How big before meal time?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Z

ZeroOne

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 26, 2010
105
0
46
Canada
So. I picked up my 2 Endli's the other week (same week i lost my sen). The only (may be) problem is one Endli is eating and the other refuses. Now I'm not panic'd that it's going to starve it'self or anything, more so I'm concerned that the eating Endli has already grown almost 2 inches since I got them a couple weeks ago.. and is almost 5" now. While the non eating one is a scrawny 3.5".. They also have an ornate in the tank that's pressing 8"... I'm starting to worry that if he doesn't eat, he won't grow and may BE eaten. But not sure how big the others have to be in comparison before they may look at him as food.

I've tried shrimp pellets, hikari sinking carnivore pellets, shrimp. The ornate and now uber fat Endli love them all. Mr. Scrawny however just sits in the bushes all day.
 
dont worry, they would starve them selves to death, unless there are signs of illness,
try bloodworms, usually works.
 
Is he getting picked on? Try seperating it, see if it starts eating
 
No, he's not really getting picked on. All 3 tend to just do their own thing, as well I'm not extremely worried about the not eating, and have tried feeding at night. Unfortunately my food options for them are limited here and pellets and fresh shrimp/beef heart are really my only options. I also read in these forums maybe bumping up the temp of the water will help some. Currently it's at 76 (even though the heater is set to 79). I also have an african brown knife (which should be fine at a higher temp), african butterfly (should be fine) and 2x geo. surinamensis (which I'm not sure what temp they like it at, found very little info about care besides what LFS told me). No one seems to have any interest in eachother in the tank. Well besides the ABK who will go look at the geo's then run away.
 
IME, larger bichirs trained on shrimp and tilapia, etc... will prefer to wait till meal time for easy prey than to spend the energy to eat a smaller bichir, but they are opportunistic and will eat the smaller bichir if they feel hungry enough.

I'd separate and figure out what the little one wants to eat, then once you bulk it up, move it back with the others, but it may get picked on at that point.
 
I would increase the temperature. Warming them up will increase their metabolism and increase their appetite.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom