Feeding (yes I know. . . :( )

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bluegryffin

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2008
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fort collins, colorado
I searched on here for questions similar to my own, but only had moderate success. I just bought a 3 1/2" senegal, and need some advice. It seems to ignore or just not notice most of the food I put in the tank. I've used bloodworms, mostly. The first time I fed it, it swam right up to my hand and pulled the food out from my fingers! Every time after that, the food literally hits it in the face before he/she notices. It swims around like it smells the food but can't find it :nilly:. Also, it's in a grow-out tank (38 gallon, 36"x12"x20") with some pictus catfish on the bottom who gobble everything they see. Since the senegal is so small, I wanted it to pack on some size before going in my 55 gallon. I'm planning on picking up a variety of food for ALL of my fish in a week (pay day. .. ). Any tips?
-much appreciated-:D
 
oh, and P.S.

Are there any smaller kinds of sinking pellets?
 
Now that you have a bichir what does it eat? In their natural habitat bichirs normally eat small fish,various insect larvae and invertabrates.Bichirs are generaly non agressive ambush predators but also oppurtunistic scavengers.Objects to big to be consumed whole are often "deathrolled" till
small parts are twisted and ripped off the carcass.The key here is to balance the diet thru a variety
of foods with an eye on total nutrition.A varied diet is a good diet for your fish and yourself.
Now then what can we feed them? You actually have several options and They will be listed below
The freezer at your local fish store is a smorgasboard of foods which should include
silversides or lancefish
mysis shrimp
brine shrimp
krill
bloodworms
tubifex worms
squid
beefheart
Simply thaw and feed


Your local market can be a great source of foods check the seafood section of the freezer
You can use just about any foods you find there including
mussels
shrimp
most fish filets (avoid salmon i think its to oily)

Available at the butcher counter or they should be able to order it for you
beefheart
and yes chicken gizzards
to prepare the above cut it into strips and remove any fat you can find
fish do not digest mammialian fat well

Live foods include
some frog species(some frogs release a nasty chemical when bitten)
tadpoles
African dwarf frogs are safe and part of the natural diet
ghost shrimp
earthworms
mealworms feed only the recently shed(white) ones the chiton in the exoskeleton
can be hard to digest and in some can result in intestinal blockages.
There is really no reason to feeders except as the ocassional treat.
Various live fish and fry can be used for foods.Caution here unless you raise them
any commercialy bought feeders usually rosie reds/tuffies (the albino form of fat head minnows),
guppies,bait minnows etc.need to be quarantined before feeding them to your fish for several reasons.
reason 1 They are kept in horrible conditions
reason 2 They are often diseased
reason 3 They often are carriers of parasites
During quarantine dispose of the obviously sick or diseased.The remaining ones feed quality
foods a healthy feeder is of course better for your fish.
Goldfish just generaly are poor feeders and should be avoided. they are oily not very nutritious and constant feed of them causes faty deposits on the liver leading to premature deaths.They also contain very high levels of Thiaminase a destroying hormone.While many fish used as feeders contain this goldfish seem to have an abundance of it.Another issue is a spine at the front of the dorsal fin which can lead to problems if the goldfish is swollowed the wrong way (tailfirst).Yet another reason not to use goldfish,goldfish farms utilize copper meds in suspension form to combat diseases in the feeders associated with overcrowding.These copper meds are retained by the feeders for long periods after they leave the farms.Most lfs invariably retain all or part of the feeders shipping water when the feeders are loaded into their bins/tanks. And copper does not dissapate from a closed system.
The key is to balance the diet with a variety of foods listed above not just 1 or 2 items and skipping a meal once you notice a decline in growth rate is good for fish.The sad truth is we as hobbyists tend to overfeed our charges

Pellitized foods
Can be found in various diameters and forms include sinking and floating pellets and sticks
shrimp pellets
worm pellets
even pellets for cichlids will work
spirulina sticks
brine shrimp sticks
Algae wafers(some eat them some just look at them)

When feeding pellets how much to feed?
Under 7''I let them eat as much as they want several small feedings when young are better then 1 or 2 large feedings.I let juvies eat till theres a slight bulge to there bellies
This really applies to bichirs 7''+ I feed mine twice a day skipping at least one day a week
Approx. 80% of their diet is a quality pellet food the rest frozen with the ocassional live feeders after quarantine of course.
How manyPellets?
I start off with total 2 pellets per inch of fish eg. a 7'' fish gets 7 pellets in the A.M. and 7 in the evening feeding is then adjusted up or down so all pellets are consumed.Remember a nice round bichir is a happy bichir
 
isolate the bichir from the rest of the mob for feeding bichirs are noted as slow eaters they browse and graze most of the day
 
That's funny. I just saw a thread a bit farther down in which everyone said their senegals were the most aggressive eaters in the tank. . . maybe it takes some time?
 
mine are pretty aggressive eaters.
if the sens are hungry theyll swim up to the top of the tank and grab food while its falling.
just feed em a variety.
when mine were small i fed whitebait and sinking predator pellets.
 
try frozen brine shrimp or small pellets mines a little slow to start but one he realizes there is food he eats every thing he can find try putting the food in or near his fav hideout and giving the pictus food on the other side of the tank
 
i have a small senegal also. i would like him to take live food. I have a number of ghost shrimp in with him, and some mosquito fish. hes obviously to slow to eat the mosquito fish, but he smells the shrimp and doesnt attack. is it just because he was raised on non-live food most likely?

you can see him at 59 seconds, he is a small little guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBDs1tv1jRQ
 
He doesn't realize the shrimp is food.The first time i used ghost shrimp as feeders my senegals followed them all over eventually they figured it out and wiped out a dozen in a matter of minutes-Anne
 
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