nightmare!!!! - fish eating pellets

[scottswald]

i've put this in the general forum as it is not really specific to my type of fish.

basically, i have baby red belly piranha, only about 1-1.5 inch long each

im trying to get the to take mini pellets (floating) but they were too big so i had to squash it so it can eat them, this is very messy and time consuming, and a lot of food was getting wasted.

the other nite i tryed dropping 3 whole pellets in and in the morning they were gone. i thought great, they can now eat whole pellets.

i put 6 in this morning but only 1 had been eating and 5 were left in the tank, very disappointing!!

so now my question is should i just put in whole pellets each feeding time and remove what is left (if anything) the next time i feed and put only whole pellets in?

part of me is thinking "if i dont give them the choice, they will learn to take them" and the other half is saying (if they dont take them, they'll get too hungry and nip at each other"

what do you guys think?

 

[jschall]

i've put this in the general forum as it is not really specific to my type of fish.

basically, i have baby red belly piranha, only about 1-1.5 inch long each

im trying to get the to take mini pellets (floating) but they were too big so i had to squash it so it can eat them, this is very messy and time consuming, and a lot of food was getting wasted.

the other nite i tryed dropping 3 whole pellets in and in the morning they were gone. i thought great, they can now eat whole pellets.

i put 6 in this morning but only 1 had been eating and 5 were left in the tank, very disappointing!!

so now my question is should i just put in whole pellets each feeding time and remove what is left (if anything) the next time i feed and put only whole pellets in?

part of me is thinking "if i dont give them the choice, they will learn to take them" and the other half is saying (if they dont take them, they'll get too hungry and nip at each other"

what do you guys think?

What pellets are you feeding?

 

[scottswald]

kikari gold cichlid mini pellets

 

[jerzyperson]

just feed them market prawns or mussels.

 

[scottswald]

i have ande will do at times but i would really like them to get used to pellets. and they have ate some so they must like them to a degree... HELP!!!!

 

[iloveyouDIE]

I've never had a piranha that small.. but I will share my experience of when mine were only about 2-3".

I never tried to feed them pellets but I did realize that my group didn't want to eat every day. They eat (and always have) smelts and shrimp. I basically tried to feed them like normal fish.. a little food every day.. but they weren't really interested and I found myself cleaning food off of the bottom more than I would have liked.

Now they are 5-6" and they get fed every OTHER day and they eat all of their food at every feeding. I'm not sure if babies should be fed more.. but that's just what I experienced with my own. They are all plump, nicely colored and seem to be happy.

 

[scottswald]

I've never had a piranha that small.. but I will share my experience of when mine were only about 2-3".

I never tried to feed them pellets but I did realize that my group didn't want to eat every day. They eat (and always have) smelts and shrimp. I basically tried to feed them like normal fish.. a little food every day.. but they weren't really interested and I found myself cleaning food off of the bottom more than I would have liked.

Now they are 5-6" and they get fed every OTHER day and they eat all of their food at every feeding. I'm not sure if babies should be fed more.. but that's just what I experienced with my own. They are all plump, nicely colored and seem to be happy.

thanks for that!!! i have read that babies should be fed anywhere from 2-4 per day. i've chosen 3.

i've heard from pretty knowledgable people that they will grow faster and fatter and have the best colour with pellets. i dont know weather to be strict and only let them have the pellets so they will recognise them as their food source.

also people say only leave food in for 2 mins, my fish sometimes dont even start eating food for 2 mins and then just pick at it for 5-10 mins, anyone encounter this? any tips?

maybe only feeding twice a day?

 

[iloveyouDIE]

The whole '2 mins' rule I think only applies with certain types of fish. Piranhas are known to NOT eat in front of you no matter how hungry they are. It took a while for mine to be comfortable enough with me in the room to try and eat. Usually I would throw the food in and leave. By the time I came back (half hour later maybe) the food would be eaten.

With pellets, leaving them in the tank for long will probably cause them to get mushy and dirty your water. I never had that problem because I feed them with fish and shrimp.. in my case having the food sit on the bottom isn't going to dirty the water much.

I'm sorry I don't have more experience with pellets.. but I can at least share my experience of piranha feeding habits.

Edit: Try feeding them in the morning.. check on them after a half an hour with little to no activity in the room. If the pellets are gone then attempt to feed them later in the day.. early evening or dinner time. When mine were young they liked to eat before bed because the lights were out and the house was asleep.

 

[scottswald]

thankyou for sharing your experiences, i will try this. well when theyate all the pellets it was overnight in the dark, when they one ate one, it was in the morning. that makes sense.

i have noticed that they use the full height of the tank but not when its light.

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Yeah piranhas, especially new ones, are very shy and skittish. It took about a month before mine didn't scatter when I walked into the room.

Give them time and feed them in the evening. That's probably the only issues. Once they are more comfortable you can feed them during the day. You'll notice their change in behavior. It's always a relief when you realize they've gotten more comfortable!