So, last July I take my kids fishing and nothing's happening. Not a single bite in over three hours. Kids being kids (myself included 
) get bored and start chasing the myriad of small crawdads along the bank. Long story short, we end up catching over a hundred of the little buggers.
When I get home I chuck a couple in the tank. The P-Bass being the pigs that they are suck them right down. They spit them back out just as quick. What the hell? I guess it's just a new flavor and taste that needs some getting used to. The first dozen or so that I throw in get spit back out where the eagerly awaiting Hoplarchus and Crenicichla chomp them right up. The Hoplarchus are interesting as they don't eat them whole because their mouths are too small. They break them up with their powerful jaws and eat the pieces. Finally, the 2 Gold Zulies start actually eating them. That's all it takes as the other 6 Cichla decide if the G-Zules like them they must be OK.
Up to this point I've been adding the crawdads 2 or 3 at a time but the P-Bass are starting to turn on each other every time I drop a couple in. I dump the whole bucket. Holy jumpin' jehosaphat... all hell breaks lose!! I've got water splasing all over the place. There's water running down the wall. There's water on the floor 10' from the aquarium. There's water dripping from the ceiling.
It takes about 24 hours for all the crawdads to disapear... or so I thought. Last night I'm watching the fish and all of the sudden there's a big thump and I see 8 P-Bass and 3 Hoplarchus chasing the large male pike all over the place. In his mouth is a crawdad about twice the size as when I put them in the tank 6 months ago. Too big for the pike to swallow it whole so half of it is hanging out of his mouth. Appearantly it had escaped under the tons of driftwood that is in the tank and had evaded detection. After a brutal chase the pike finally spits it out where one of the Hoplarchus gets a hold of it and proceeds to bite it in half. For all his work, it ends up being two P-Bass that get the halves. Fun stuff!!
It makes me wonder if there are any more lurking in the tank. This spring I'm gonna have to go catch another batch and have some fun!!
) get bored and start chasing the myriad of small crawdads along the bank. Long story short, we end up catching over a hundred of the little buggers.When I get home I chuck a couple in the tank. The P-Bass being the pigs that they are suck them right down. They spit them back out just as quick. What the hell? I guess it's just a new flavor and taste that needs some getting used to. The first dozen or so that I throw in get spit back out where the eagerly awaiting Hoplarchus and Crenicichla chomp them right up. The Hoplarchus are interesting as they don't eat them whole because their mouths are too small. They break them up with their powerful jaws and eat the pieces. Finally, the 2 Gold Zulies start actually eating them. That's all it takes as the other 6 Cichla decide if the G-Zules like them they must be OK.
Up to this point I've been adding the crawdads 2 or 3 at a time but the P-Bass are starting to turn on each other every time I drop a couple in. I dump the whole bucket. Holy jumpin' jehosaphat... all hell breaks lose!! I've got water splasing all over the place. There's water running down the wall. There's water on the floor 10' from the aquarium. There's water dripping from the ceiling.
It takes about 24 hours for all the crawdads to disapear... or so I thought. Last night I'm watching the fish and all of the sudden there's a big thump and I see 8 P-Bass and 3 Hoplarchus chasing the large male pike all over the place. In his mouth is a crawdad about twice the size as when I put them in the tank 6 months ago. Too big for the pike to swallow it whole so half of it is hanging out of his mouth. Appearantly it had escaped under the tons of driftwood that is in the tank and had evaded detection. After a brutal chase the pike finally spits it out where one of the Hoplarchus gets a hold of it and proceeds to bite it in half. For all his work, it ends up being two P-Bass that get the halves. Fun stuff!!
It makes me wonder if there are any more lurking in the tank. This spring I'm gonna have to go catch another batch and have some fun!!
