more than likely just full, but if you are concerned dissolve some Epsom salts in water and soak his food in it. It will aid his digestion.yeah, mine does too.but now I'm sort of concerned because he has this lump on his side, should I be worried or is he just full?
young armoured bichir
- Thread starter RLHam3
- Start date
Haha, I posted this thread a while ago, but glad to know its still being used. I have been keeping polypterus fairly steadily for the past 6 years since this post, and have been able to learn a little along the way. In my opinion it is important to get them to eat prepared foods in the long-run, but new ones (especially if they're wild caught) can be picky about what they eat. You definitely can feed all kinds of critters to these guys, but you want to be careful where you get them from. A lot of bugs from outdoors can potentially be contaminated with pesticides, herbicides, and other chemical. If i do want live food for my polys, i usually use earthworms (from Walmart/ sports authority/ bait shops), crickets or ghost shrimp (live fish work too, but then you significantly increase the risk of pathogens). I also feed frozen krill, mysis, and market shrimp. And if you cant do the frozen, there are freeze dried krill, bloodworm, etc.
But again, i would recommend eventually weaning them onto some sinking pellets. They are generally a much more balanced diet. Now a days, i rely mainly on earthworm, and mysis pellets, with a few other kinds mixed in. They get frozen krill once a week as a treat. I almost never feed live food.
I have 3 3" Senegal and 3" ornate in my planted tank, also full of guppies. Guppies has been in the tank for half a year. They are pretty much endless supply of food for the little ones. Also feeding them blood worms and cut up tilapia. Tank heavily planted so its easy for guppies to escape.
