Trouble

[caimingchang]

Hi. I'm from Singapore. I have 3 Juvenile Peacock Bass and 4 Juvenile Giant Snakeheads. But they all seem to hate fish food. They only eat live food. I've had these fish for a couple of months and I've already spent too much money on their live food. I feed them Mollies or Shirmps by the way. Because goldfish are not very good for them. Anyway, I want to know how I can make them eat their fish food so that I could save a little money.

 

[snyder810]

you could get fish other than species that eat a lot of live food

 

[all_or_nothin]

u could start with freshly killed stuff and when the get used to that they might take other things

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

The problem is you have made the decision to buy predatory fish.

And to get them to eat non live foods you will have to starve them into eating other foods.

I would not suggest starving a young fish because it maybe to weak to last thru a starvation period.

If you want to starve them and try and train them to eat dead foods. Don't feed them for 4 days. And then try to feed some market shrimp or other aquatic meaty food. If they do not eat it then do not feed any for 2 more days and try again. Keep repeating this and they should eventually eat market shrimp.

Also I am not sure about the snake head but the pbass will eat pellets foods as well with enough starvation.

It sounds pretty mean and inhumane but it is what all fish keepers have to do if they want there predatory animals to eat dead foods.

I personally feed live fish to all my preds.

 

[yogurt_21]

Hi. I'm from Singapore. I have 3 Juvenile Peacock Bass and 4 Juvenile Giant Snakeheads. But they all seem to hate fish food. They only eat live food. I've had these fish for a couple of months and I've already spent too much money on their live food. I feed them Mollies or Shirmps by the way. Because goldfish are not very good for them. Anyway, I want to know how I can make them eat their fish food so that I could save a little money.

mollies are very easy to breed that could save you a lot of money alone by breeding your own feeders. Simply get a 30-40 gallon tank setup with some dividers to seperate the parents from the fry. and for shrimp if you're in singapore you could always go catch them and save money that way. I'm sure a local fisherman could set you up with a few traps.

 

[aidenb]

I hope u have a huge tank planned for those fish or you'll have one snakehead and no bass if there's not enough room for four 3-4 foot long snakeheads they will kill to make room. Giants are very aggresive and may kill the bass and possibly the other snakheads even if the tank is big enough. But I agree, starve them for a few days and offer market shrimp

 

[peewee]

its hard to train them especially when they have already adapted into eating live food.

 

[MonsterMinis]

It sounds pretty mean and inhumane but it is what all fish keepers have to do if they want there predatory animals to eat dead foods.

I compleatly disagree with this statement but i'm not going to de-rail the topic. But I also agree, You made a choice to not only pick predetory fish. BUt also ones that eat massive quantities of food. You can try a number of options that are cost effective but ultimately to get all of these fish to full size and maintain them, It will liekly cost you quite abit of money. Just like many other pets, its not the initial cost thats expensive but maintaining them. breeding your own feeders, catching live foods, exploring frozen/market fish fillets/shrimp are all going to be your best options.

imo your best option is to choose which species you'de rather keep and cut down the amount of fish you have to keep to cut your costs.

snakeheads wherne't allowed here for very long but I've rarely seen them comfrotably kept in captivity in groups. barring a few very dedicated keepers with large systems. PB's are more likely to take to prepared foods from what i've heard. But I've never kept them personally just had to care for them at work, and they where fed live feeders along with a cichlid pellet.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

^^ I was wondering how you think that starving a fish for the soul purpose of training it to eat something that is not on its natural diet, does not ATLEAST sound mean and inhumane?

Even if you beleive the whole dead and or prepared foods are more nutritious and healthier sham. You are still forcefully starving a animal (that does not understand) to make them eat something that is not natural to them because YOU (not them) think its better for them.

In america you could be arrested for starving a dog or cat. But there are no laws that protect fish as pets, so it is generally excepted as being ok to do.

 

[aidenb]

It does sound mean but in the wild these fish would not eat every day and it is healthy to feed 3-4 times a week for adult large fish as it keeps the active because they start to look for extra food on days they don't get fed and get the excercise they need stay healthy . In tanks they start to get lazy cause they know u brig them food.