Feeding A Young Dempsey

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HopeFloats

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 30, 2009
18
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New Zealand
Hi Everyone :)

I have a young (around 3 inches long) Jack Depmsey. He currently has a 75 gallon to himself and seems pretty happy with that. What I'm wondering about is food. At the moment I'm feeding him about half a predator stick at a time (Nutrafin Predator Sticks, 20% earthworm, 20%krill,) which is all he can seem to eat.

I've given him bloodworms, which he also likes, but makes a huge mess with.

How much should I be feeding him a day? I feel like I am not feeding him enough but once he's had half of one of these predator sticks (about a quarter of an inch long) he doesn't want any more.

Is this a case of the wrong food? Or is he fine. He is pretty active and doesn't seem ill or thin, but it seems to me like he is eating too little.
 
Well if it stops eating, it is full. Also try dropping another peice in a few minutes after and see if it's interested.. Just feed it till it gets full, and you'll get an idea of how much it eats. Just make sure to clean up any uneaten food so your water doesn't get all funked up. I usually feed my fish when I get up, and before I go to bed, but everybodys feeding is different.

Welcome to the site.
 
:) Thanks. I kind of figured that he was full, it just seems like such a little bit of food relative to his size. He always seems to be happy to eat again an hour later, and sometimes he'll swim up to the food, see what it is and swim away again.

I do make sure that I take out any uneaten food, which is why I prefer the pellets to flakes or worms which are almost impossible to get out once they're in.
 
well he is a tiny fish, think about how small his little belly must be, usually with juvi fish you have to feed them smaller amounts more often throughout the day so now he may need four feedings a day but as he gets bigger and eats more in each feeding, go down to just two

Good Luck on you new Dempsey they are really gorgeous fish and as always ADD SOME PICS :)
 
I would stick to hikari gold as primary and supplement as s treat the other stuff. Feed twice a day while he is small as much as he will eat in 5 minutes.

My JD is doing fine and that is what I did. I got her when she was real small too.
 
+1 the hikari gold thats what i fed my oscars and they grew fast with it and it comes in different sizes so no breaking up the pellets just dropping a few small ones in there
 
Thanks guys, I'll look into getting some of those pellets. At the moment he really goes nuts for tetra flakes and bloodworms, which is what my fighters eat.

As requested, a picture of the little guy (I think he's a guy.)

littlejack.jpg
 
what a gorgeous little guy! and his colors will really stand out when he grows up!
 
thats looks just like a JD I just got. I've had mine about a month and hes grown at least an inch in that month (from 3" to 4) feeding on Omega one medium cichlid pellets and he even scarfs down large hikari gold pellets!
 
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