i am new to the world of polypteridae. about 6 mths ago i bought my first one, an endi and it was all down hill. now armed with a new tank and many polys later, i am always learning new things about them. i have read and spoke to many experts in the field of poly, and with the many opinions, i weaved thru some and finds what works for me and my polys keeping. one important thing i learn is feeding, food type. As many here i use massivore pellets, some others advice against pellets, so i also use tilapia steaks (chopped), frozen brine shrimps. i recently came across some frozen whole sardines next to the tilapia steak area. bought it and tried it, man it is a hit beyond believe! they love it, ,my Senegal today dove into the pile and came out with what looks like 2 cigarettes. he was eating 2 at a time. i know there are many opinions about feeding land animal to fish, but is it wrong (downside) to feed saltwater fish to freshwater fish? the sardines are cheap too (2.99 for a 4"x6"x1" block), bonus if it works. i still mixed it up to keep the variety.
polypterus found new food type - opinion needed
- Thread starter dcv92111
- Start date
1. Live minnows – only did this in the beginning after many people advice against it I stop it, they are ok with it, nice upside the un-eating food is not going spoil. Bad side is, well I think we all know the bad side of live food.
2. Massivore – absolutely hates it, I would have to lighting the other food just to make them hungry enough to eat them. My asorgii however does like it, maybe it just how they are raised. Good point is, man made chocked full of proteins, and essential vitamins. Bad side, don’t know, some people said their fish died because of only feeding them massivore. No proof just a lot of theories.
3. Chopped tilapia – they eat it, I have to sometime vacuum some remains, I feed twice a day. Good point, cheap and available at most seafood market. Bad, cant think of any.
4. Brine shrimp – they eat it but don’t like it that much, if I place it in with tilapia steaks, they prefer the tilapia. Good point, it is different frozen food then tilapia? Bad point, pricey!
5. Mealworms – the upper jaws seem to really like them. The lower jaw probally not so much, maybe because it is not so filling? Good point, again just variety, bad point expensive and u must take care of the worms, so now one more thing to take care of.
6. Nightcrawlers – tried it a couples of times, they are neutral to it, it is too pricey to go on, so I rarely go this route.
7. ***frozen whole sardines – unless others say bad, some good eating. They all love it, favorite new food, no training requires. Good point – cheap, frozen, whole fish with guts and all. Bad---unknown at this time.
2. Massivore – absolutely hates it, I would have to lighting the other food just to make them hungry enough to eat them. My asorgii however does like it, maybe it just how they are raised. Good point is, man made chocked full of proteins, and essential vitamins. Bad side, don’t know, some people said their fish died because of only feeding them massivore. No proof just a lot of theories.
3. Chopped tilapia – they eat it, I have to sometime vacuum some remains, I feed twice a day. Good point, cheap and available at most seafood market. Bad, cant think of any.
4. Brine shrimp – they eat it but don’t like it that much, if I place it in with tilapia steaks, they prefer the tilapia. Good point, it is different frozen food then tilapia? Bad point, pricey!
5. Mealworms – the upper jaws seem to really like them. The lower jaw probally not so much, maybe because it is not so filling? Good point, again just variety, bad point expensive and u must take care of the worms, so now one more thing to take care of.
6. Nightcrawlers – tried it a couples of times, they are neutral to it, it is too pricey to go on, so I rarely go this route.
7. ***frozen whole sardines – unless others say bad, some good eating. They all love it, favorite new food, no training requires. Good point – cheap, frozen, whole fish with guts and all. Bad---unknown at this time.
The sardines may end up having too much salt in them for feeding regularly, try to find some whole freshwater smelt or shiners itll be the same thing minus the salt. Ive found my polys love hikari carni as well as massivore, frozen blood worms, and hikari cichlid gold (surprisingly they get more excited and eat this faster then massivore or hikari carni.. nothing beats it other then live red worms as far as quick response to eat goes)
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damn the salt..forgot about the salt, after all it is called saltwater! well i guess maybe once a week wouldn't hurt. i don't think smelt, shiner sells in supermarket. it is hard to get to the lfs as it is 25miles drive. i think my lfs labeled them as silversides?, i never try them but i think it is some form of shiner. hmm on the topic of shiners, anyone ever try bait shiners? that one is even longer drive so probably not going to happen for me but just curious. it is live, but i am sure it is better care for then cheap minnows, and goldfishes. Being they cost 1.00 a piece here.
yeah i have tried the cichlid gold sinking, i think the med sinking pellet type. no luck so far, they don't even eat it, the tiger shovelnose like them, but then again that guy eat crap, really, it eat real crap. i still have original huge bag of the gold just sitting, so i ll push it on them some more. hmm that statement felt like something a drug dealer would say.. psst come here, wanna try some cichlid gold? first try is free. well here is hoping for some addicts!
All I feed mine is tilapia, market shrimp, smelt, massivore and whatever feeders they manage to catch when I feed my payara's. My polys go absolutely crazy for the meat but only my lap and 2 endli's eat the massivore. My congi and ornates could care less about it. I've been feeding only massivore for the past 2 weeks just to try and get them to eat it, but they don't even try to sniff it out when I drop it in and they just swim over it, blowing it all over the place. I've fed earthworms before and they loved it, but like you said before, it's kinda pricey and walmart doesn't always have them. I've never tried mealworms cuz I'm worried about the chitin in the exoskeleton impacting them since it's pretty hard to digest.
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Silversides! Thats the name that was escaping me lol those are great, i dont think sardines once a week would hurt just dont stuff em haha
I really dont get it about the gold and my polys, i just dont.. they just love it, same with my red hi fin wolf. I havent fed them live food in... about 2 months and it was chopped worm so theyre probably in "taking anything i can get" mode.
Well next time you make the trip to your LFS be sure to snag some silversides! Idk if bait shiners would be good, ones pre killed and bagged are usually treated with stuff i wouldnt want my pets to eat and live ones live in dirty dirty water in the bait shop, probably resulting in a lot of unhealthy fish
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I really dont get it about the gold and my polys, i just dont.. they just love it, same with my red hi fin wolf. I havent fed them live food in... about 2 months and it was chopped worm so theyre probably in "taking anything i can get" mode.
Well next time you make the trip to your LFS be sure to snag some silversides! Idk if bait shiners would be good, ones pre killed and bagged are usually treated with stuff i wouldnt want my pets to eat and live ones live in dirty dirty water in the bait shop, probably resulting in a lot of unhealthy fish
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Aw3s - finally someone else that have the same problem pushing the massivore. i thought i was doing something wrong, when i talked with people they all agreed their poly loves it, like its God's gift to poly and my poly are some kind of oddities. some of mine does exactly what you stated, they don't even bother sniffing it. i ll go tell the poly the good news, i am sure they felt a shame for not being like other poly.
Haha I know right! I thought that maybe its cuz those 3 were wc but then I remembered that so was my lap and she loves them! I might need to try other pellets cuz I've heard some feed there's the big NLS pellets that it didn't even know existed. Maybe we'll have better luck with that? I dunno. I just want to somehow incorporate pellets into all their diets but its kinda hard when they don't even bother trying to look for it.
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