feeding small polypterus?

[RLHam3]

Hey i work at a fish store and have recently found a baby P. ornatipinnis. He was in a tank with some geophagus cichlids and he looked pretty underfed. I ended up deciding to bring it home and grow it out here before selling it at the store.

This is easily the smallest bichir that I've come across (yet it has no external gills?). It is barely 2" and very underfed (less than the girth of a earthworm). He is in a 10gal currently with 12 young red cherry shrimp. I've seen him try to get them, but they seem to get away pretty easily. The only thing I've seen him to eat so far is cichlid fry from another tank. While i do have a good amount of fry, I'd prefer to not use them as a food source. I've also got some young live bearers which I could use, but i feel similarly about them as well.

I was just wondering if anybody on here has experience feeding polypterus at such a small size?

 

[Runitis]

Mine ate pellets from the get go he was like 2.5" with no external gills either. Try nls or even chop up some up

I need to spark up my fish life

 

[Slippery K]

Keep it and tell your work it died.

 

[libingboy]

ive had good results feeding chopped shrimp and hearts (beef, pork, chicken).

 

[Nim Dibbley]

i havent had one that small, but i would assume bloodworms should be small enough

 

[Dr.B]

I bought a baby sen that was about .75 of an inch and had even less girth. I put him in a ten gallon and smashed some beef heart up for him so i could get him to eat something. Then when i say he was eating i would put blood worms in and i would look there one sec then they'd be gone the next. I fed him 2 times a day until he reached about 2.5 inches. Bye then (2 weeks) he had almost quadrupled in girth. I just got him about 3 months ago and he is already hitting the 4 inch mark. He (for a sen) grew extremely fast. And i would only imagine that if you got that ornate to start growing he'll start to take off at about 3-4 inches if he has enough girth and size.

 

[Dr.B]

But what i have found useful things to feed are bloodworms, smashed up beefheart, and my sen LOVED catfish shrimp pellets. He would engulf about 4 in about 30 seconds then he would find some way to fit about 6 more in his stomach some other way. As long as you can get him to about 2.5-3 inches with out and problems i think he'll grow up pretty healthy.

 

[probassfisher010]

Here's a pic of my baby delhizi eating NLS Thera A pellets Smashed up, first try.

 

[Datfish]

Chopped blood worms could work... As long as the little fellow could fit them in his mouth.

 

[ExoticGREEN]

Tilapia!! they LOVE IT!, or any sinking pellet like hikari gold, massivore, carnivore, you name it