New kelberi's, how long before i should give in to feeders?

[ado124]

I've got 4 kelberi's that are with some azuls right now. The azuls hammer frozen blood worms but the kelberi's only taste the blood worms. They aren't as fat as I'd like so my question is, how long should i wait before I give in and throw in guppies? I'd have to separate them from the azuls since I don't want them getting used to guppies. What do I do?!

The other problem is the tank I set up for the kelbs to grow out is still cycling...

Thanks for the help,
Andrew

 

[haynchinook334]

Feed your feeders pellet food then feed them to you Kel's. I fed my bass feeders in till they were 3''. Freeze dried bloodworms worked to get a feel of eating at top.

 

[ado124]

I'd like to avoid feeders if possible. So far I've tried blood worms and fresh chopped shrimp. Oh yeah, got the kelb's this morning.

 

[aro_fish]

adrew, how big is your tank that you plan to put all the pbass in? how big are they now?

 

[shookONES]

My small Kelberi were more enthusiastic about live blackworms then feeders. I'm more interested in bulking them up at this point. I'll worry about getting them onto prepared foods when they have some size to them.

 

[haynchinook334]

Well, What where they eating before? And since you just got them this morning, give them time to settle in. But if you really want to see them eat, feed the feeders Bio Gold plus and feed them to the bass.

 

[silverdragon]

how big are your kelbs? id wait a couple of days and they should come around if your azuls are smashing the bloodworms.. if not seperate and feed them feeders till their big enough to wean onto dead food.. dont feed them feeders if their still with the azuls cause then you could risk your azuls reverting back to live food..

 

[pwmin]

I would give them what they want. You can give them a couple days, though before deciding to give them live. It took my kels a couple days before they would eat. I wouldn't worry too much about the piquiti going back to live as long as you keep giving them dead foods. I still give my piquiti and kelberi live every once in a while even though they are on dead foods.

 

[ado124]

adrew, how big is your tank that you plan to put all the pbass in? how big are they now?

The azuls are 2"-2.5"
The kelbs are 2"

They're sharing a divided 90g with some flowerhorn fry right now. The flowerhorn fry will probably be food for my cousins arowana when the cichla need more room. At about 4-6" I'm going to move a few to my 75g with my dats and tems whlie the rest stay in the 90g. When the fish get too big for my 75g they'll go into my 120g temporarily. If I find that the rest of the cichla in the 90g get cramped they'll go into a 400g as soon as they're big enough not to be food to the arowana.

This is all short term. I'm working on getting a new place and starting a project tank within the next few years.

 

[ado124]

I believe I read somewhere that Rapps was feeding them chopped shrimp and frozen blood worms. That's why I tried those first. If they don't eat tonight then I'll give them some blackworms tomorrow.