Pregnant(hopefully) female nutrition

[Jesseliu13]

So i think my female is finally pregnant. She is eating alot. she eats probably half a tilapia fillet herself each feeding but she has some very strange behavior. She likes to dig alot, i am assuming that is a sign that she is hungry. but when i put tilapia in, she doesnt eat all of it. same thing with shrimp. she just keeps digging and ignoring the rest of the food. I throw in some pellets every now and then as well, she takes massivore quite well but i dont have enough nor do i want to buy so much massivore to just supplement on massivore. is this normal? also is there another pellet anyone suggests that is as filling as massivore? or any pellet sinking that will soften and wont break my bank? Obviously shrimp and tilapia isnt her favorite.

 

[Jesseliu13]

i feed like 3 times a day to her giving 2 days of no feeding - the water change days.

 

[SandNukka15]

Just because she is eatting a lot doesnt mean she is pregnant....rays eat a lot in general....have you seen any bite marks or male harassing her at all?

Rays like to dig for food or sift through sand looking for it my bd does this all the time.

She prob doesnt eat all of it bc your feeding 3 times a day.....how much food are u feeding ur rays daily?

Feeding twice is sufficient......i usually do frozen in the am and pellets at night.

Cichlid gold sinking is another pellet besides massivore that is cheap and has worked for me

 

[SandNukka15]

i feed like 3 times a day to her giving 2 days of no feeding - the water change days.

Just because she is eatting a lot doesnt mean she is pregnant....rays eat a lot in general....have you seen any bite marks or male harassing her at all?

Rays like to dig for food or sift through sand looking for it my bd does this all the time.

She prob doesnt eat all of it bc your feeding 3 times a day.....how much food are u feeding ur rays daily?

Feeding twice is sufficient......i usually do frozen in the am and pellets at night.

Cichlid gold sinking is another pellet besides massivore that is cheap and has worked for me

 

[jim barry]

If she is pregnant you don't want to skip any feeding days at all. Stick to 2 feeds per day, especially when pregnant, she needs the extra nutrition for the pups

 

[Jesseliu13]

Just because she is eatting a lot doesnt mean she is pregnant....rays eat a lot in general....have you seen any bite marks or male harassing her at all?

Rays like to dig for food or sift through sand looking for it my bd does this all the time.

She prob doesnt eat all of it bc your feeding 3 times a day.....how much food are u feeding ur rays daily?

Feeding twice is sufficient......i usually do frozen in the am and pellets at night.

Cichlid gold sinking is another pellet besides massivore that is cheap and has worked for me

pretty sure she is pregnant. there were bite marks. been about 3 weeks now and there is quite a bit of growth. i am gonna restock on some pellets soon since i finally have rays willing to eat pellets other than massivore. I am currently feeding ken's Krill pellets and Earthworm stick. They are great cheap alternatives i got but they are waaay too messy. too much wheat and carbs... i got pellet wheat particles floating around in my tank. I will change my schedule to 2x a day. and feed every day and up the water changes then.
I normally just cut a whole fillet of tilapia and chuck it in there to just let the 2 of them finish it. I watch them eat for a few minutes and just normally leave it in the tank for a while. Like this morning for example. 5am feeding, watched them eat, and then see alot leftover but she still digging. go to the gym and then come back bam. all of them gone in a 2 hour span....mapybe one or 2 pieces left. Yesterday night, i feed like litterally a handful of massivore pellets, prob has 20-30 per handfull and about another handful of kens pellets... all of it gone within 5 minutes. But I HATE pellets for rays.... its kinda like my pet peve. I didnt start feeding pellets until last week.

 

[SHARK13]

If she is pregnant you don't want to skip any feeding days at all. Stick to 2 feeds per day, especially when pregnant, she needs the extra nutrition for the pups

+1 and if you are looking for another pellet to mix with massivore I highly recommend NLS Mega Fish formula. My rays and all other fish destroy it, and their colors are outstanding.

 

[Jesseliu13]

+1 and if you are looking for another pellet to mix with massivore I highly recommend NLS Mega Fish formula. My rays and all other fish destroy it, and their colors are outstanding.

the 2 main things that keep me from buying anything from NLS is 1 the hardness of the pellets, and 2 the price is not much different from Hikari's massivore. I have ken's krill pellets and they are pretty thick and hard and my rays have a hard time eating them. sometimes they swallow them whole and i see undigested pellets in their poop. Its not like i want to cheap out on my rays but i dont think i would like to put a bigger hole in my wallet than the one i have now.... I bought tons of tilapia and shrimp. I just find it so strange she prefers the pellets over the real stuff.

 

[spotfin]

Have you tried cutting the tilapia into smaller pieces instead of one big slab?
Seems early to see her start to fatten so soon (3 weeks) after being impregnated.

 

[Jesseliu13]

Have you tried cutting the tilapia into smaller pieces instead of one big slab?
Seems early to see her start to fatten so soon (3 weeks) after being impregnated.

i dont want to get my hopes up but she is definitely bigger than my other rays and females. I got her recently as the male was not mine. found sperm plug and she was destroyed by the male lmfao.. i havent seen a ray that beat up. she recovered and she was really fat already. she are normally about 5 shrimps a day... wouldnt eat more than that. Now shes like eating 10 per day or about 1 whole fillet a day. I am still new to this so i could be wrong. I only say 3 weeks because past 3 weeks she got pretty big. i got her around february or march? dont remember. i'll post a picture later tonight as i fed her so it could be misleading and also did a water change. she is NOT happy with the water change.