One more try - Another Amaira

[peter predtank]

Just a sugestion , i know a lot of people will say this is not a good idea but ... Have you ever thought of trying frozen thawed rat pinkies or pups or even mouse pinkies if hes not quite big enough ?

Some aquarist would argue that mammailian food iteams are not a good food for fish . but i personally think these guys are a little different . lots of fish will take mice and baby ducklings and other types of food like this i know bass and muskie will . not that it qould make up there bulk natural diet .

But i especialy think it would be even more likely with these fish that they would eat more of these types of prey iteams in the wild . i also think these guy may somehow be more further along on the evolutionary trail then some other fish just from looking at them they are kind of reptilian ish . i feed mine rat pups all the time its there favorite food item actully.

They should be chuck full of goodness with the skeleton bones and guts and brain and blood eveerything , unlike cut fish type iteams . also they hardly poop anything out i rarly have to even vacum the bottom of my tank . i think i vacum out more scales from them battling each other then i have poop lol .

I know with other fish i have kept and fed pellets i have had to always be vacuming out waste . my fish are healthy not fat , i have never had to medicate , or even had any type of problem with the ever . other then the scraping they do every once in a while hell sometimes i dont even do a water change for a month . i do have a huge piece of java fern growing in ther that might help filter out some nirates .

Anyway just trying to say you could not worry so much about the pellet traning there are other options . the frozen pinkies are easy to find because reptiles are pretty comon in the pet trade .

Like i sad though i might not sugest this with other types of fish on a regular basis like say pecock bass or oscars or something but these guys are a little different i think .

Mine also get frogs and minnows and large shrimp but the bulk of there deit is frozen thawed rat pups and was pinky mice when they were smaller and all is good so far might be an option for you to try or even suplememnt with

 

[Dloks]

Hey no fish expert here but originally when I got my wolf (currently 16") I had a hard time finding what it eats after about a week or so and a few missing fish he started taking massivore and now till date he has completely ignore other fishes and is strictly on the pellets. I think the key was to starve it out long enough. :X

 

[nzafi]

peter predtank I always mammals make bad food for fish. I am more familiar with piranha and you can see it with them when they have food that is too fatty. How small were your aimara when you tried pinky mice? My guy is around 9.5-10in so I would he is still small.

The longest I have starved him is 2 weeks and he continues to reject pellets. I guess I will give it another go and see if he takes them after several weeks.

 

[moe214]

From my understanding fish have trouble digesting the hair or fur on mammals. kno4te may know more than me on it. I think it can slow down the amount of waste they can pass etc. I know pinkies don't really have fur though so you may very well be fine peter. And I can agree with wolves not producing as much waste as other fish such as cichlids. When I had cichlids a wc every week was mandatory now with the fish I keep it isn't. My cats are the most wasteful but there's only two and ones 4-5" so not that much from him or her lol. However I take the dw out every time and the most waste comes from the trachy's area.

 

[moe214]

From my understanding fish have trouble digesting the hair or fur on mammals. kno4te may know more than me on it. I think it can slow down the amount of waste they can pass etc. I know pinkies don't really have fur though so you may very well be fine peter. And I can agree with wolves not producing as much waste as other fish such as cichlids. When I had cichlids a wc every week was mandatory now with the fish I keep it isn't. My cats are the most wasteful but there's only two and ones 4-5" so not that much from him or her lol. However I take the dw out every time and the most waste comes from the trachy's area.

