Freezing minnows

[Ej6hatchie]

Hello MFK.

so I have a handful of fish I'm having trouble getting off live. My stubborn 6in scomb and I just got a new 3 in scomb. These two are in different tanks in the hopes one breaking first and then I can use one to teach the other. My theory was to buy minnows, kill them with a needle, then freezing them to feed. My friend used to do this with his reptiles and he says freezing them would kill parasites and whatnot. My questions are:

Will freezing really make the minnows safer to feed my payara? And if so, would having them getting used to eating dead minnows increase the chances of them striking tilapia? I tried the fishing line trick for a month already and it hasn't worked..

I tried feeding a dead minnow just now and my 6 in scomb took it without hesitation. But right after I threw in a piece of tilapia and it didn't even care about it.

Any tips and tricks from scomb owners that got theirs off live please let me know. Thanks

 

[Ej6hatchie]

I have three quarantine tank for minnows that I would like to shut down. And my payaras have tank mates I won't want eating feeders either.

 

[krichardson]

I would put the two of them together,ditch the minnows and try getting them onto the tilapia.

 

[Ej6hatchie]

Yea that's the plan, I was thinking of throwing in a frozen minnow, then throw in tilapia, and alternate until it strikes tilapia. Because right now they aren't having it. Reason why they're not together is cause the 3in is still in quarantine from buying brand new. I wana make sure it's not sick before putting it in my main tank

 

[krichardson]

See what they will have after a few weeks of having nothing offered to them .

 

[Ej6hatchie]

Finally!!! After months of having my scomb it took tilapia... such an accomplishment with these guys getting them off live... I almost lost faith and dumped a dozen minnows in the tank he was so skinny.... the hunger trick works

 

[piranhaman00]

I love when stubborn preds finally take dead, feels good, good job!

 

[Ej6hatchie]

Almost heartbreaking not feeding a predator, but once it eats that first bite of dead food it's bulking time!

 

[krichardson]

Glad to see that you have gotten it trained fairly quickly.

 

[piranhaman00]

You bet! I only had gars take dead, I understand scombs to be very difficult, you should be proud