HELP I NEED HELP

[smh2847]

so i have this seven inch amerius natalis, or yellow bullhead catfish. he does not eat the food pellets i give him, so i have started feeding him minnows. however, i cant go to the creek for minnows every day. have any ideas?

also, is it good just to feed him minnows? i have access to
1.minnows
2.crayfish
3.freshwater gobies
4.mottled sculpins
5.bug larvae
would all of these be good for my catfish? are there any other options to bio-diversify his diet? thanks!

[naturalart]

bullheads eat a variety of foods. Try earthworms, and frozen foods are also an option. I would continue to offer different pellet/flake foods also. Repashys is also a option.

Good luck

[Viktor Jarikov]

Your fish is usually quite unfussy. An opportunistic scavenger and omnivore. It's hard to find food it'd refuse. I think if it refuses food, you are not fasting it long enough.

Feeding live wild foods carries a hefty risk of introducing a disease, esp. since the fish's immune system is ~ never (?) as strong as it is in the wild, in its home... and more often than not our pet fishes' immune system is significantly compromised.

[PseudaSmart]

No worries. Your catfish is just trying to see who is in charge. Since it is eating the minnows the problem is attitude not appetite. At 7" a catfish could go for days without eating. When I go on a weeklong vacation I only leave instructions to feed the fry. When a return everything is fine.

As you pointed out, catfish have a wide diet. You have to hold out until it accepts defeat and eats the pellets. Don't feed anything for a few days and then throw in a few pellets. If the pellets are there after a few hours clean them out to keep the tank clean. It may take a week or two but it will happen.

A good friend has trained several tigrinus cats to eat pellets which most people say can't be done.

If you want to try and train it to come for food you could start with a tap to the lid before feeding. Betas and discus respond to this very well. I was at the Shedd and off display they had many large catfish trained this way. Makes moving them around a lot easier.

Good luck.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Why did you abandon your original thread of 4 days ago? Could not find it? Didn't like the answers?

Double posting is no biggie for a beginner but it is against the rules.

Your original thread: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 10&t=40796

[smh2847]

i had no idea there was an original thread! i thought it glitched out on me! sorry! i did not intend to break the rules i thought i accedentaly deleted it or something. sorry

[smh2847]

what? I have been feeding it with live wild food for months! do you have any suggeations on what to feed it instead? taking out the live wild foor eliminates currently 100 percant of his diet...

[smh2847]

also, i forgot to tell you that i caught this catfish in the wild as a fry and raised him to 7 inches. i feed him fish that i catch in the wild as store fish have disease. does this change my situation?

[Viktor Jarikov]

You can continue with the wild, live foods. All I indicated is that I'd not.

Your catfish will take any manner of dried foods (pellets, flakes, freeze-dried foods) as well as frozen-thawed foods (fish, shrimp, sea food, mussels, ~ any other crustaceans and inverts such as snails, amphibians, reptiles, etc.), earth worms and other worms, insects, etc. You feed live wild insect larvae which is safe, I think (anyone?).

Too lazy to retype: some options are listed in my post #20 on this thread's page 2: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... ight=brine

Shop feeders versus wild feeders don't make much difference to me in terms of potential dangers. Maybe to others?