Feeding Rays Live Black Worms?
- Thread starter dp.71
- Start date
As previously stated above no problem feeding black worms just it can get expensive. I have two hystrix that I feed baby night crawlers to but once they start eating well I will switch them to shrimp or try to lol
Black worms are just too small for that size of ray. Try mixing a few pellets every now and then or other foods, slowly they will learn. You can soak new foods in tcan lack worm. Also try freezing some black worms and feed with live, they will get used to it, then freeze in some other foods.
dp.71 did you get your hystrix from Pedro at aquascape? As for the black worms make sure that they are clean. I have heard some stories of black worms which gave fish parasites. Just be careful
I'm in the same boat my marble will only take blackworms and nightcrawlers and is giving me a hard time not taking shrimp.
Cut the shrimp into small pieces and soak them with the black worms / night crawlers so the shrimp absorbs some of the flavor. Feed a mix of soaked shrimp and worms. Start out with more worms than shrimp. As the rays are sucking up the worms, they will accidently ingest the shrimp pieces. At first they will spit them out, but will learn to associate the shrimp pieces with food. Clean out any pieces of left over shrimp so the rays only associate the shrimp with feeding. Once you see them start to take the shrimp, continue to soak the shrimp in the worms, but feeding less and less worms. When they readily go for the shrimp, cut out the black worms altogether. Starving your ray to eat new food rarely works. Just because a ray is hungry, doesn't mean it will eat new food. You need to "train" your ray to recognize new food, otherwise they will just spit it out or swim over it 9for the most part). My experience has been that younger rays seem to take to new foods faster than older rays. Another helpful tip is to vary their diet (smelts, shrimp, night crawlers, fish fillets) to keep their appetite up and ensure they are getting well balanced nutrition.