Jag chewing 27 times then?

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Scottfree

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Feb 19, 2006
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Just need some advice/assistance with a certain male 4" Jag, that I've had for 6 months now. He is solo in a 40 Gallon (will be moved to 200G eventually), I had other occupants in there but he killed everything. Water parameters are all spot on, >30 Nitrates. This is the best looking Jag I've ever seen, but here's the issue, I feed him Krill, Freeze Dried meal worms, market Shrimp, and a few pellets (doesn't readily go after). When I feed him Meal worms & Krill, he will take them into his mouth chew the living hell out of it, and then it all seems to come out his gills/and or he spits it out. He has grown at an average rate but it just doesn't seem he actually digests anything or very little. I've kept many Jag's over the years, and have never had one so finicky. I'll throw in Omega one pellets also and he won't go after them till several hours later.... Anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to get this guy to actually eat/digest his food?

Thx in advance....:nilly:
 
My 9" male does the same exact thing when eats the Tetra Jumbo sticks I feed him. I still think he is getting the bulk of the food though. BTW, that is about all he eats and he is still alive.
 
I wouldn't get too concerned - he is eating, and he gets a lot of variety. Maybe he just doesn't care that much for mealworms.
 
My male Jag releases crumbs from his gills with pellets. Especially with the NLS (7.5 mm) ExtraLarge Fish Formula size. I just thought it's normal since he's done it his whole life and is now 12+".
 
completely normal. Most all cichlids will do this when eating. Some worse than others and depending on what food you feed them. As for the person who feeds the Hikari food sticks this is the worst one for me too. I don't think I'm gonna buy it anymore because of the huge mess it makes when fed. My tanks look like somebody just threw a pound of powdered food in after they get done with those.
 
Yes - large pellets are messy, especially the jumbo ones. The OTHER Hikari (smaller ones) seem to be much neater, as do other compact, small pellets.
 
The 3mm size is the least messy. Using the 7.5mm size though, when the crumbs start coming out, the Filament Barbs make short work of the mess.
 
now if only I could put something in there that would eat it and srurvive :( maybe I could try some loaches. But I still think they might get killed.

The least messy large food I feed is Dianichi 4.5 mm carnivore pellets. Absolutely nothing compared to the food sticks.
 
My Jags are slobs too. This is just how they eat. Most of its getting digested. Try nite crawlers mine cant get enough of them and bulked up in a hurry when I started feeding them these. I give each 5.5" at least one nite crawler in the morning and one at night.
 
mine is the same size and I'm having the same exact problem mine will wait till the pellet gets soft and then chew it then spit out almost the whole pellet then it sinks to the bottom i don't think he's getting enough off that at all he has been doing this with all foods chewing then spitting it out and making a big mess i have never had any fish eat like this he is not spitting out crumbs he's doing it with almost the whole pellet.
 
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