They say a fish wont starve itself....

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DMD123

DMD123

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Oct 23, 2009
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They say a fish wont starve itself to death but I do wonder....

I have been battling a WC weeksii for a while now trying to pellet train it. I have tried both sinking carnivore and NLS Thera A without success. I have a del and albino sen who have no issues with pellets and have grown quickly compared to the weeksii because of this. After about two month intervals I give in and feed tilapia because the thing is getting skinny. I am to the point of just giving in to the guy, tilapia is not expensive... Anyone else have a stubborn bichir?
 
I bought a 1' endi that wouldnt eat anything at all. When I bought him he was really skiny. I now see why :D
 
Yeah it took a while for my Ornate to get on em, have you tried soaking the pellets in anything? Like garlic extract? Or maybe frozen bloodworms if he takes those?

Or you could stuff the tilapia, that way he tastes it and ingests it so it'll be easier for him to take reg pellet

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I wouldn't know, I am a pushover and feed a variety of foods my polys love. However Part of me is jealous of those that can just use pellets.
 
Once he's fat, healthy, and thoroughly acclimated, he will be a voracious eater. No need to fret. The whole "eat or die" mentality is stupid (not directed toward anyone in particular). Many a wild caught fish has met his demise once in the hands of a stubborn and naive fish keeper
 
I like the idea of stuffing a pellet into the tilapia. If he gets used to the taste maybe he would transition. The funny thing is the scent of the sinking carnivore gets him going, he starts rooting around like he wants to eat but will not take them even when they are right in front of him. He will also eat beef heart and chopped up night crawlers, so its not like he wont eat, just not a pellet.
 
Have you tried hikari? Massivore and carnivore have a particular smell that my bichirs love.

Even fish fresh out of the bag show interest in it.

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Oh and some fish will starve themselves to death, but in my experience, bichirs wont. They'll lose some weight, but I've always broken them onto pellets.

Rolling the tilapia In the pellets you feed is a great idea. Let em sit for a bit. It will be messy but better than letting them lose too much weight.

Posted with a Samsung Galaxy Note 3
 
What you could also do is add a bottom level fish that will take pellets. This worked for me I luckily got a WC del that would readily accept pellets and pretty much every fish I've gotten has learned from it to eat pellets. This doesn't always work especially if the poly your trying to pellet train is the first one. But as others have said polys usually don't starve themselves it just may take a little more work, but with enough determination you should be able to get it on pellets one way or another.
 
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