P senegalus feeding?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
ShadowBass;1149266; said:
When they say "feed flakes" they probably mean someone goes around and dumps a bunch of food in each tank and hopefully the fish will eat it, that's what every petsmart I've been to does. They don't actually watch and see whether the fish are eating, it's just their standard feeding practice.

Try to find some HBH SuperSoft pellets. If not try shrimp pellets or another sinking pellet. They're not gonna want to come to the top to feed and low protein is better than no food at all.

Other options:
Freeze dried or frozen krill
Raw frozen fish filet from the store (just cut it up really small)
Pieces of raw cocktail shrimp without shell

These are things that are good to feed anyway, and don't worry about them not wanting pellets after that, it's not hard to get them on prepared foods.
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I figured that most chain pet stores do that. Like I said, the only sinking stuff they had was the shrimp pellet and that was about half the size of its head. (My bichir is about two and a half inches long.) Should I get the shrimp pellet and break it? Or just drop one in and allow it to get soggy so he can tear pieces off? I was thinking about live adult brine shrimp- would that work?

How large would the mouth of a 2.25 incher be? I'm considering fish or frozen shrimp, but need to know size to cut it up into.

Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
I've raised CB polys on cichlid gold, and even though it floats, they learn to feed at the surface.

When I started getting wild caught specimens though, it was too difficult to get them to feed at the surface, so I started feeding all of my polys market shrimp, earthworms, etc...
 
Thanks serg, this guy is tiny, so I think it's a farm raised one. If I put cichlid gold on top, it'll eventually learn to feed there? Do I have to crush it first? (I have baby size, but I don't think he can take them in one bite.) If I do nothing but offer cichlid gold every day, it'll learn to feed before he starves? Sorry for all the questions, but it's my first time with a bichir and I don't want him dying on me. Thanks!
 
Druu;1149465; said:
Thanks serg, this guy is tiny, so I think it's a farm raised one. If I put cichlid gold on top, it'll eventually learn to feed there? Do I have to crush it first? (I have baby size, but I don't think he can take them in one bite.) If I do nothing but offer cichlid gold every day, it'll learn to feed before he starves? Sorry for all the questions, but it's my first time with a bichir and I don't want him dying on me. Thanks!
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IME, yes they will take to pellets before starving and it can take upwards of two weeks.

If your fish is 4" and you have baby size pellets, then you're fine, no need to crush the pellets at all.

I do suggest feeding smaller quantities at first since your fish is probably not going to eat, and only offer food once a day until it finally comes around and accepts the pellets.

The first bichir I ever trained to eat pellets was a CB ornate. All I fed were pellets, and she figured it out on her own.

HTH
 
My bichir is around 2.25 inches, definitely under 3. There's duckweed in the tank now- should I remove this so it doesn't confuse the little fella? Or will it be able to smell and identify the pellets?
 
try omega one shrimp pellets there is alot of protien in there and if you have to you can break them in half. i got my sen. at 3.5" and i fed him that. now hes about 5.5" and he eats broken massivore pellets, frozen bloodworms, live blood worms, earth worms frozen krill and still omega one shrimp pellets.
 
Thanks, I really do hope it starts to eat soon. If he doesn't take pellets by Saturday, I've got a guppy fry with a deformed spine that can go in as a swimming snack... Btw, do you know if petsmart carries omega one shrimp pellets?

As an aside, there is currently gravel in his tank, a dark blue, which coincidentally was the same color as the gravel at petsmart. Many sites I read suggest a bare bottom or sandy substrate, so I wanted to ask if anyone here has had success with them in a graveled tank? [Other contents of tank include duckweed, small clump of java moss, water wisteria. Driftwood to come. If I can't find a small attractive piece, possibly PVC.]

Thanks again all.
 
Just my own observation at Petsmart (the one in northern Winston-Salem, NC)... Every time I have seen them feeding the fish, they have been a mix of frozen (thawed) brine shrimp and flake. The fish really seem to be taken good care of there.

Maybe I am just lucky having access to this particular one.
 
Feeding cichlid pellets is fine, just soak them in a cup and squeeze them...toss them and they sink.

My sen likes pellets, krill, and bloodworms.
 
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