Hi fish folk,
my fish are showing me that tastes among them can be as unusual as tastes among people, and I'd enjoy hearing about some of your experiences.
My Giant Gourami is typically a trash can with fins; just toss it in. However, I've found that his favorite food is green bell peppers, and that while he goes ballistic for wild strawberries (fresh picked from the patch in my yard), the only veggie food he won't eat is market bought strawberries! He'll grab a piece, spit it out, and won't touch another!
My bichirs are good eaters, refusing almost nothing, and even taking pellets before they hit the bottom of the tank. The odd thing with them is that they will not touch fish flesh until after dark! Live fish or pieces of flesh, they won't touch it until sometime during the night. Everything else they hoover up in a heartbeat.
My dovii tends to eat everything, but for some reason prefers his food in very small pieces, like eyeball sized. He'll take bigger, but only after picking off the smaller bits first. Now, I am a firm believer that it's easier on the digestive system to eat in smaller pieces, but this surprises me with such a predatory fish that he'd think the same way. I found out this afternoon after coming in from doing yard work that my Wolf cichlid very much likes Wolf spiders!
My lungfish, P. annectens....well...if you've ever watched an African Lungfish eat, you know, it's just gross. The funny thing is, when he hit about 26" in length, his whole attitude toward eating changed. Before, he'd hunt for whatever he smelled. Next thing I knew, he would just start snapping at everything the instant food hit the water, until he bit the right thing. Nothing was safe, wood, rocks, heater. I had to move everything to a sump just to keep him safe. Oddly enough, I could reach in and pet him or pick him up with no problem.
So, any oddball eaters in your crew?
my fish are showing me that tastes among them can be as unusual as tastes among people, and I'd enjoy hearing about some of your experiences.
My Giant Gourami is typically a trash can with fins; just toss it in. However, I've found that his favorite food is green bell peppers, and that while he goes ballistic for wild strawberries (fresh picked from the patch in my yard), the only veggie food he won't eat is market bought strawberries! He'll grab a piece, spit it out, and won't touch another!
My bichirs are good eaters, refusing almost nothing, and even taking pellets before they hit the bottom of the tank. The odd thing with them is that they will not touch fish flesh until after dark! Live fish or pieces of flesh, they won't touch it until sometime during the night. Everything else they hoover up in a heartbeat.
My dovii tends to eat everything, but for some reason prefers his food in very small pieces, like eyeball sized. He'll take bigger, but only after picking off the smaller bits first. Now, I am a firm believer that it's easier on the digestive system to eat in smaller pieces, but this surprises me with such a predatory fish that he'd think the same way. I found out this afternoon after coming in from doing yard work that my Wolf cichlid very much likes Wolf spiders!
My lungfish, P. annectens....well...if you've ever watched an African Lungfish eat, you know, it's just gross. The funny thing is, when he hit about 26" in length, his whole attitude toward eating changed. Before, he'd hunt for whatever he smelled. Next thing I knew, he would just start snapping at everything the instant food hit the water, until he bit the right thing. Nothing was safe, wood, rocks, heater. I had to move everything to a sump just to keep him safe. Oddly enough, I could reach in and pet him or pick him up with no problem.
So, any oddball eaters in your crew?