Endli Feeding Troubles

Fish Tank Travis

Potamotrygon
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Feb 28, 2016
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Ok, some of you have probably heard me post in some other threads about the troubles I am having getting food to my endli, so I decided to go ahead and post up a thread to get some ideas.

I currently have three fire eels (20, 27, and 28 inches), two vulture catfish (14 and 15 inches), two peacock bass (7 and 9 inches), and my endli (12 inches) in the tank. I vary the foods between a frozen tilapia/shrimp/scallop mix (that I make), frozen krill, frozen squid, live night crawlers, and Massivore pellets. Everything that can get the frozen food and night crawlers eat them, but the eels usually dominate the competition for these foods. Then, the catfish, bass, and bichir go for the pellets. The eels have recently been grabbing a few pellets here and there as well. Now, the issue I’m having is that all of my other fish eat so aggressively that the food is often gone before my bichir gets much, if any at all. He just doesn’t seem to have any sense of urgency when it comes to feeding time. Since I only feed every three days in the first place, he doesn’t get many opportunities to eat. He often gets only one or two Massivore pellets and sometimes gets nothing at all to the point that he probably only averages about three to four Massivore pellets a week. This didn’t use to be a problem because the catfish used to remain still when the lights came on and the bass were much smaller. This gave the endli plenty of time to go through and grab some pellets each feeding, but for several months now the catfish have been cleaning the food up within seconds of me feeding the tank. On top of that, I’ve tried to drop pellets right into the corner where the endli spends most of its time and the catfish figured that out very quickly so they hang out right there and grab the pellets before they even hit the bottom. I generally end up over feeding the Massivore pellets to try to get some to the endli but most of them just end up with the catfish.

Long story short, if you skipped to this point, my other fish eat all of the food leaving little to none for my “lazy” endli.

So, does anyone have any ideas to help with this? Setting up another tank is not possible for me. I fear that the best option might be to find a good home to send him to where he won’t be outcompeted for food.
 

jaws7777

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It sucks but you have some big time eaters in there. Only options i can think of is to target feed the endli with tongs. Stuffing pellets into pieces of tilapia. Or like you said rehome the endli.

I had the one vulture... i cant imagine feeding 2 !!! God bless you bro lol.

I know you pretty well man and your definitely one of the guys that "gets it" you care for your fish. 2 or 3 pellets a week really isnt fair for the fish. Its not that he doesnt have a sense of urgency it just takes them longer to realize theres food present.
 

Polyaddict86

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I would feed during lights off, i have 3 aro,2 odoe pike,2 florida gars and 2 dats, i feed them when lights on because before the food hits the floor all the swimmers eats every piece i drop, so what ill do is try to move all the bichirs on one side of the tank, then ill drop food for the swimmers on the other side of the tank. Then ill turn off all lights and since there are food that was drop already it make the bichirs excited. So while the lights are off ill drop the bichirs food on the opposite side where i drop the food the first time and where most of the bichirs are.
 

Polyaddict86

Alligator Gar
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Trick to bichirs is dont drop the food at once, try to get them going first, they are slow cause they dont see you giving food and the scent of the food take awhile to spread in the tank. So if you can drop your first few piece near your return pump to help spread the scent faster and get the bichir moving that will be good. Once you see it searching food food then it will be easier to target.
 

jaws7777

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I would feed during lights off, i have 3 aro,2 odoe pike,2 florida gars and 2 dats, i feed them when lights on because before the food hits the floor all the swimmers eats every piece i drop, so what ill do is try to move all the bichirs on one side of the tank, then ill drop food for the swimmers on the other side of the tank. Then ill turn off all lights and since there are food that was drop already it make the bichirs excited. So while the lights are off ill drop the bichirs food on the opposite side where i drop the food the first time and where most of the bichirs are.
Vulture cats are a whole other ball game. Lights off would probably encourage them to eat even more and faster. Plus he has 2 and both are bigger than mine was. These fish are lightening fast man
 

Fish Tank Travis

Potamotrygon
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Thanks guys.

It’s not looking good for keeping it at this point. As J jaws7777 mentioned, the vultures are even more active at night and grab food rapidly. I have tried to target feed it a bit by dropping pellets to the corner where it sits, but the catfish figured that out real quick and know to check that spot for food whenever the top is open.

J jaws7777 I do feed quite a bit. Every three days I feed about 2-3 oz of frozen food, nine night crawlers, and a total of 30 Massivore pellets. Lol. The bass have become much more aggressive eaters and don’t care at all to grab food away from the eels. The catfish, obviously, eat insane amounts. They easily average 10 pellets each when I feed them and often grab some of frozen foods as well.
 

Galantspeedz

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The catfish literally vacuum the entire bottom of the tank clean in 30 seconds or less. Lol. They are super fast and are able to use their barbles very well to find the food.
i had a similar problem i just dump bigger pieces of food so that those fast eaters mouth will be filled up... i also throw the least fav endi food first so make the other fishes full before feeding what the endi love most
 
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