If you really wanted to get him as big as fast as you can. Feed live. That's how the asians get fish so big. I've done it with small predators when I needed them to catch up. I got a ten gallon id aerate and filter no substrate or nothing. Id fill it with 100 gold
Fish every two weeks, overstocked ofcourse so I don't have to go to the store every day. I'd buy small cichlid pellets flakes and a bunch of foods they can eat. Then after two weeks I'd begin to feed them to my fish. Right before I put any in as feeders I feed them everything I normally would assuming they wouldn't digest it in time and it'd be extra nutrients etc to the predator. I'd throw in one at a time till the predator had their fill. And once all of them are gone I go get more and give the main fish a week off of food, and start throwing gold fish in again. So the first 100 get the fattest. I grew my odoe from 3-4" to about 8" maybe 9" In like 2 months this way. And this is how I got the best and most entertaining feeding response. With my odoe she use to beg like a cichlid waitin for me to drop them in every day. She'd be on them as soon as they hit the water. If I kept throwing them in she'd stuff her face full. Think her record was 4 in her mouth all bent up with the tails stickin out her mouth. For awhile after I stopped this she hit the krill etc hard as if it was gold fish. Then she stopped hitting it hard, then she stopped begging. Now she acts a little skittish with me if I must say. Once in a blue she'll chase my finger.

I did this along with throwing in pellets etc for other fish. One fish tanks were never for me. So previously in the smaller tank I had a rainbow shark some botia and small species of bichirs as main inhabitants then If I ever came across a small species I wanted it joined them for awhile. I no longer have those tanks though or do this. Trying to settle down with aggressive fish and just keep my 120. Most aggressive fish I got now is my gold and he doesn't bother anyone he's with, so that is based off of his his past when I'd introduce something else other than the fish already in there. Jag cat might give him a run for his money with its little napoleon complex.

But you'll get the fastest growth out of your fish this way and probably the best entertainment and relationship with it. Ime. I've done it with smaller wolves, bichirs and gobies as well. Bichirs don't act like cichlids but they grow fast off it.

Sorry for double post wouldn't let me edit I took to long to write this

 

[nzafi]

moe214 you should apologize for me making me read the same paragraph twice.

I have heard that about the live feeders. I don't trust any local sources and I think my 4 year old is go nuts seeing me feed little "nemos" to my big fish. I have tilted to silversides though because the aimara goes bat crazy for them. It is insane how he reacts to them over anything else I have fed him.

 

[peter predtank]

Dloks what kinda wolf do you have 16 inch is a pretty nice size ?

nzafi i have been feeding them pinkies for a long time . i cant really remember exactly what size they were when first started but one pinkie mouse would fill them right up when i did start , i remember that .
they now are eating mid size rat pups about two at a time not every day .every few days i would say . maybe sometimes just once a week .other time every couple or few days .

moe21 you may be right about the fur , as even the mid size rat pups dont have much fur on then . the good ting about the rat pups is they can get a good size before they have a lot of fur . i will find out i guess as time goes buy if they start having trouble with fur as they graduate to larger and larger prey items .

i know that these fish can be caught in large fast flowing rivers were they most likely would not encounter too many fur bearing animals . but i also know they can be caught in very small shallow even tiny creeks and streams .
i assume were they get caught in the dry season ? or perhaps were they go to spawn ? not sure . but in these shallow areas surly they would come into contact with many fur and feather bearing animals they come to drink snatching them up in the process .

i think it was in the river monster episode with jeremy wade were he is guided to a spot deep in the jungle , to a tiny stream and the guide has a bow and arrow . he even makes bird calls and splashes the water to attract a wolf and he does get one to come right up but unfortunately misses the shot . its for these type of reasons i believe that these guys can probably handle these types of prey and maybe they have evolved to perhaps even the reason why when we see hugh ones in the hobby they are usually wild caught ones

 

[Dloks]

Dloks what kinda wolf do you have 16 inch is a pretty nice size ?

I have what I believe is a Hoplias Lacerdae from Wesley Wong, although other members might say its not. Who knows I love my fish and growing hopefully I can get this guy over 2ft. Its currently on massivore around 20-30 pellets a day. 50%-70% waterchange every other day

 

[peter predtank]

starting 22 minutes 40 seconds you can see them fishing in a small stream and were the guide uses bird calls and splashing to draw in the wolf ,but misses the shot . check it out its pretty cool

i liked this video before but some said they couldnt see it in there country so here is another link if first dosent work its at about 19 min 14 seconds in this one

let me know if either link works for you guys . it really is awesome , really shallow water were they would defiantly eat more furry or feathery prey especially in a jungle environment crawling with critters

 

[nzafi]

Repeat post - deleted.