peacock bass

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Hey I just bought a baby peacock bass a couple days ago. Hes about 3 inches and I put him in a 20 gallon and feeding him a lot so he can go into my large tank. At first it will be really shy and sulk possibly after you set up the aquarium and might not eat anything. I tried feeding him small cichlid pellets that I feed to my green terror, oscar, and red devil but he only ate a couple when he was really hungry and only immediately after they are dropped in (one at a time). After they sit in there for a few seconds he won't eat them and have to remove the pellets. I bought some frozen bloodworm cubes and had more luck with those as he ate them but didn't seem like he liked them that much. The best thing to get for a "fingerling" peacock bass this size I think are feeder guppies. he can eat like 12 in about 1 minute. I think pbass really prefer live food but I heard you can ween them into eating pellets.

Also, you probably know they get HUGE and growth rate is like an oscar so be prepared.

-Josh
 
Welcome, feed the baby frozen brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms for now until they grow bigger then try feeding them pellets, it'll be hard but worth a shot. Try to stay away from live food, like goldfish etc.. keep heat at like 78-84. more active. :) anymore question glad to help or theres other threads about peacock bass.

Heres one thats really good. It starts from scratch.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75434
 
temperature from 86-89 F.
lots of oxygen and water movement.
keep them on LIVE foods til 6-8".
they are FRAGILE at that size.
 
Although live foods are OK for them, if you can get them to start taking pellets, then stick with it. I would keep trying to feed him things other than live. Resort to live if it won't take anything else. Make sure you get quality feeders though. Try and breed your own.
 
the common concensus w/ people on here that have been keeping them for a while say temp around 87 and live. now, there's nothing wrong with feeding them dead foods, but they should still get some live. my little guys eat plenty of small frozen foods, but they still get feeders about once a week.

just read up on the threads in here and you'll get a lot of information about keeping little ones. IME (and as I've been told), they need lots of oxygenation, filtration and tank maintenance (i.e. regular water changes)
 
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