nocturnal bottom feeders question

[Slippery K]

Hey everyone. I just started useing hikari sinking carnivore pellets for my rck. He gave me no issues what so ever with this new type of food for him, he eats what he sees floating to the bottom, but not all of them. now I use 1/4" river rocks (pea stones) as substrate in my main tank and some of the pellets he doesnt eat sinks inbetween the rocks. So my question is, when the lights go out and hes roaming the tank, will the rck smell the food and find it? I dont want to be vacumming out the gravel everyother day to remove any neaten food. What iv done before was. Use his normal shrimp tails and stick it full of pellets. Does anyone have any tips to ensure he eats all of them? Or will he find them on his own over night? Iv always had good water quality and dont want it to start going bad because of un eaten food.

 

[DammitKhoa]

Have you thought of feeding massivore pellets? They're basically the same ingredients as the sinking carnivore pellets, but just bigger. Only thing is for any of the two pellets, if you leave them in there for too long, it'll get messy because they soften up too much to the point where it can scatter and make a big mess. I've never kept RCKs before so perhaps someone with personal experience could chime in on how sensitive their smell is

 

[Slippery K]

Yea I looked at the massivore pellets, but it was 45 bucks a bag, since it was my first time trying hikari pellets I went with the cheaper bag just incase. Worst case scenario I stick a bunch of pellets into some shrimp or gut paxk some mollies.

 

[DammitKhoa]

I assume you were looking at the 2.2lb bag of massivore? In general I found that a 2.2 lb bag of sinking carnivore is more expensive than a 2.2lb bag of massivore. Perhaps you can try their smaller bag of massivore pellets (they have 2.61 oz and 13.4 oz bags in addition to the big bag)

 

[MonsterMinis]

Yes, if he's still hungry over night... I've found hikkari pellets tend to double in size once soaked threw. If he's not eating as many as you think he should, he's probablly got the right of it.. I'de feed less.. in a few days try adding a lil' extra and see if he takes more or not. or try feeding him small amounts more often.

 

[Slippery K]

On the first night I tossed in maybe 5 pellets tops, one at a time, he at 3 and the rest sank, I havnt been able to find them as they blend into the gravel and wasnt enough to make a noticeable lump in his belly. But now that I know he will eat them, I will definatly pick up the larger pellets next time. Hes roughly 18" so the pellets im useing are like m&m candies for him.