Hey guys. I have a 6 in. Stonefish (Batrachus trispinosus) that started to reject the frozen-thawed catfish I have been feeding it. I switched to frozen perch recently to see if it just wanted a change in diet but it still won't take the food. It hasn't eaten in about a month. I had it on frozen thawed since I got it which was about 4 months ago and it hasn't had a problem before. Should I try to give him live? I'm not sure what feeders I could use with brackish water. By the way the aquarium has 1.5 tbs. salt per gallon, a pH of 8.0, and a temperature of 80°F. Thank you for your help.
Trouble Feeding Stonefish
- Thread starter Rabid538
- Start date
Miguel;4603270; said:
I haven't given him shrimp yet, I will try that next. And I don't know what the salinity is, I don't have a hydrometer.
Rabid538;4603342; said:
I am not saying that it is not feeding because of that. But you really should know your parametres..
keep us posted, please
Okay, so I gave him a couple of tuffies and he ate no problem, he just wanted something live. I didn't want to because of the possible diseases that he could get but whatever gets him to eat at this point.
Whats a tuffie? You should get him off live food asap...it might be cool now, but sooner or later you get sick of having to provide it, and his nutrition will suffer too.
Tuffies are fathead minnows aka rosy reds. They are a cyprinid and contain thiaminase and harbor plenty of parasites most of the time.
I'd start a tank of breeding guppies. Don't start small or you'll never have enough. Buy at least twenty gravid females and five or six males and a huge wad of a floating plants. Set that up in about 25 to 35 gallons and do normal maintenance (50% weekly water changes, etc.) and you'll have enough food for your monster. Don't forget to feed the guppies some kind of vegetable food a few minutes before the stonefish eats them.
(Guppies also do really well in brackish water!)
I'd start a tank of breeding guppies. Don't start small or you'll never have enough. Buy at least twenty gravid females and five or six males and a huge wad of a floating plants. Set that up in about 25 to 35 gallons and do normal maintenance (50% weekly water changes, etc.) and you'll have enough food for your monster. Don't forget to feed the guppies some kind of vegetable food a few minutes before the stonefish eats them.
(Guppies also do really well in brackish water!)
Not starting an argument but fresh water fish are not ideal foods for marine preds, they are to high in fat, like Fleashy I recomend weening him off them as soon as possible, and under no cercomstances use guppies as a feeder. Fresh water fish diets can cause fatty liver disease in marine fish and significantly shorten the life of your fish.
Your best bet for weening is to feed one or two live, then take some dead ones and put them on a feeding stick and wiggle them infront of the fish. Do this every feeding until he readialy takes the dead ones, then start only giving dead ones. Once he takes only dead ones start putting a differnt food on the stick with your dead truffies, such as shrimp or pred pelets etc. untill he starts taking those readily. Then eventualy you can ween him off the feeder stick in the same way so you will be able to just drop the food in to make feeding easier. It's also best to feed him at the same time every day you feed him, the idea is to train him that at a certain time food will come and when he sees the feeder stick (untill you stop using it) its part of the visual cue that food is coming.
Your best bet for weening is to feed one or two live, then take some dead ones and put them on a feeding stick and wiggle them infront of the fish. Do this every feeding until he readialy takes the dead ones, then start only giving dead ones. Once he takes only dead ones start putting a differnt food on the stick with your dead truffies, such as shrimp or pred pelets etc. untill he starts taking those readily. Then eventualy you can ween him off the feeder stick in the same way so you will be able to just drop the food in to make feeding easier. It's also best to feed him at the same time every day you feed him, the idea is to train him that at a certain time food will come and when he sees the feeder stick (untill you stop using it) its part of the visual cue that food is coming.