Feeding

[saurav]

Hey Guys,

I put in a 9'' mackerel (whole) for my piranhas to feed on. Its been a couple of hours now, and they have hardly eaten it. As in they have just pecked on it. Is this normal or is something wrong? My water parameters, temp., etc. are fine and the fish are very healthy. They have been eating shrimps, but since I ran out of shrimps I put in the mackerel from my freezer. How long can I keep the mackerel next time I put one?

I shall look forward to find some help.

Regards,

Saurav
​

 

[pikey]

Hey Guys,

I put in a 9'' mackerel (whole) for my piranhas to feed on. Its been a couple of hours now, and they have hardly eaten it. As in they have just pecked on it. Is this normal or is something wrong? My water parameters, temp., etc. are fine and the fish are very healthy. They have been eating shrimps, but since I ran out of shrimps I put in the mackerel from my freezer. How long can I keep the mackerel next time I put one?

I shall look forward to find some help.

Regards,

Saurav
​

what p's have you got and size ??? what is the temp you have your tank at????

 

[saurav]

Ohh sorry, i forgot to mention those details. My P's are 4" and there are 9 of them. They are in a 100 gallon tank. The water temp is 81 degrees.

 

[pikey]

Ohh sorry, i forgot to mention those details. My P's are 4" and there are 9 of them. They are in a 100 gallon tank. The water temp is 81 degrees.

well if ur guna use frozen fish @ 9" i'd fillet them its probaly down to the size of the food thats putting them off! don't leave it in there longer than 2 hours even if they only had a nibble at it and bin it u should use a fresh peace of food every time!

how often do you feed the shoal?
and is it the same time every time you feed them

 

[saurav]

I feed the shoal once a day, and this is the first time I am feeding them a mackerel. I usually feed them medium sized prawns. About 8-9 of them everyday. They finish it in at most an hour.

 

[pikey]

I feed the shoal once a day, and this is the first time I am feeding them a mackerel. I usually feed them medium sized prawns. About 8-9 of them everyday. They finish it in at most an hour.

try starving them for a few days won't harm then the can go for weeks without eating... another thing to that helps them feed is plenty of current maybe 6000lph +..... and your p's won't be in that tank long.. i keep 4 reds in a tank that size

 

[saurav]

I have a power head of 550lph capacity in the tank. I'll try starving them for a couple of days, but i feel scared that they might bite each other if starved. Out of the 9 in the shoal, 3 belong to a friend. I'm just raising them. So the shoal is gonna get thinner in 2-3 weeks.

I have been trying to get these guys on pellets. But I have been a total failure till now. The garlic thing does not seem to work for me.

 

[pikey]

I have a power head of 550lph capacity in the tank. I'll try starving them for a couple of days, but i feel scared that they might bite each other if starved. Out of the 9 in the shoal, 3 belong to a friend. I'm just raising them. So the shoal is gonna get thinner in 2-3 weeks.

I have been trying to get these guys on pellets. But I have been a total failure till now. The garlic thing does not seem to work for me.

pellets are rubbish keep with the prawns shrimp squid white fish and beef heart! don't worrie about starving them and them fin nipping due to hunger the fins grow back in 2 weeks.. that power head is no good u want a really strong current i use an external filter that pumps 3500 lph with a 10000lph wave maker. this is the model i use http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130075823068&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
aint cheap but there amazing p's swim in it for hours just slow it down when there feeding otherwise its on 24/7

 

[Greez]

I had a hard time when I switched my P's from live fish to frozen fish, you may want to cut the fish up into bite size pieces, that way they get a taste for it... And they might just not like that type of food... I know that mine aren't a big fan of shrimp or catfish and I have a really hard time getting them to eat it.
As for pellets good luck, from what I've read most success stories come from people who got them really young and raised them on pellets but maybe you will have more luck then me...