LMB just kills minnows...

[WJC05]

Had my LMB for almost a week now and he had normally been eating pretty good. I would throw in a dozen fatheads and they would usually be gone by the next morning. Well I noticed some dead minnows laying on the bottom of the tank this morning. No big deal, I cleaned them out and tossed them and threw a dozen more fatheads into the tank. Well he just killed every one of them. He takes them in his mouth and then spits them back out and in againt and out again.. About ten times until he killed all 12 of them...

Water temp is 62 degrees right now...

Any thoughts?

 

[BIGgourami]

how often are you feeding him?

 

[WJC05]

I had been just throwing him about a dozen fatheads a day.. He is 10-11 inches..

 

[BIGgourami]

no, wonder you're over feeding. do a dozen every 3-4 days.

 

[WJC05]

These minnows arent full grown 3 inch fatheads tho.. They are lucky to make an inch... So they are small..

 

[Gonzaga]

My LMB does that as well. He just doesn't like anyone in his space!!!

 

[WJC05]

So how do you go about it when you give him feeders? Just one at a time and make sure he doesnt just kill him?

 

[ewurm]

I had been just throwing him about a dozen fatheads a day.. He is 10-11 inches..

That is way too many. They don't eat nearly that much in the wild.

 

[Bluegill]

My largemouth bass did that to my pet yellow perch, bluegill, and 3 suckers that I put into his tank. He killed all of them! As for the minnows my bass does that too when I give him too much to eat. One time I didn't feed him for a week and he ate a dozen 4 inch medium size goldfish in about 45 minutes. His gut was at least 2 inches bigger after he ate all of them and he is only 9 inches long.

 

[GJC]

Your uver ffeding him, cut it back to like a 1/4 of what you were feeding it.