Hey cichla gurus,
Getting a larger tank soon, and got 9 wild orino meta bass approximately 6 weeks ago, preparing them to be the main occupants.
All bass came in at around 7-8 inches. 8x came in with rounded bellies, but 1x came in skinny (pic attached).
The 8x that came in with rounded bellies were pretty easily converted to tilapia then subsequently to massivore. They hit everything now.
The 1x that came in skinny didn't touch a thing for the first 1 solid week. No exaggeration. I got worried and put the guy into its own separate QT tank in a sterilite tub.
Got 24 feeders as I was worried that it would starve to death. Devoured them all in a few days. Great. Prey drive intact. But I'm not into live due to worry about disease.
After the initial set of feeders, I did a full set of QT meds (Paracleans, Maracyn, Ich-X) to clear it of anything it carried from the wild, and anything the feeders could have brought.
I've now been trying for the past month to get the guy to take non-live.
I've found success with frozen blood worms (untenable given the cost to feed a potential monster) and freeze dried krill.
The things that have FAILED include...
- Frozen Tilapia
- Massivore pellets
- Hikari floating pellets
- Massivore crushed and mixed with defrosted BW cubes (per the sticky in the cichla forum) > Though this worked well for training the other 8x
Included a more recent pic, belly no longer concave at least, but eating exclusively FD krill for the past 2-3 weeks. Had to lift out of the water for a pic... the sterilite tub is opaque.
Again, appreciate the collective wisdom.
Getting a larger tank soon, and got 9 wild orino meta bass approximately 6 weeks ago, preparing them to be the main occupants.
All bass came in at around 7-8 inches. 8x came in with rounded bellies, but 1x came in skinny (pic attached).
The 8x that came in with rounded bellies were pretty easily converted to tilapia then subsequently to massivore. They hit everything now.
The 1x that came in skinny didn't touch a thing for the first 1 solid week. No exaggeration. I got worried and put the guy into its own separate QT tank in a sterilite tub.
Got 24 feeders as I was worried that it would starve to death. Devoured them all in a few days. Great. Prey drive intact. But I'm not into live due to worry about disease.
After the initial set of feeders, I did a full set of QT meds (Paracleans, Maracyn, Ich-X) to clear it of anything it carried from the wild, and anything the feeders could have brought.
I've now been trying for the past month to get the guy to take non-live.
I've found success with frozen blood worms (untenable given the cost to feed a potential monster) and freeze dried krill.
The things that have FAILED include...
- Frozen Tilapia
- Massivore pellets
- Hikari floating pellets
- Massivore crushed and mixed with defrosted BW cubes (per the sticky in the cichla forum) > Though this worked well for training the other 8x
Included a more recent pic, belly no longer concave at least, but eating exclusively FD krill for the past 2-3 weeks. Had to lift out of the water for a pic... the sterilite tub is opaque.
Again, appreciate the collective wisdom.