Picky O. niger

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R

rc604

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 3, 2006
58
0
0
West Vancouver, BC, Canada
Hi all,

Relatively new to the catfish game, but been around MFK for a while.

So after much research and even more waiting I managed to find an O. niger cat. It's about 6" TL and from what I've seen is of typical girth for a niger this size (not skinny as hell but not exactly fat). It was purchased on feb 22. At the store it had been eating shrimp pellets but now I can't manage to get it to eat anything accept bloodworms, and even then I have to pipette the worms RIGHT into its mouth.

With most of my other fish I use the starvation method to ween them onto what I want them to eat (staple of market shrimp with hikari pellets on the side). However I am not as firmiliar with catfish as I am with my other fish.

I guess my question is this fish too young to simply just wait for it to eat what I would like it to or would I be ok to do so? Or is there another preferred method to get this thing to eat shrimp? If it is too small then I will continue to feed it bloodworms until it is bigger, it's just that using a pipette to baby this fish daily is getting alittle old.

Alittle background info:
-tank: 100 gallon planted with hiding places for him
-temp: 80*F
-3-4 small (10-15%ish) water changes done weekly. Havent checked perams but I doubt this is the issue...

Thanks in advance
 
6" might be a little small for it to take in large shrimp but i dont see why it wouldnt take chunks. I have a giraffe cat which has a similar mouth structure. Never had problems getting it to eat anything.

One thing you could try is soaking the shrimp in blood worms for a while and then seeing if the niger will recognize that shrimp as food, and then lean it from there. But i dont think youll have too many problems. they have fast growth rates, and ive never heard of any catfish starving to death when food was offered.

I hope things will get better for you. Im sure your cat will get over this and eat just about everything.
 
I personally have never seen mine eat . but i throw shrimp in and semi litter the ground and its gone the next day lol hes fat im happy
 
i have many cats that are like that. Yet to find little cat skeletons or bodies during water change so they must eat sometime.
 
I've been trying cut up shrimp peices previously and feeding at night, sometimes leaving the small bits in over night.

I'll try mixing the shrimp bits with bloodworms and seeing if he clues in.

thanks for the insight.
 
Update/Bump:

Tried mixing shrimp bits with the bloodworms and the damn thing picks through them only eating the worms. Never thought I'd have so much trouble with a catfish. From what I've read these things are supposed to be garbage disposals.

At around 6" and not skinny(yet not fat) is it safe to just stop feeding the bloodworms and offer what I want it to eat until it accepts? If not it's not the end of the world, it would just be so much easier to be able to have it eat pellets and shrimp.
 
i think your safe. If it is healthy and is not too skinny. I think its worth a try. im sorry you are having so much trouble. Never heard of a problem like this before.
 
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