My new Lei
- Thread starter rodger
- Start date
Mostly live black worms. I just fed chopped shrimp pieces this week. He also eats FD krill and occasionally a flake or 2 that the swords are eating. I have developed a little monster, though. He sees my fingers as the source of food, and will jump out of the water to bite my fingers. That isn't a problem now, but it will be some day. An unfortunate problem that I will have to deal with is that he won't look down even an inch for food. When feeding black worms or shrimp if they get much more then 1/2" below the surface he never sees them to eat it. Not a problem with the krill since it stays on the surface. I guess I will have to start sticking my hand in to get him to go further down to eat. I am waiting till he gets a little larger to start him on pellets. I have some frozen black worms that I will try this week since I am almost out of live and the next shipment is a week off.
Well, now I need some help. The little guy isn't eating much for the last week. His main diet is live blackworms. I feed chopped shrimp and FD krill as well. He won't even look at the krill and shrimp now, and is barely eating the worms. Maybe 5-6 a day total. He used to have a bulging gut, now not at all and is looking kind of thin from above. I have been doing daily 10% waterchanges since this started. I raised the temp to 84. He grew about an inch real fast, but that won't continue at this rate. I also added some rocksalt. No new tankmates. Nothing has changed. I did notice that he takes a long time to choke down the small amount of food he is eating. My concern is that it may be an internal deformity that is making it hard to eat. Any thoughts?
A friend of mine got the same batch from your source locally. It seems to be thriving and supplemented with a sturgeon meat diet. Just a suggestion to get your little guy to eat, maybe have some small guppies/minnows to see if the Lei pursues.
He lives in a swordtail tank. I am sure he is still eating those as they are born as I see no babies. Still, he is looking thin. Actually, I hadn't thought of the built in food source but he can't be getting that many compared to how he used to eat. Plus the adults and teenagers are no longer afraid of him which means he quit attacking them.
Whats his stool look like ? White? clear ? stringy? Any sores ? physical appearance changes? anything attached to his body?
Any leeches make it into the tank with the black worms? Will he go after feeder guppies or swordtails?
I fed black worms to my discus awhile ago and always had one or two discus come down with a bacterial infection during those times.
I tried again with a smaller amount as soon as I see the water start to foul reddish brown color I dump them to avoid a repeat experience.
Used metronidazole to clean that up
Any leeches make it into the tank with the black worms? Will he go after feeder guppies or swordtails?
I fed black worms to my discus awhile ago and always had one or two discus come down with a bacterial infection during those times.
I tried again with a smaller amount as soon as I see the water start to foul reddish brown color I dump them to avoid a repeat experience.
Used metronidazole to clean that up
I assume he is eating the babies. I haven't seen more then an occasional from a new hatch since days after I got him. I can tell by looking at the female swords that they are continuing to drop. They can't make enough to satisfy the way his appetite was. I never see his stools. I see no leaches with the blackworms, just flatworms. No physical issues other then thin.
