The thing about feeding a variety....

[darthodo]

I have some new bocourtis that are 2 - 2.75 inches long. They eat OSI spirulina flakes like mad but really don't seem interested in other flakes and they ignore pellets. They do love eating mini-mealworms (Zoo Med in the can), and frozen clam meat. I have always had a hard time getting my fish to eat a variety of foods without starving them first. Am I gonna have to do that to these bocourtis too so I can feed them a variety of prepared foods?

All the fish I have in my possession never ate just anything when I first got them. I generally had to experiment with different foods until I got them to eat something, then I gradually moved them to other foods by witholding the ones they liked to eat. Is starving them the only way to get them to try new foods?

 

[fishguts]

if your giving them 3 foods as it is and there eating it then i wouldnt bother trying anything else. but as far as getting them to eat something there not currently eating then ime starving was the only way i could get my fish to take something different.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

Ive been feeding mine on OSI, brineshrimp and spiruleena mix with mussle, prawn, earthworm and bloodworms, and in 4 weeks they have grown easily 1.5". Although mine are wild

 

[darthodo]

A lot of folks say to feed the frozen, live, freeze-dried stuff as treats only a few times a week and feed prepared most of the time. I think I have better luck feeding a 50-50 combination. I sure has thrown some size on my male grammode. I feed him Hikari sinking Carnivore during the ealy part of the day and rotate and/or mix up mini-mealworms, mysis shrimp, freshwater shrimp, and bloodworms for the later part of the day and evening. I feed him till his belly gets distended everyday, and he won't do that on prepared food alone. I soak my fresh/frozen foods in Kent Zoe and and Gel-Tek color enhancer prior to feeding.

I may just stick to the spirulina flakes, mealworms and clams for now, since the bocourtis seem to be growing and doing well. I would like to get them eating pellets though.

 

[Modest_Man]

All the fish I have in my possession never ate just anything when I first got them. I generally had to experiment with different foods until I got them to eat something, then I gradually moved them to other foods by witholding the ones they liked to eat. Is starving them the only way to get them to try new foods?

Do you keep them in mixed community settings, solo, or in a species community?

I've never had any problems feeding any CA cichlid when kept in a mixed community. I think it has to do with other fish eating, and the "excitement" of the feeding puts all the fish into a sort of feeding frenzy to get food down before it's gone. My large fish are even eating micro sized pellets, which is uncommon.

When I've had fish in solitary, even fish that ate anything in a group, they ate less frequently and were more picky, as I think they have time to check it out before gulping it down.

Same thing with fishing...you need to be more selective when lake fishing as the fish have time to check the bait out. In rivers the fish either snap it up as soon as they see it or they go hungry.

Does that make sense? My little bocourti is hitting a growth spurt, as it can now eat the large pellets I toss in for the big guys. They eat Hikari gold, bio-gold, bio-gold+, HBH, Omega one large pellets, Omega one small marine, sinking carnivore, algea pellets, and the occasional Tetra jumbo sticks (I don't like them, they're messy). I add all of that every day at the same time, I just mix all the food together in a tupperware.

The only "pickiness" I've seen is the fish tend to eat red pellets first before they hit the brown, no matter the brand.

 

[darthodo]

I agree with you in that keeping many fish together creates more competition for food and less competitiveness. I have 5 bocourti in with 4 small zebra loaches and two small YoYo loaches. There is some competition, but not enough IMO.