New jag male not eating.

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Mystus Redtail

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 8, 2007
2,154
3
68
Fishing in Wisconsin
I just picked up a super nice jag pair last friday. The female has been eating well for me, but the male barely eats at all. She is over 6" and he is about 10". I tried to ease them in to their home with comet goldfish, which she was ruthless in killing, but mostly they killed them and spit them out. In the morning they would all be gone tho. I'm not sure if one or both of them are eating them over night. I have been giving them cichlid sticks now. He shows some interest in them, but I've only seen him attempt to eat one, which he chewed up and spit most of it out.

My questions are: Is it normal that he doesn't have as much interest in food as she does? Could he be eating more when the lights are off?

I will get you pictures this week as my new camera is in the mail as we speak. It may be bold to say, but I would bet his beauty rivals most on this site. Absolutely beautiful with a nice purple sheen. I just hope my camera skills are as good as the camera I'm getting.

They have a 125 all to themselves.

Any other suggestions for are first time jag owner are welcome.
 
Well I can't say the Goldfish idea was a bright one. I'd contact whoever you purchased them from and see what brand and type of food he or she was feeding them. Perhaps the Male is just incredibly fussy, and if hes chewing food and spitting it, it means he at least has some appetite.
 
my jag spits out and makes a mess of the sticks, i feed mine hikari cichlid gold and bio-gold and she never spits them out and shows much better growth and color. she also loves blood worms
 
Um, I think there is a different reason. Seems he's digging a nest right in the middle of the tank as we speak. He just started after I posted. BTW I'm feeding the same cichlid sticks the LFS said that they were eating. And the Comets were quarantined.
 
I guess, my new concern is should I be preparing for more aggression from him. He has bumped the female a few times, nothing too violent or troubling, but she is staying towards one end. I have read about making a divider, and I planned on doing it this week, but it seems that I might be up late doing it tonight if this continues, what do you guys think.

And another thing, he's building the nest on the undergravel filter not on the slate, should I just move the slate that I had already provided? Or anything?
 
Mystus Redtail;1725451; said:
I guess, my new concern is should I be preparing for more aggression from him. He has bumped the female a few times, nothing too violent or troubling, but she is staying towards one end. I have read about making a divider, and I planned on doing it this week, but it seems that I might be up late doing it tonight if this continues, what do you guys think.

And another thing, he's building the nest on the undergravel filter not on the slate, should I just move the slate that I had already provided? Or anything?
Click to expand...

You could try putting a tera cotta pot in there big enough for both of them, like a strawberry pot. This will give them a "nest" without the digging. Or they may not like it. Mine do though.
 
Things are happening pretty fast, he's divided his attention between the hole he was digging and coming over to "polish" the large piece of slate that is in the tank. And he's picking up some of the rocks around the slate. Still taking time to come mess with her a little. I have a friend that is on his way over with some egg crate type material to make a divider if necessary.
 
I noticed my male completely looked at pellets like WTF?? when he started breeding with his female and tried to get him to eat but he wouldn't for like 2 weeks and I dropped krill in the tank a BAMMM he hit it like a wrecking ball I guess he needed something a little more protein rich. My male rams my female in the head all time grabbing her gill plate but nothing to bad but if he gets out of hand she wacks him a little putting him in his place. She is also twice his weight lol. She is 11" and him 8.5". I noticed that with managuense let them lay on what they want because they will lay there with whatever you do. I put slate in my Pairs tank they laid on it once and never had again they seem to like this little bowl shaped rock that I have in there for them.
 
So should I try putting the divider in or not? She's been taking a little beating, but nothing too severe. A couple of harder hits and tail whips but mostly he's all charge and backs off at the last second just nudging her. I have a tank divider prepared now, the silicone that I put around the holes is still soft, I don't know if that's a problem either.

I made the divider out of egg crate like material that covers florescent lighting. I cut holes in it just her size, but I siliconed around them so that she wouldn't hurt herself on any rough edges.

They've been doing this ritual for a few hours now, I'm not sure if I should turn out the lights and let them be, but I'm afraid that the aggression might worsen, and something could happen when I'm not looking.
 
Honestly I dont worry about my female. The male will do that to her for maybe 2 weeks until she spawns then he stops and does it again when the time for spawning comes. My female had only been bitten a couples times hard to a point where scale were missing on her gill plate but she healed within 2 days and she lets him have it when he gets to frisky lol. I never had to separate my pair. Let the silicone cure for 48 hours before water contact. If you really think you should put the divider in go for it.
 
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