Teach my clown knifefish to eat pellets
- Thread starter Amhaz
- Start date
Basically, what you will want to do is take whatever pellet you want to use, make an incision in the shrimp and insert a pellet or multiple pellets depending on the size of the pellet and shrimp. Then over a course of weeks, cut more and more of the shrimp off so that the fish will become more and more farmiliar with the taste of the pellets and will get the nutrients in it. This usually does the trick.
Good luck!
Good luck!
My method that always works for me goes like this:
Get the fish’s favorite food. Soak it with the pellet of your choice in a sauce cup (or similar size container. Anything small) the food will take the taste of the pellet. Feed that food with the pellet taste for a couple days. After a while, feed a few small pieces of food, then offer the pellet. The fish’s feeding response will help it get the pellet in its mouth. The first couple times trying this, the fish will normally spit it out. This is fine. Over the next couple days, the fish will associate the texture with food. Once it does, it will swallow the pellet without spitting it out.
For predatory fish, I find that floating food sticks make it easier to feed. I take a pipette (like the kind that come with saltwater refractometers) and shoot little jets of water at the pellet. This mimics the motion of a live prey item in the water column. The pickiest of eaters have gotten onto pellets this way. Plus, the Hikari food sticks get spongy when they soak up water. The fish won’t have as hard of a time with the new texture.
I’ve gotten clown knives, datnoids, polys, arowana, and even reedfish on pellets from this exact method.
It also helps to have other fish that eat pellets in the tank. Seeing other fish eating, promotes a feeding response from other fish.
This method works best if you can target feed your fish. For this reason, I buy fish as babies and start them in a 10 gallon tank. This way I can get the food directly to the fish. This is especially important for shy eaters like the clown knife. If that doesn’t work for your setup, you can also use a breeder box inside your large display tank. Just something to help you target feed without the fish having to compete for foods it doesn’t even like yet.
One last thing, they say fish are easier to pellet train when they’re smaller. I usually work with only small fish when I do this but anything with a good feeding response will work. I pellet trained a full grown reedfish like this. My fire eel is next.
Magnus Jones
has a great suggestion too, much less work than mine! Just wanted to offer you additional options!
Get the fish’s favorite food. Soak it with the pellet of your choice in a sauce cup (or similar size container. Anything small) the food will take the taste of the pellet. Feed that food with the pellet taste for a couple days. After a while, feed a few small pieces of food, then offer the pellet. The fish’s feeding response will help it get the pellet in its mouth. The first couple times trying this, the fish will normally spit it out. This is fine. Over the next couple days, the fish will associate the texture with food. Once it does, it will swallow the pellet without spitting it out.
For predatory fish, I find that floating food sticks make it easier to feed. I take a pipette (like the kind that come with saltwater refractometers) and shoot little jets of water at the pellet. This mimics the motion of a live prey item in the water column. The pickiest of eaters have gotten onto pellets this way. Plus, the Hikari food sticks get spongy when they soak up water. The fish won’t have as hard of a time with the new texture.
I’ve gotten clown knives, datnoids, polys, arowana, and even reedfish on pellets from this exact method.
It also helps to have other fish that eat pellets in the tank. Seeing other fish eating, promotes a feeding response from other fish.
This method works best if you can target feed your fish. For this reason, I buy fish as babies and start them in a 10 gallon tank. This way I can get the food directly to the fish. This is especially important for shy eaters like the clown knife. If that doesn’t work for your setup, you can also use a breeder box inside your large display tank. Just something to help you target feed without the fish having to compete for foods it doesn’t even like yet.
One last thing, they say fish are easier to pellet train when they’re smaller. I usually work with only small fish when I do this but anything with a good feeding response will work. I pellet trained a full grown reedfish like this. My fire eel is next.
Magnus Jones
has a great suggestion too, much less work than mine! Just wanted to offer you additional options!
Nice suggestions.Thanks for that!My method that always works for me goes like this:
Get the fish’s favorite food. Soak it with the pellet of your choice in a sauce cup (or similar size container. Anything small) the food will take the taste of the pellet. Feed that food with the pellet taste for a couple days. After a while, feed a few small pieces of food, then offer the pellet. The fish’s feeding response will help it get the pellet in its mouth. The first couple times trying this, the fish will normally spit it out. This is fine. Over the next couple days, the fish will associate the texture with food. Once it does, it will swallow the pellet without spitting it out.
For predatory fish, I find that floating food sticks make it easier to feed. I take a pipette (like the kind that come with saltwater refractometers) and shoot little jets of water at the pellet. This mimics the motion of a live prey item in the water column. The pickiest of eaters have gotten onto pellets this way. Plus, the Hikari food sticks get spongy when they soak up water. The fish won’t have as hard of a time with the new texture.
I’ve gotten clown knives, datnoids, polys, arowana, and even reedfish on pellets from this exact method.
It also helps to have other fish that eat pellets in the tank. Seeing other fish eating, promotes a feeding response from other fish.
This method works best if you can target feed your fish. For this reason, I buy fish as babies and start them in a 10 gallon tank. This way I can get the food directly to the fish. This is especially important for shy eaters like the clown knife. If that doesn’t work for your setup, you can also use a breeder box inside your large display tank. Just something to help you target feed without the fish having to compete for foods it doesn’t even like yet.
One last thing, they say fish are easier to pellet train when they’re smaller. I usually work with only small fish when I do this but anything with a good feeding response will work. I pellet trained a full grown reedfish like this. My fire eel is next.