Uaru & Sevs .... How much veg ?

[hamfist]

I know my Uaru and severums need vegetable matter in their diet, and I give them raw veg like cucumber, lettuce, spinach etc about every other day.
Is this more than I need, not enough or about right ? THe rest of their diet consists of various pellets, flake and frozen bloodworm and artemia.
I'd like to reduce the veg a bit if they don't really need as much, as all that veg creates copious amounts of poo.
I'm not conditioning them to breed, although if they do that's fine. All I want is for them to get a good, healthy, balanced diet.

Any thoughts ?

 

[Aquanero]

Spinach and skinned peas along with romain lettuce is great for them. your current diet sounds fine. Sevs can handel alittle more animal proteen than Uaru so go easy on that. A good pellet is Hakari Bio-Gold+ or Cichlid Excel also Omega One Veggie pellets if available in the UK. If you feed a good quality veggie based pellet you need only treat with the above vegges. Good luck with them two very nice fish to own.

 

[thedarkone]

I feed my Sevs & my GT veggies at least twice a week. I feed Omega one veggie flakes once a week, and then I feed either skinned lima beans or skinned peas. All of which gets eagerly eaten up.

 

[hamfist]

THanks guys. I wasn't aware of the Omega One stuff. I have found a supplier in the UK, so will get some.

I did actually find one article online with reports of actual gut contents analysis of wild severums, which was interesting. The key bit says ...

"They are omnivorous, but with a significant emphasis on plant material. According to Lowe-McConnell (1969), who did gut analyses on Guyanese severums, the stomach contents included green algae and chewed vegetable matter. According to Knoppel (1970), who analyzed
stomach contents in nine specimens of H. severus from Manaus, Brazil, fruits made up 47 percent of the total volume, with "detritus" (i.e., unrecognizable vegetable material) making up 23 percent, fishes 8 percent, and crustaceans 7 percent. In the aquarium this herbivorous propensity can be solved by feeding spinach."

Obviously this only reflects those particular severums, in that location, at that particular time, but it showed a heavy majority of plant matter in their food. With this in mind, I think I shall continue feeding veg at least every other day, and will add veggie pellets into the mix as well.​

 

[DaveB]

I've become convinced that you can feed Uarus anything, including paper, shoes, or chocolate, and they will eat it, be healthy, and grow.

They're twice as piggish as any other fish I've ever owned. One of mine even tries to eat the plastic plants and driftwood.

 

[Nyvar]

I've become convinced that you can feed Uarus anything, including paper, shoes, or chocolate, and they will eat it, be healthy, and grow.

I have a small herd of uaru ferns I think the best way to describe them is aquatic goats or vegetarian piranha. They enjoy their bio gold, their NLS, their sprinula flakes, but once a day they get fresh greens. Usually spinach, romaine, whatever is available on a salad bar at the market. I use a clip, drop it in the tank, within a minute all 5 of them are swarming around taking huge bites out of the leaves. It's the only time they ever squabble.

 

[hamfist]

I've become convinced that you can feed Uarus anything, including paper, shoes, or chocolate, and they will eat it, be healthy, and grow.

They're twice as piggish as any other fish I've ever owned. One of mine even tries to eat the plastic plants and driftwood.

PLenty of fibrous matter in paper and shoes ! Not sure I'll try it though.

Both of mine certainly regularly try munching on the silk plants. They rip them up a bit, although I haven't actually noticed any lumps missing as yet !
I actually had to remove some finer leaved plastic plants as they were very interested in eating them, and would definately have suceeded. I wasn't too keen on the prospect of a perforated gut, so out they came.