Yeah they aren’t easy. It’s a long process most of the time.Had no idea it was so tough to convert NTTs to pellets / get them to be more outgoing
Help/suggestions on getting NTT to eat
- Thread starter Alexkoj
- Start date
Sometimes it will but then you end up with fighting. I’d take out all the places it can hide and leave the light on a lot till he gets use to you feeding.
Cut shrimp into small pieces and put the pellets inside-be prepared to cut the pellets to make it fit if needed. Over time start to increase the size of the pellets that you put in the shrimp. I started with 1/2 Massivore to full pellet.
If it eats the pieces of shrimp with some pellets in then start to marinate the pellets with the shrimp and toss it all in together. I used to leave some shrimp to thaw with the pellets mixed in and then toss it all in together. I then found that the tiger would eight pellets separately at each feeding whilst also eating the prawn. I then just put the pellets in and found they took to this.
I successfully converted an NGT which only ate blood worms when I first got it. I converted it from blood worms to prawn to Massivore but it took about four months and a lot of patience. Under no circumstances starve for long periods of time. Only a few days at a time if necessary. I was told when I was new to Tigers that you could starve them and they would never die-I lost a really nice NGT from this and will never do it again. I've also used this method to convert 2 NTT in the past
I will say massivore works really well as it stinks
I've just set up 180 gallon and have 2 NTT waiting to go in there-the store owner tells me they will only eat prawn so I've got the same challenges as you to go through again
If it eats the pieces of shrimp with some pellets in then start to marinate the pellets with the shrimp and toss it all in together. I used to leave some shrimp to thaw with the pellets mixed in and then toss it all in together. I then found that the tiger would eight pellets separately at each feeding whilst also eating the prawn. I then just put the pellets in and found they took to this.
I successfully converted an NGT which only ate blood worms when I first got it. I converted it from blood worms to prawn to Massivore but it took about four months and a lot of patience. Under no circumstances starve for long periods of time. Only a few days at a time if necessary. I was told when I was new to Tigers that you could starve them and they would never die-I lost a really nice NGT from this and will never do it again. I've also used this method to convert 2 NTT in the past
I will say massivore works really well as it stinks
I've just set up 180 gallon and have 2 NTT waiting to go in there-the store owner tells me they will only eat prawn so I've got the same challenges as you to go through again
Thanks for sharing your experience. Really gives me an insight into how stubborn NTTs can be. How long did your NGT last without food before it died? I haven't actually seen my NTT eat for months but I reckon it takes bites whenever I'm not looking; it's hard to fathom the NTT surviving without having a bite at all.
It was years ago but if I recall it was a couple of months, maybe less.
The technique I use was suggested to me by a member here (ettfettbranamn) and it worked great. Just took time but well worth it-so good once you get a Tiger on pellets.
In my opinion its just not as simple as starving them, tossing in a pellet and expecting them to eat
Give it a go but don't lose faith with it-it'll take a few goes and you need to persevere with each stage
Someone mentioned it before but I’ll just throw my 2 cents in as well. Never starve a fish long term. Datnoids live a long time without food but you never know when they’ll flop over and die. I usually go only a few days to a week without food depending on their diet prior to starvation.
They’re intelligent fish but you have to train them. First you have to gain trust by feeding them what you know they’ll eat. Usually feeders at first. Then they’ll make the connection that what you drop in the tank equals food. Then you can “trick” or “train” them by throwing in other stuff. Usually the process goes from live food, frozen foods, sinking pellets, floating pellets. That’s how I usually train all my fish. Some fish take hours some fish take months. only fish I haven’t been able to train is the ngt. All other fish have been trained in under 3 months. Ngt I tried for 6 months but eventually gave up and sold it. Competition helps the training. Perches and dats strike fast so when there’s competition they learn to eat fast or they won’t get food (But they don’t get food only because they’re being picky and look at the food before striking and not because I didn’t throw in enough).
If it’s been a while since he ate just make sure he sees ur hand dropping in the feeders. He’ll learn within a week to come out when u come up to the tank.
They’re intelligent fish but you have to train them. First you have to gain trust by feeding them what you know they’ll eat. Usually feeders at first. Then they’ll make the connection that what you drop in the tank equals food. Then you can “trick” or “train” them by throwing in other stuff. Usually the process goes from live food, frozen foods, sinking pellets, floating pellets. That’s how I usually train all my fish. Some fish take hours some fish take months. only fish I haven’t been able to train is the ngt. All other fish have been trained in under 3 months. Ngt I tried for 6 months but eventually gave up and sold it. Competition helps the training. Perches and dats strike fast so when there’s competition they learn to eat fast or they won’t get food (But they don’t get food only because they’re being picky and look at the food before striking and not because I didn’t throw in enough).
If it’s been a while since he ate just make sure he sees ur hand dropping in the feeders. He’ll learn within a week to come out when u come up to the tank.
bad news guys... the NTT showed more interest in MPs than in sinking pellets but still refused to eat. It has been 2 months now. What should I do? I really don't wanna go down the feeder route
