What's up with Lake Smelt (literally)?

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

I feed fillets from catfish, salmon, tilapia etc to my piranhas all the time. Everything sinks to the bottom of the tank, where hungry mouths and sharp teeth await it anxiously.

The other day I found Lake Smelt in my grocery store, same price, looked great, I bought 4 lbs.

Great disappointment: More than half of those little fellows float on the top when defrosted.


Well, my piranhas ignore surface foods. That means the Lake Smelt go to waste.

What a bummer. Any suggestions/similar experiences? Please share!

Thanks,
HarleyK

 

[krichardson]

No waste,try the one of the recipes on the package.I used to feed smelt to my payara.


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[ultimatejay]

The reason they float is because their airbladders are full of air. Just cut them up with a pair of scissors and they will sink to the bottom.


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[jlnguyen74]

They have air bubble (swim bladder or whatever it is to keep fish balance) Cut them in half. BTW, if they're same price with salmon or tilapia, I rather stay with salmon or tilapia..

 

[tellemuno]

The reason they float is because their airbladders are full of air. Just cut them up with a pair of scissors and they will sink to the bottom.


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yep, thats correct. i have to cut them so they will sink also.

 

[ultimatejay]

They have air bubble (swim bladder or whatever it is to keep fish balance) Cut them in half. BTW, if they're same price with salmon or tilapia, I rather stay with salmon or tilapia..

Do I hear an echo?


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[jlnguyen74]

Do I hear an echo?

Echo!

 

[heatherbeast]

Yeah, cut them in half. My pbass pounds the heck out of them.

 

[HarleyK]

Negative.

The smelt are gutted. No swim bladder left.

Other ideas?

Thanks. HarleyK

Get the /\/\onster App

 

[krichardson]

I'm not sure about why they float or not but I do suspect that they had something to do with my payara dying in the past.I have tried numerous times to keep red tail tats and armatus before and once getting them off of live foods I would feed them smelt,much like the cuts you have pictured.I noticed that none of them would live for more than a year and I could not figure out what the cause of death was.Fast forward to now and I have what I've vowed to be my last armatus and it has been going strong for well over two years now and I have never fed it smelt,only raw shrimp,tilapia and catfish fillet.Other than the feeding,I don't do anything else any different than I did with the others payara...Maybe I'm on to something and maybe not but I just thought it was worth mentioning.