Weening lil endli's off live worms... tricks, tips?

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Cohazard

Cohazard

Arapaima
MFK Member
Jul 13, 2005
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Hey poly keepers!

I recently got some baby endlis from Rich, and they look great! However, he said they were only eating live worms right now.

I want to get them off of live worms as soon as possible because I don't like feeding my fish live worms anymore (too many ich outbreaks and other diseases).

So, I'm trying to just not feed them live worms, and only offering FD plankton, and the staple pellets I feed my other fish.

Does anyone have any tips on weening them off live foods any other method? I've 'starved' other poly's off of live food with good results, like a 10" lap, but since these are juvies, I'm worried about how much they can take at this stage? :(

TIA :D
 
its easier to do it early then after they've grown up with it. they'll get it eventually
 
Cohazard;833991; said:
Hey poly keepers!

I recently got some baby endlis from Rich, and they look great! However, he said they were only eating live worms right now.
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how big are your baby endlis?

Does anyone have any tips on weening them off live foods any other method?
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do like what you did w/ your 10" lap but shorter duration ... assuming that they are 4" or larger ... i would keep the baby endlis in the small 10gal tank and even lower the water level so that they can find their food easily ... and starve them a day or two ... then throw in small bite size of shrimp or beef heart .. if they get close and don't eat after 15min or so ... suction out the uneaten food and try again the next day .. if they still haven't eaten frozen food after 5 days, go back to live food and retry after a week ...

I've 'starved' other poly's off of live food with good results, like a 10" lap, but since these are juvies, I'm worried about how much they can take at this stage? :(
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these guys are hardier than you think ... as long as you go short duration like 5 days they should be okay .. good luck
 
defrosted frozen bloodworms-Anne
 
Thanks for the advice everyone!

Yes the endlis are about 4-5" juvies. I'm going to pick up a 10g this weekend, and use some established media to setup a sort of food training tank.

In the past, I would graduate my polys in tank size, but I don't have any other tanks anymore except my 180g, so I put them straight into the mix, and have been monitoring them closely at feeding time.

The baby del is actively eating everything I feed, but the endlis are shy.

Just now I fed FD plankton, I also added flake food, since it sinks faster and gets into the hiding places under the driftwood.

Surprisingly, one of the lil endlis came out and ate some flake, but didn't seem interested in the plankton. The other endli just stayed hidden.

I ran out of bloodworms, but I'm going to pick some up tomorrow morning. I was thinking that would work too.

I'm going to try feeding FT krill in the morning.

Again, thank you for the help :D
 
i had a friend who tried mixing food A (food you want to get them off of) and food B (food your trying to introduce) in a container. its an effort to combine the scents of both. Start by mixing just a little of the food your introducing and gradually increase food B while decreasing food A. This might work since bichirs use their sense of smell.
...just a thought. :)
 
Thanks spoof, that's a good idea, but the reason I want them off of worms is because whenever I have a fish that only takes live worms, and I give in, ich always follows.

Tired of mixing salt for eight hours.

If I mix the worms with the prepared foods, there could be some ich transfered (or whatever nasties are in that particular batch), so it's a no go. :(
 
Well first give them a good meal of live worms. Then you can starve them and offer them non live foods. I give mine bite size pieces of shirmps. Also I find bichirs to be highly resistant to ich.
 
Cohazard;834440; said:
Thanks spoof, that's a good idea, but the reason I want them off of worms is because whenever I have a fish that only takes live worms, and I give in, ich always follows.

Tired of mixing salt for eight hours.

If I mix the worms with the prepared foods, there could be some ich transfered (or whatever nasties are in that particular batch), so it's a no go. :(
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hey no prob dude. :) besides, you can always go for the starving method. just take extra care so as you wont make the mistake of over-starving them.
 
Took three nerve-wracking days, but I'm watching my lil guys down some chopped up bits of FT krill :D
 
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