New born pup feeding help

[rlane]

My female gave birth last Saturday, so closing in on two weeks. I have not seen the pups eat yet. I know that its normally a few days till a week before they eat but what is the longest you have seen them go before they start eating? I have tried live black worms, earthworms chopped up into tiny pieces and frozen freshwater Mysis shrimp. The last two days or so the rays have been much more active, but I have just not seen them eat at all. The food eventually disappears, but I cant be certain that it is them eating it as there are other small fish in with them. Any advice on getting pups to start eating would be much appreciated.

 

[jim barry]

Hi riane.
Frozen mysis with garlic normally does it for me, then start mixing with blood worm then onto earthworm chopped up with pellets. What other fish you got with them? Make sure they are not getting spooked by anything else. Ensure they have good flow in the water but at the same time not too much and an airstone.
My last pup just started eating properly at very nearly 2 weeks old so don't give up and good luck!

 

[ShadowStryder]

My concern is the other fish are spooking and possibly eating all foods before they have chance. Personally I would seperate till feeding well.

 

[MEDHBSI]

Have you tried very tiny pieces of what the mother was eating?

 

[rlane]

well two of the 4 I physically saw eat some Mysis shrimp this morning, so that is a relief. They were the two biggest of the 4. All four pups started to become much more active in the last 2 days, so hopefully the smaller two will start feeding shortly. They are all pretty skinny, when compared to an adult ray, but having never dealt with day old pups before I don't have anything to compare them too. I have also thrown in some frozen blood worms this morning and I think the two ate them as well but it was tougher to tell if they actually ate it when compared to the Mysis.