How long to starve?

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wheatgerm

wheatgerm

Plecostomus
MFK Member
May 22, 2010
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utah
As some of you already know I've been trying to convert all my cichla onto 6mm nls by ONLY introducing the pellets along with their normal diet, this worked for my 3 largest bass (13,13,and 15 inches). Well now its time I decided I want them all on nls, I've been starving them for 3 days and 2 more of my mid sized cichla 10-12 inches have started taking the pellets but spitting them out after a few seconds.. this leave my 2 smallest at 9 inch they haven't touched the pellets.

Im wondering how long I dare starve them? My largest fish are eating the pellets so I have no worry about them getting hungry and going after the little ones. And all my fish were fat and healthy before I began to starve.
Thanks fir any help

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They should be fine for longer period of time...even up to 3 weeks w/o food..personal experience when I was not able to buy feeders for my cichlas during my thesis, they were about 12 inches in size
 
Pm me bro. I will teach them to eat.

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From my experience NLS and cichla don't mix well... My 8"ers will take 6mm NLS but spit out the 10mm because it is too large. Yours who are spitting it out can't chew them because the pellets are too dense. Try going with the 3mm. Its annoying to feed my 8" fish a 6mm pellet when they should be taking the 10mm so I don't even bother.
 
My Ocell went for three weeks without eating, before it started hitting on Bio-Gold.
 
fish junkie said:
did you ever try presoaking them ? maybe add some garlic into the mix its said that it stimulates appetite
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yes i was soaking them before i decided to starve them. it just seemed to make a big mess in the tank

gangster said:
My fish wouldnt eat NLS.
They are hikari junkies.
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hikari is too easy/ expensive. nls is a pain in the butt at first but once you get the cichla on nls you will get MUCH better color results from my experiences

haynchinook334 said:
Pm me bro. I will teach them to eat.

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Click to expand...

pm'd

shua71 said:
From my experience NLS and cichla don't mix well... My 8"ers will take 6mm NLS but spit out the 10mm because it is too large. Yours who are spitting it out can't chew them because the pellets are too dense. Try going with the 3mm. Its annoying to feed my 8" fish a 6mm pellet when they should be taking the 10mm so I don't even bother.
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i agree totally about them not wanting to eat them because they are too dense. i think that is the biggest mistake most ppl make with nls. its because its designed to be swallowed whole not chewed for cleaner water. but i WONT be buying a new bucket of 3mm just for 2 fish lol... i have noticed that the floating formulas seem to be softer and taken more readily than the sinking by cichla... once my 6mm is gone i will go back to the 7.5 floating. i had great success with my last batch of stubborn cichla they took it right away

Houdini89 said:
My Ocell went for three weeks without eating, before it started hitting on Bio-Gold.
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how large was your occel? the only fish i was worried about is my 9-10 inch azul. i dont want to be starving him too soon or for too long to create growth problems
 
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