Frozen foods. (Pet Store vs. Supermarket)

[Fogs]

would it really make a difference if i bought shrimp from the supermarket and cut it up for my bichir rather than pet store brine shrimp?

- could it get him hooked on only the supermarket food?
- could it potentially be more healthy for him?
- would he enjoy it more or less than brine shrimp?
- could it be overfeeding?
- only used as treats?
- tank pollution?

 

[Dr.B]

1 depends on the poly (mostly not) 2 super market shrimp and tilapia are good for your fish 3 depends on the poly most don't care 4 depends on if your poly likes it or how much it eats (for me my polys eat different amounts each time so it's hard to tell) 5 I wouldn't feed it everyday but you could feed it maybe 1-3 times a week 6 If you leave the leftovers in there the market fish will pollute your water a little more than brine shrimp will

 

[Dr.B]

I honestly think that brine shrimp is better for the smaller polys (2-5"ers) The market stuff is better for the larger polys

 

[Fogs]

thanks for your advice. i gave my 3" poly tiny, and i mean tiny bits of fish sticks and he went to town, was searching all throughout the tank after the second one . the pellets probably are going to look even worse now since he never ate them before.

 

[mikehagan]

I buy all my food from the grocery store. I spend 10 dollars a month for my tank. Which has 4 bichirs, a Florida gar, 2 catfish, and an African arowana. They devour it, I've noticed a great growth rate because of it, and I've saved so much money.


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[Dr.B]

Something else your small polys will love it beefheart. If you drop a cube or 2 in and smash it up he will tear it and devour it. I fed it to my small poly 2-3 times week with other things like shrimp pellets small peices of massivore brine shrimp. Lol he grew 6 inches in about 6 months. Right now he is probably the fattest one to. He is something like an 1 and half thick or 2" thick something like that he is huge. My point beefheart does good. But don't feed it as a main source because they can't digest all of the products in it so if you feed it to them every day it will eventually build up (but you'd have to be feeding it to them every day for about 5 years for it to take affect) So just it like a couple times a week to get good growth. (i think i could've explained all this in a shorter way........)

 

[Cohazard]

Another option to add to the menu is boneless tilapia fillet. Tilapia are native to africa, and if I remember correctly, deep water (lake dwelling) endlicheris were found to have tilapia in their gut.

Tilapia is cheap, easy to chop up, doesn't make your hands smelly, and bichirs go NUTS when it hits the water, and it can be found at just about every supermarket.

Bichirs will get hooked on a certain type of food if that's all they are fed, so it's best to feed a variety, include high protein pellets, tilapia fillet, shrimp, earthworms, etc...

Any type of uneaten food will pollute the tank, and getting bichirs to accept new foods can take some time, so make sure you're removing what they don't eat.

Whenever trying to get your bichirs to take new foods, it's best to not feed them for a few days, 3-5, then offer the new food.