Pellet training

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Gshock

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 21, 2009
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Toronto
Not going to ask about methods as I've already searched through them. What I want to ask is, how many pellets do you drop in the tank when you try to get them on pellets. Ive been at it for quite a few months, using almost every method I've ever read about. Tried stuffing pellets into worms, works great, but after 2 months its obvious this wont make my ray take pellets only. Tried soaking pellets in with worm juice and shrimp juice, still wont take em. Tried mixing em in with cut up worms and shrimp, takes the shrimp and worms, but just chews up the pellets. Since that was a good sign, I tried doing that. Again, after a couple of weeks, its quite obvious that was not going to work as pellets ended up not being chewed at all. Tried soaking on worm juice, THEN mixing it up with cut up worms. Worked the first few times, after that, my ray would just pick through the pellets. Tried the fail proof method, starved for 2 months, offering pellets everyday. Again, she chews it and spits it. finally gave up and threw a worm in there. How many pellets are you actually suppose to throw in during the starvation period everyday. I threw in like
2 or 3, Im starting to think that was the problem as 2 or 3 pellets is close to nothing. Do you just throw in a whole damn handful? Thanks in advance.
 
3-4 works good... try to target them onto the front of the disk as well
 
how big is your ray? if they eat 3-4 will do. First of, stay away from worm if you try pellet training. Feed them variety of food like prawn, smelt fish, silver fish but not worm. If your ray can eat variety of diet then pellet training is not far away. It is also depend on the ray species as well. Good luck and be patient with it.
 
Nic;3469065; said:
3-4 works good... try to target them onto the front of the disk as well

I've tried a couple times just hand feeding her pellets. Whenever she sees my hand she comes over and eats whatever there, but she just chews on it and spits it back out. Also tried just using a turkey baster to shoot it directly in her mouth, she spat that out too.

hondas3000;3469143; said:
how big is your ray? if they eat 3-4 will do. First of, stay away from worm if you try pellet training. Feed them variety of food like prawn, smelt fish, silver fish but not worm. If your ray can eat variety of diet then pellet training is not far away. It is also depend on the ray species as well. Good luck and be patient with it.

Attempting on a retic with 6" disc, I've got a couple rays on pellets in the past, some of which were retics, but she just wont budge. She eats EVERYTHING I've ever thrown in other than pellets. Prawn, shrimp, smelt, salmon, tuna, bass, sunfish fillets, worms, scallop, octopus, squip, oyster. Im a pretty big seafood eater myself, so I dump in whatever I have. She just wont take pellets.
 
give her time.... by 8" disk if she still hasnt budged its time for a month long starve...
 
Strange, my 5 inch retic ate dry straight away. My motoro, 6 inch just started chewing on soaked pellets (soaked in prawns muscle and bloodworm), still not 100% yet. Been soaking for about month.
I throw about 10gram of carnivore pellets per day.
 
Nic;3470227; said:
give her time.... by 8" disk if she still hasnt budged its time for a month long starve...

I want her on pellets before winter kicks in, in case I go on vacation again. Nobody is willing to feed my rays live worms.
Ade;3470400; said:
Strange, my 5 inch retic ate dry straight away. My motoro, 6 inch just started chewing on soaked pellets (soaked in prawns muscle and bloodworm), still not 100% yet. Been soaking for about month.
I throw about 10gram of carnivore pellets per day.

I've had a motoro that just ate pellets right off the bat a couple hours i got it home, shes just a bit more stubborn. Im planning to try and get a divider in the tank and seal her into a smaller area where she cant swim away from the pellets and then try starving her again, but thats after I get her nice and fat again.
 
how long of a vacation you planning on taking? if you wanna break her sooner start starving and only feeding pellets....
 
Nic;3472196; said:
how long of a vacation you planning on taking? if you wanna break her sooner start starving and only feeding pellets....
Probably like 2-3 weeks ish, not that long. tried starving, even went up to 2 months dropping 3-4 pellets a day, pounces on the pellets, and then just ignores them completely and swims to the other side of the tank. Planning to just divide the tank up and keep her in a small area where she cant go ANYWHERE away from the pellets. Maybe after like 2-3 days of big feedings ill get the divider in and start starving again, shes just way too skinny right now.
 
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