Red Tail not eating???

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
West1

West1

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Sep 27, 2007
5,512
140
120
114
Okay, I got my first Red Tail Payara 2 weeks ago. Ive been starving him (from feeders) and only giving market shrimp. I figure as my other fish eat it, he will learn to also. I thought about it and I didn't know when was the last time he ate (from the LFS) so I bought so me feeders on Friday. He hasn't eaten any of the fish. He snapped at one and let it go. I kept checking on him as the days went on and I never seen anything in his belly.
So I'm asking you guys on what to expect? Is it that he is new and just nervous? Sick? a waste of money?? So far I don't think that he has lived up to the hype.
Should I give him more time or a new home?
 
Let me know if he needs a new home... All I can say is at first, give him some privacy... I haven't seen any of my payara eats, but I've been loading their tank with feeders, and the feeders have disappeared mysteriously :grinno: Who knows... I may need to check my filters :ROFL::ROFL:
 
jlnguyen74;1374590; said:
Let me know if he needs a new home... All I can say is at first, give him some privacy... I haven't seen any of my payara eats, but I've been loading their tank with feeders, and the feeders have disappeared mysteriously :grinno: Who knows... I may need to check my filters :ROFL::ROFL:
Click to expand...

Are you able to tell if he ate the night before? Thats what I'm pretty-much going on. Feeders disapear, but I'm assuming its from the other tank mates. The stomach of the Red still looks the same, with no bumps (like food in his belly).
 
Look closely you may see the bump... They're shy fish at first... Give them some time to get acquainted. BTW, what's the tank temp? Keep it in the 80ish... Fish won't be much active if temp is low.
 
Payara have astounishingly fast metabolisims and it is possible your fish is indeed eating cause as soon as you turn off the lights they turn out. If they catch a meal then it is entirely possible for the fish to be digested enough that there is no "bump" left behind.

I hardly ever saw my tat eat. My armatus is a different story though.

Bump up the temp to around 83-86 (speeds up the metabolisim even more) and keep feeders in the tank at all times. If he starts to look bad you may need to seperate him. Remember that with their fast metabolisims they can waste away pretty fast if they dont start eating. I dont think it was a good idea to starve him right away either.
 
JD7.62;1374768; said:
Payara have astounishingly fast metabolisims and it is possible your fish is indeed eating cause as soon as you turn off the lights they turn out. If they catch a meal then it is entirely possible for the fish to be digested enough that there is no "bump" left behind.

I hardly ever saw my tat eat. My armatus is a different story though.

Bump up the temp to around 83-86 (speeds up the metabolisim even more) and keep feeders in the tank at all times. If he starts to look bad you may need to seperate him. Remember that with their fast metabolisims they can waste away pretty fast if they dont start eating. I dont think it was a good idea to starve him right away either.
Click to expand...

How long do you think until I start the process of non-live (the starvation diet lol)?
My Temp in the tank is 83* He is pretty active. During the day he kind of chills out and here and there swims, but once the sun starts to go down, he starts his laps and swiming in the current of the powerhead and lately he has been swiming with the VATF'S (kind of odd to me). He would snap at them at first, now for about 4 days he's been kind of schooling with them, weird.
 
JD7.62;1374933; said:
Honestly if you want him to grow fast just feed feeders...
Click to expand...

Cool, but I'm going to stick to my stuffed market shrimp/silversides with frozen beef heart in the middle :)

He will just have to learn to eat it. I'm going to do feeders every other week and gradually move to once a month
 
i would still starve him. redtails dont eat very much, and can go a long time w out eating. if u dont get him off live now it will just get harder and harder. (my opinion)
 
First of all I know nothing about this type of fish, I thought I'd get that out of the way but if your concerned that it's not eating you could do this:

If there's enough ambient light in the room when the lights go out you could rig up a webcam to record overnight and see if it's eating that way.

Just an idea, hope it all works out
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom