Oxydoras Niger Catfish , What should i feed?

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J

Jaramillo12

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 4, 2013
22
3
3
Colombia.
Hello, i recently got a TSN(10"') and a Oxyodas Niger(3,5"') .The problem is feeding the oxydoras , at first my other fish wont let them eat nothing , also it only goes out at night wich makes it harder to feed. So i transfered to a plastic container .
What should i feed ?
 
Niger's typically will need hiding spaces and need to put on a lot of size before they will come out. I've seen people suggest 10 inches or more. One method is feed the rest of the tank and then after lights out, drop some sinking food into the tank. Under normal circumstances, if it's gone in the morning, the Niger probably got it. Cut up earthworms, sinking pellets, small snails, slices of shrimp or fish, if correctly sized should get it's attention. Not sure if that will work with a much larger TSN in the tank.

With eels, small jars with narrow openings can be filled and left near the eel's pvc pipe. Not sure if Niger's will go for that.

You might want to grow him out some. I've seen people get them to more than 2 feet in between 18-24 months, so you should be able to get him from 3.5" to 9-10" in just a few months. Less competition, faster growth, plus you'll be sure it's eating, etc.

Anyway, I haven't raised one, so I hope you get some posts.
 
I've currently got two at around 10" mark , they do come out now when the rest of my tank feeds bit its took ages , I too picked them up really small 2/3" its took about 18 months I guess to get to 10 " , I think one of mine has slight digest problem or stunted a little as it looks skinnier compared to the other and is taking ages to fill out .
I used to feed mine early in the morning when I just wake up , I kept the lights off and just managed to catch them still out on the nightshift ;) , chopped up prawn is good but it has to be small fir them to take , also muscles whitebait and earthworms , might be worth trying some sinking micro pellets (hikari do them)
They do need lots of hiding places mine still spend a lot of time in plastic pipes or wedged under wood , I've thought mine were dead on a few occasions and moved wood etc only to find I've woken him up lol :D
 
Does not look like O. niger to me. Closer to Pterodoras granulosus. They are very unfussy. Inhale any and all foods when healthy and stress free. They are stressed when small and have no cover.
 
+1 after looking at the PIC its not a Niger :confused:

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Got a 3inches niger that does not come out to eat during its feeding time. Usually it end up on the losing end when competing for food. The other fishes- giraffe catfish, bichirs and talking cats, being larger, are more outgoing than him during feeding, while he stay close to the driftwood most of the time. But somehow, after an hour or so, his belly would turn more filling even when I did not see him eat a single pellet
 
He'll be vacuuming the messy left overs from the other cats , mine used to do this grabbing bits of pellet as it floats past its mouth
Watch the giraffe cat doesn't start to bully the birchir once grown mine used to drag my birchir around the tank for fun :banghead: there not quite as placid as Niger's

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The giraffe catfish bullies only the senegal bichir and not the congiscus. Somehow, he swim away when the congiscus is around and push the senegal to the top
 
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