Fattening up baby geo

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Update: I've been feeding them the nls pellets and they're not really eating them! The one I'm tryin to fatten up will only eat like 1 or 2 and the fatter one won't even look at them. How do I get them to start eating the pellets? I am constantly having to siphon out all the food they don't eat


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it's best to grow geos out in groups of 6 or more. they need sinking foods and also fine sand substrate to sift through.
if their tankmates are larger and greedier bottom feeders, they can get out-competed for food.
I always feed mine NLS GROW until they really need larger pellets.
switching things up too much creates problems. stick with nls sinking, let them get used to the texture.
 
petspoiler said:
it's best to grow geos out in groups of 6 or more. they need sinking foods and also fine sand substrate to sift through.
if their tankmates are larger and greedier bottom feeders, they can get out-competed for food.
I always feed mine NLS GROW until they really need larger pellets.
switching things up too much creates problems. stick with nls sinking, let them get used to the texture.
Click to expand...

They've got sand and the pellets do sink but i don't think they like them :/ I wanted to get more of them but these were their last 2. Should I just continue feeding the pellets until they start eating it? I used to feed them bloodworms.


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juvie fish, being in their early conditioned response learning phase of life, if you don't cut out the bloodworms they'll get worse & worse about accepting pellets. especially fresh or frozen BWs [they're like candy to fish], rather than freeze-dried. they taste great, but are far from providing complete nutrition. even freeze dried are softer than pellets.
Just offer a small amount of pellets at first, don't litter the tank. small juvie fish that hesitate toward 1mm pellets readily try tasting the GROW formula because they are so small and rich, they don't have to overcome the chewing factor, they are easily swallowed.
Juvie geos are normally easy, not fussy eaters.
 
So here's another update: unfortunately the one I was trying to fatten up didn't make it. But I still have the other but it still isn't taking the pellets. It doesn't even seem interested in them at all. I tried to get more at the lfs over the weekend to see if there would be a better feeding response in a group but they all had ick. Should I feed it a cube of bloodworms tonight just so that it gets some food then continue trying to feed it nls? I don't want this one to die too and I am going to get more when they don't have ick anymore.


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You could try bloodworms, but if the fish has no drive to eat I'd say it may have an internal parasite problem. Can you isolate it, feed it bloodworms, and then see what the feces looks like?
 
ryansmith83 said:
You could try bloodworms, but if the fish has no drive to eat I'd say it may have an internal parasite problem. Can you isolate it, feed it bloodworms, and then see what the feces looks like?
Click to expand...

It eats just fine when I feed it bloodworms. It just never was a fan of pellets. The other one that died would taste the pellets but would never eat a lot of them. This one was just never interested in them but I really want to get it on pellets. Bloodworms aren't a good staple at all for it but so far, that's all it'll eat.


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Does your geo sift sand at all? I have never known mine not to sift. All young geos I have will sift sand and eat tiny particles, including tiny pellets (this is why very small pellets, .5mm like NLS Grow formula are good).

You can feed it bloodworms to fatten it up but I'd still monitor its feces to make sure it's normal. A healthy fish will rarely starve itself to death. Most will eventually give in and eat pellets after a week or two. This is why it's odd to me that the geo died.
 
What's weird is that it sifts but not very often at all. Then again, I don't normally sit and watch it for more than 5 minutes. The waste looks like normal fish poo. Not excessively stringy and its solid. I'm not noticing any weight loss on it at all but I just never see it eat now that the other one died. The one that died was the one that was extremely skinny but it ate a lot. It's just when I started offering pellets was when it started going downhill and died.


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