Feeding my CK?

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Psychomatrix

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2009
52
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Trinidad and Tobago
ok so i just got my CK and my whole family loves him.

his is about 8 inches maybe a little more. the LFS that had him had him eating small gold fish and mollies.
i am trying to break him off of the feeders and get him onto my own homemade fish food.

i have used the starvation method before but i am a bit concerned this time because he is in a large tank 72"x24"x30" that is decorated so i can't really tell if he is seeing the food

the plan i have is this every night before i go to sleep i will put in 2 small chunks of food on either side of the tank. in the morning if they are still there i will take them out as not to foul the water. ( i am not home during the day cause of work).

if you guys have any other ideas please tell me i dont have the luxury of another small tank i am now getting back in the hobby so all i have is my 6 foot tank for now maybe later i will get some more tanks.
 
At that size, it might be tricky to get them off live, but I find CKs pretty easy to get off live. Do you have other fish in the tank or is it by itself? They learn quite quickly when they see other fish eat.
If you're keeping it by itself, starving and then feed it a few feeders dropping one feeder at a time making sure it sees that you're the one dropping in the feeder from a certain place. Then starve again and repeat until it knows to come up for food. Then you can drop in a feeder and then drop in a piece of shrimp.
 
well for now he is y himself
i am thinking about putting in an oscar with him to help teach him but i am not sure because th oscar is not what i want in the tank. i wanted to put a datnoid with him but i might not get them for a month again

please any other suggestions will be helpfull
 
so i'm guessing your food floats???? is there any way to place it in front of him?? ever used laser pointers in your tank??? my fish go nuts trying to kill the beam/dot you may be able to get him mad enough to eat something hahaha just a thought. try some sinking food or tye some of your food onto the tail of a feeder and see if he gulps them both down haha. we used to tye hooks to live mice and float them out on a lake on top of a piece of wood them pull the wood out from under the mouse.......pike can't resist an animal scrambling for it's life.
 
How long have you been starving it? At that size, it can probably go for a few weeks. You can also get some fishing string and poke it through the shrimp and "go fishing"
 
ok well i got him about 4 days now.
and no my food sinks
i am trying the fishing method where i sting the food sit really still and kinda jigg him with it.

so far i got him rushing up to it but not biting.
i know it is going to take some patience and time
but on another note i am getting a dat or 2 in couple of days and an aro to so hopfully some other fish in the tank will help him not be so shy and once they start eating he should follow.

but i like the idea of tieing food on a feeder lol i might actually try it
 
ok well i hve update

my CK is still not eating anything except live food i finally gave in and fed hm on Saturday.
but i gets worse he had a little out of the tank experience when my dad forgot the lid open and i foind him about 20 mins after laying on the floor. he was partially dry and not moving much but he was breathing. so i dumped him back in and hopped for the best.

.......well he is eating and swimming fine but now all he does is hide i have seen him since saturday all i know is that the feeders go missing.

again anyone with suggestions please feel free.

i was wondering if i put im some more social fish temporarily would it encourage him out?
i was thinking about some large discus since they are mellow or a young oscar N.B. this is going to be temporary.
 
First, let me say Welcome!, and congrats on owning your knifey poo! (I love them, can you tell?:naughty:)

IME I've found that ck's are generally very shy until they hit the 10-12 inch mark. I've also found it's hard to get them off of feeders until then. I've owned 3, all of them went the same way. My current is a gold, and is around 11 inches, and is FINALLY coming out, and eating silversides from my hand. I'd wait, keep with clean feeders, until it hits around 10 inches or so. Starving for a week usually does it, and silversides cut in half are usually what they start to eat first (for me anyways). Just drop them in where it normally hangs out. As far as finding the food, you'd be surprised how much of that tank gets swam through at night when the lights are out. When it realizes that YOU are it's source of food, it will follow you all over the place.:D

As far as the "out of tank experience", melafix, and an airstone (if you don't already have one in there). That should take care of anything that's wrong. It's what I do, and I haven't lost a fish from that yet. :grinno:

I'm off my podium, sorry for the rant, just a lot of info:screwy:
 
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