feeding...

[dpsurf]

Well now that it has been established my little cray is a Cherax Quadricarinatus, I have been attempting to feed him what was recommended by the LFS, freeze dried krill and vegetable pellets. With this I have 2 problems.
1) the krill floats, and needless to say my crayfish doesn't. the krill disappeared overnight last night, but I can't confirm he has eaten it.

2) Ive seen him pick up the veggie pellets roll them around a bit, and then drop them and move on (only to be picked up later by the corys).


The only thing I confirm that he has eaten since his arrival is a neon that disappeared, and a piece of a striper that was caught last year and thawed today for dinner. Any advice on the krill and pellet issues?

 

[black_sun]

As juveniles, quads will want to eat a more protein centered diet (it's still harder for them to digest vegetable matter at the moment). So, try focusing on meats (any fish or meat scraps would be good, avoid fatty things as these will leave greasy film across your tank water and likely float rather than sink) and meat type pellets (like Hikari carnivore pellets, for example. Mixes of meat and veggie pellets like Hikari sinking pellets work well, too.). Sometimes my frozen foods float, so I've gotten used to taking all the pieces of food and hooking them onto a bluegill hook (a really small fishing hook) that's weighted on the end. So, they sink down to the bottom. You can use veggie clips, hooks and the like to do a similar thing with the krill.

And as your quad grows you'll see it's preferences slowly shift towards a more vegetable centered diet as it ages (it'll want veggies, plants, algae pellets more often). So, keep feeding it the algae pellets, just not as often for the time being.

 

[dpsurf]

thanks again, your quite knowledgeable.

 

[black_sun]

thanks again, your quite knowledgeable.

No where near as much as I'd like to be, but I'm trying lol.

 

[frey51]

I like to take a small feeder minnow and flick it in the head once or twice, they usually still breath a bit so they are not completely dead. My wild crawfish usually takes about 24 hours to consume one 2 inch minnow, bones and all. The craw is a bit over two inches, dont know the breed but it was wild caught. He is doing healthy because he shed a week or so ago, so I am doing something right. But I think my SMB will eat him eventually, especially since he is softshelled at the moment.

Fry