ordered some of my fish today .. 2x 4" florida gars, 1x 4" motoro ray and a 4" silver aro. ive asked the lfs to contact the distributor and ask what theyve ate so far. what should i be trying to feed them? idealy one food at a time so i dont have different food for different fish. any suggestions on my best bet .. also money wise?
feeding questions
- Thread starter Acura_RSX
- Start date
After you have them on the food listed above, try feeding less and less and introduce small amounts of pellets. You can also try crushing some garlic cloves and "marinate" the pellets in the juices. Garlic enhances the flavor and entices the fish to eat. The rays and aro should have an easy time converting. The gars will be tricky though. Try getting more tips for gars from the gar section.
you need to focus on getting them off of live food and on frozen tilapia or frozen silversides, because they are probably currently eating live feeder fish. my silver was purchased at about 7 inches. he was already on pellets, besides, silvers will eat anything. they're not that picky, in my experience. they are pigs and agressive eaters. my 2 gar were on live minnows when i purchased them at 6 inches. i weaned them onto frozen silversides since silverside resembled the live minnows that they were already eating. it took time but it worked. be patient, because florida gar are picky and not very aggressive eaters. i have yet to get my gar to take pellet. they totally ignore pellet. the best bang for your buck would be feeding frozen tilapia. i go to my local grocer to purchase frozen tilapia by the box for $13 and that's for a 4 lb box, which includes 22 fillets. also, tilapia is a high-quality, reasonably-priced source of protein. once you get your fish settled in and they start to regularly take food, try a variety of things. i've never tried shrimp, because i think it can be expensive. also, try freeze-dried krill. my fish love krill and their not too expensive. i also use night crawlers as an occasional treat. good luck, be patient and keep in mind that you're training your fish to eat a you wish and that should be to your financial advantage.
phillydog1958;3790497; said:
very informative. thanks. any exact details on how you converted them all? and how long does a 4 lb box last you generally? one of my good friends works in seafood department of a grocery store and lives two doors away from me so i wouldnt even have to pick anything up. just trying to feed the fish .. keep them healthy but im on a budget too so
My biggest word of caution is get the fish settled in and eating. fish can and will starve to death if they don't identify a food source as food. They will be stressed when you get them home, and that will lower their immune systems and make them hesitant to eat even their favorite foods. I've had great luck in dealing with some of my more delicate fish by starting them on a healthy live food they readily take.. weaning them to a froze/freshly killed form.. then soaking pellets in a "soup" of the frozen/fresh foods. Such as soaking pellets in bloodworm or brineshrimp. or stuffing dead feeder fish/fillets/shrimp ect with pellets. Some fish can/will be harder to convert then others.
most captive bred fish will readily take pellets as thats how they where raised. Just about every wild caught specimin I've aquired has taken weeks or monthes to convert to pellets. Have patience. Once eating the prefered diet slowly wean out the rest of the foods you wish to discontinue.
I don't condone starveing an animal to get it to eat what I want it to, but also finding a balance between one not understanding something is food, and monopolizing on it's favorite foods can be a fine line.
earthworms are one of your best options for live feeders, from a healthy reputable source. They are fairly "perfect" nutritionally wise. Everything but your gars should readily take them. I would try pellets the first few days. but if they still refuse to eat go to frozen/live. a fish thats eating maybe not the best food but your trying to switch over is imo better then one thats belly-up. Also avoid feeder goldfish. guppies/rosie minnows/platies/mollys are better as a general rule. Alot of LFS's are getting away from goldfish.. and with good reason.
after getting everyone offa live a healthy round of de-worming is also a wise idea.
And oddly enough I've noticed fish in tanks with others that readily take to pellets learn alot faster to take them. Once 1 or 2 start takeing the pellets it's usually a quick succession they fall into line.
and with live feeders be wary of offering to large of foods, they can and will be choked on. better to go with a bunch of small ones then only a few larger ones 'cause it's "cheaper".
most captive bred fish will readily take pellets as thats how they where raised. Just about every wild caught specimin I've aquired has taken weeks or monthes to convert to pellets. Have patience. Once eating the prefered diet slowly wean out the rest of the foods you wish to discontinue.
I don't condone starveing an animal to get it to eat what I want it to, but also finding a balance between one not understanding something is food, and monopolizing on it's favorite foods can be a fine line.
earthworms are one of your best options for live feeders, from a healthy reputable source. They are fairly "perfect" nutritionally wise. Everything but your gars should readily take them. I would try pellets the first few days. but if they still refuse to eat go to frozen/live. a fish thats eating maybe not the best food but your trying to switch over is imo better then one thats belly-up. Also avoid feeder goldfish. guppies/rosie minnows/platies/mollys are better as a general rule. Alot of LFS's are getting away from goldfish.. and with good reason.
after getting everyone offa live a healthy round of de-worming is also a wise idea.
And oddly enough I've noticed fish in tanks with others that readily take to pellets learn alot faster to take them. Once 1 or 2 start takeing the pellets it's usually a quick succession they fall into line.
and with live feeders be wary of offering to large of foods, they can and will be choked on. better to go with a bunch of small ones then only a few larger ones 'cause it's "cheaper".
Acura_RSX;3790545; said:
in reference to your question about how long a box of tilapia lasts, it depends on the size, species and number of fish one has. plus, i love to eat tilapia myself. i eat out of the box, too. i can tell you this: one tilapia fillet will last me several days and i feed 3 tanks with various types and sizes of fish, including a foot-long silver arowana, a foot-long tire track eel and an 8-inch tire track, 2 florida gars of about 9 inches, a couple of mid-sized oscars, a few knife fish of 4-6 inches, 6 tinfoils of 3-5 inches, one blue lobster crayfish and one 8 inch senegal bichir and a smaller one of about 6 inches. and a few others. Keep in mind that i also feed pellets, krill, night crawlers, bloodworm, silversides, freeze-dried tubifex worms, etc . . . i mix it up and try to keep them healthy. also, the conversion from live to frozen takes time, especially with florida gar. the secret to teaching my gar was to allow them to learn from their more aggresive-eating tank mates. my gar took 2-3 weeks to eat anything. i don't like the starving method, but that's all i had as an option. they're timd eater. but now, they are doing well. i also suggest that you use a bbq skewer if you notice that some of your fish are not getting their fair share. just place the food one the end of the skewer and place it near the targeted fish. i use this method to feed my gar and bottom feeders like the senegals. my arowana and oscars are aggressive eaters and i have to make sure all fish are eating. the bbq skewer helps.
here's a sidebar: your fish are younger and smaller, so one box of tilapia will last you awhile. i'd guess that one fillet will last you 5 days. tilapia is a heavy, course, meaty fish, with much density to fill your fish's bellies. you can chop it up into small pieces and feed as needed. as your fish grow, your fillets will last a shorter time, but as i stated before, tilapia last me awhile and all of my fish are bigger and greedy.