BW has terrible nutritional value. Stick to BS and Mysis Shrimps. Fatten them up then try pellets. Dats are not that hard to train on pellets.
was one hiding more than the other? Dats tend to be aggressive toward it own kind.
first Dat any tips?
- Thread starter BichirKing
- Start date
not that we observed. looking at the corpse I didn't see any signs of aggression. it was the skinnier of the 2. we didn't see it eat but the other one ate like 5 small w.c. minnows.
Thx bro. In your opinion is tilapia (if i can get him to take it) more nutritious than the brine shrimps
Yes it’s more nutritious but depending on your dats size I would not give tilapia until 2.5-3”. Keep in mind baby dat stomach is sensitive at this size.
Bought the Dat from what fish store ? You’re from the Portland/Vancouver area right? Haven’t seen indo dats since late last year.
To say BW have terrible nutritional value is kinda simplistic -- true they don't have much in the way of vitamins or minerals, and yes they do have quite a bit of fat (not so bad for a growing young fish), but they have plenty of protein which growing fish can easily utilize:
The following results were done at "Riverina Laboratories" Albury, NSW, Australia and pertain to black worms, which nutritionally are nearly equivalent to blood worms
Crude Protein % as received..........................................................................54.52
Crude Fat % as received.................................................................................11.40
Crude Fibre% as received................................................................................0.20
Moisture % as received...................................................................................17.83
Solids % as received.........................................................................................82.17
Crude Protein % dry weight basis....................................................................66.35
Crude Fat % dry weight basis...........................................................................13.87
Crude Fibre % dry weight basis........................................................................0.24
Ocean Nutrition gives the following for their frozen blood worms.
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min) 8.3%
Crude Fat (min) 1.2%
Crude Fiber (max) 3.9%
Moisture (max) 81.7%
(Protein as a percentage of dry matter - 45.3%)
Sure BS and Mysis Shrimp have better overall nutrition but there's nothing wrong with feeding a young Datnoid (or other fish) BW's, esp. if coming from a good and trusted source.
In fact a majority of Thai fish breeders & brokers, compromising a billion dollar industry here, feed their juvies heavily on blood worms -- but heck, what do they know? And I wouldn't doubt if it's much different in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam or Indonesia. Sure there are economic reasons likely involved, but nonetheless they turn out some pretty OK fish here on the whole, just saying.
Personally again though I would simultaneously try to get them on pellets at around 3" -- some might have an easier experience but hundreds of stories online will tell a different story when it comes to difficulty of getting (esp. bigger/older) Dats onto pellets, hence why many recommend an earlier the better approach.
Variety is the key to a balance diet. I still give my fish BW as a treat.
This is why I don’t post anything on this sites bcuz too many people want to be technical and be political correct. Fish are like babies. Raise how you want and I raise my the way I feel is correct. There is no right or wrong way to do this. A fish will still grow but healthy fish don’t die early.
This is why I don’t post anything on this sites bcuz too many people want to be technical and be political correct. Fish are like babies. Raise how you want and I raise my the way I feel is correct. There is no right or wrong way to do this. A fish will still grow but healthy fish don’t die early.
That's absolutely true esp. when it comes to feeding strategies -- though it's really got nothing to do with being technical or politically correct -- so hopefully somewhat different views being expressed shouldn't keep you from posting on the site, it's how we learn from each other. In any case I'm pretty sure we all can agree yes variety is for sure key to a healthy diet/fish.
