Very slow growth, 2-3 inches a year, depends on a lot of things. do you have another tank as it will be a while before it could go in your 400 depending on the fish in there, to get off live foods you could try worms and crickets then move on to pellets. If it only eats fish, cut a prawn into long thin strips and loosely tie to a price of thread so when something pulls on it, it will come lose. Put that in the tank and jerk the thread so it looks like a fish. That should get him to eat that. After a while put pieces of prawn in the outflow of the filter and then just drop them into the tank. Start to introduce pellets with the prawns and work your way up
To buy or not to buy?
- Thread starter Jez1992
- Start date
Very slow growth, 2-3 inches a year, depends on a lot of things. do you have another tank as it will be a while before it could go in your 400 depending on the fish in there, to get off live foods you could try worms and crickets then move on to pellets. If it only eats fish, cut a prawn into long thin strips and loosely tie to a price of thread so when something pulls on it, it will come lose. Put that in the tank and jerk the thread so it looks like a fish. That should get him to eat that. After a while put pieces of prawn in the outflow of the filter and then just drop them into the tank. Start to introduce pellets with the prawns and work your way up
Thanks is very useful. Shocked at the slow growth tho!
Yes currently in 20 gal grow out, and I have another 7x3 coming soon for grow outs which I will divide up, in addition to the 400 so plenty of options.
I have earthworms for Ray pups so will try with these and then try like you said. It was eating live guppies, but I'm not going to be buying the, as too much hassle. Lol
Good water, water changes and feeding a lot will get it growing. You can get him to 18inches in 3-4years but it varies from fish to fish. As for getting it to pellets... I've had really good luck getting them off live by having other pellet eating fish in with a fish I'm trying to break off live. I will starve for awhile depend on condition of fish and if i think fish is getting to thin then I'll feed worms for awhile and try again. I don't feed live feeders anymore.... Too many parasites to worry about
Is that thing eating already?
Skip those feeders. It is easier to convert a Dat still that size off feeders into eating pellets.. (If that was what he was fed in the store previously)
Skip those feeders. It is easier to convert a Dat still that size off feeders into eating pellets.. (If that was what he was fed in the store previously)
i think you will see better growth rate now that they are on prawns
i feed mine baby frogs and prawns and their growth accelerated quite quickly. Now considering to pellet train them.....
i feed mine baby frogs and prawns and their growth accelerated quite quickly. Now considering to pellet train them.....
Growth rate really depends on the individual fish and how much you feed. I have had dats that went from an inch to well over 7 inches in a year and also ones that went from an inch to 3 inches in a year with the same feeding regime. Good luck with your new dat... they are a bit tricky at that size so make sure it puts on some size/weight before trying too many things. Blk worms and a constant supply of guppies for the 1st month is what i would recommend.
