Just got back from my lfs!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Ok now I'm really pissed off,
I read everything about the parasites and how if the predatory fish doesn't consume the feeder right away or is full and the feeders are still alive swimming around that can cause my water to catch the same germs the feeders had?!?!? And my lfs told me get live minnows throw 10 in there and he'll slowly start eating them by the end of the week they'll be gone??? I'm mad at myself as well I should've done more research and not info before buying one of these beauties


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Ok I just took all of the feeders out put them in a 3 gallon tank added 1tbs of aquarium salt, followed by ick prevention medicine,someone please tell me how you guys feed your pikes how often,and wat works good for all pikes???


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Pike are pickey, so pellets wont come easy unless they were already eating them.

I've had success with frozen silversides, tilapia, mysis, krill but rarely with anything dried.

You might be able to trick the pike by thawing a silverside, and stuffing it with pellets...but it might just spit them out after eating the fish.

Good luck
 
First and foremost, please don't go dumping chemicals into your tank unless there's a reason for it. There's no need to add any kind of medication if the pike isn't showing signs of illness. In fact, there's no need to even add salt at this point. Pikes will be stessed when you first move them. They're pretty smart fish, and like other smart cichlids, they seem to sulk a bit when you change things in their tank or move them around. It may take a week or more for them to fully settle in.

As for feeding, I'd stop the live stuff now. Go buy a pack of Hikari frozen bloodworms and use those to get him eating and active. Pikes are always hungry and it doesn't take much to get them to eat bloodworms. So far, I've had C. regani, C. saxatilis, C. sp. 'belly crawler', and C. sveni all refuse pellets after buying them from the LFS, but they immediately took bloodworms. Hold the chunk of bloodworms in your hand and reach into the tank, just above the fish, and wave it around to let some of the bloodworms fall in front of it. They will usually take it. I use this method to make sure the food reaches the pike, otherwise their tankmates will rush in and grab the bloodworms before the pike has a chance.

They learn very fast. My new pikes recognized that I was hand-feeding them after about the third day and then looked forward to me sticking my hand in the tank.

Once you get them eating bloodworms and you're sure they have an appetite, then you can start introducing pellets. If you want, defrost a small chunk of bloodworms in a cup and let the pellets soak up all the juice from the bloodworms. That sometimes helps. My pikes went from being uninterested altogether in the pellets, to eating and spitting them out, to finally taking them. It took a few weeks. The trick is not to give in and feed them live stuff. A pike that's healthy and has a good appetite can go a while without food, and they'll usually eat when they're hungry enough.
 
I got the feeders out of my pikes tank put them in a 3gallon and added the salt/ick prevention..
Ok and if the BLood worms dnt work or the silversides? After a week should I be worried???
I did try bloodworms and jumbo mysis shrimp earlier got them and put them in it's face but he didn't look interested the tiger barb started eating it all 5mins later wen it was thawed out :/


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has anyone ever tried to breed these fish before or had success?? and will 2 be better then on in the tank?,and ooh tankmates??
 
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