tankmates. I have always had a soft spot for these types of fish but this is the first time that I have ever owned one. He seems to be in good health, other than his fins being a bit ragged, which I am working on with some Melafix.

For food, I purchased Cichlid Gold floating pellets from Hikari, Cichlid Omni Flakes from Ocean Nutrition and freeze dried Krill from San Francisco Bay Brand. My main question is concerning feeding him.... This may sound a little "innane" but bare with me.

Will he accept food from the top of the tank or should I have purchased the sinking type food since he probably prefers to eat from the bottom of the tank, hence the name "eartheater"? If so, one wonders where you would get a flake food that sinks to the bottom. (lol)

Anywho, any thoughts on this? :feedback:
 
While he settles in it might be necessary to provide some kind of sinking food until he is more comfortable. But, generally Satanoperca readily feed from the surface. Omega One shrimp pellets are a good sinking food for eartheaters. Even with large fish I would crush the pellets up into smaller pieces.
 
my jurupari will come to the surface when food is introduced but never really takes any. as soon as food starts to sink he'll eat it. as ed said, the sinking shrimp pellets are his favorite. also try frozen foods like bloodworms, brine shrimp, krill and even earthworms
 
all my geos go to the top..after the food at the top is gone they then go to the bottom and sift thru the sand
 
Everyone has pretty much answered your question but i would like to add that buying the smaller pellets are better for eartheaters. With Hikari, I use the "mini" size. They like it better and for the "medium" size Hikari that I still have left over, I just soak it in Vita-Chem for a few minutes until it softens and then feed. After my larger pellets are gone, I will only buy the "mini" size next time.


BTW, I feed some freezedried foods from time to time and my geos will readily swim to the top and chow down. Your good to go with the foods you bought, though it doesn't hurt to try new stuff until you find what your fish like the most.
 
titansfever83;2938223; said:
With Hikari, I use the "mini" size. They like it better and for the "medium" size Hikari that I still have left over, I just soak it in Vita-Chem for a few minutes until it softens and then feed.
Click to expand...

I do the same. I throw in pre-soked floating pellets and krills first, wait till they are all gone, then throw in sinking pellets (Omega One Shrimp Pellets, Ocean Nutrition Cichlid Vegi Pellets and a bunch of other things). Most of my fish (including the Satanopercas) eat from both the surface and the bottom, but with different proportions.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. He still doesn't seem to like going to the top to get the food, so I will pick up some sinking pellets tonight.

Perhaps when he sees the sinking pellets drop into the tank he will learn that when something hits the top of the water that it's feeding time and will eventually investigate the top of the tank for food.
 
I went ahead and purchased some Omega One sinking Shrimp pellets last night. Even after I put them in there, it still took him awhile to find them. (lol) I guess he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. I even soaked them in water a bit first and despite that it did look like he had some difficulty "chewing" them up. I had no idea that these fish have trouble with anything that isn't soft textured. How long should I be soaking these pellets before I drop them in the tank?
 
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