Problems feeding Synodontis Petricola

[karl]

Hi

I've just bought 4 juvenile petricola about 1.5 inches long, which I have in a 28 litre tank newly set up with some seeded filter media in a dimly lit tank (just daylight) and a couple of cabomba plants, rocks etc. They're great little fish and spend their whole time exploring the tank and playing.

The problem is that I can't seem to get them to eat. I've tried sinking pellets, flake, fresh shrimp, frozen blood worm, live adult brine shrimp and pea and they seem disinterested. They had a bit of a go at the brine shrimp but I think the brine shrimp were a bit big for them, because they left them alone.

I'm a bit concerned because there's no algae or mulm to speak of in the tank becauase it's newly set up so can't see how they're getting any nourishment by just foraging. They're very active and show no signs of stress.

Anyone got any suggestions ? I'm thinking of hatching some baby brine shrimp (the blood worm and adult brine may be a bit big for them). I know in the wild they will eat snails, so wonder if I should get hold of some snails to put in the tank. The baby snails might be good (although am not keen because I'm about to set up a 52 gallon planted tank to put them in with some other community fish and don't really want snails in there).

any help gratefully received.

Cheers

Karl.

[Silurus]

How long have the fish been in your tank?

I am asking because it is usual for fish not to eat for some time when introduced to new surroundings.

[karl]

They were put in the tank on Saturday morning, so have been there 4.5 days I guess. There are no other fish in the tank.

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Is there a possibility that your fish have parasites? No to cause any panic, though!!

I had to deal with a similar problem not too long ago, and it's actually quite easy to fix.

Janos

[syno321]

A previous reply hit the nail on the head. In my extensive experience with this species they are shy at feeding for usually a week after being moved. Once they become comfortable they will thrive on any food you offer.

[karl]

Thanks for all the replies.

I didn't realise it could take a week for them to feed normally. Well I'm slightly less worried now.

From my attempts last night, it looks like they don't get interested in food unless the lights are really low (e.g, the room is almost pitch black). I tried Daphnia, a different pellet and put a few snails in the tank last night. One of the petricola had a nip at a couple of the Daphnia before seemingly losing interest but when I put the lights right down, they started digging into the cabomba. So it looks as though they are after the algae.

I'm glad to say that the rock in the tank has developed a little algae too. I'll try to get some good algae pellets today and see if they go for those.....

In the mean time a very helpful pm has suggested contacting the aquatic shop that I got them from to find out what they were being fed.

Cheers

Karl.

[toddnbecka]

My petricola's thrive on a varied diet of spirulina flakes, african cichlid flakes, frozen bloodworms, and frozen brine shrimp. I feed flakes once a day, then frozen food about 10-12 hours later. I have 9 in a 55 gallon tank, they were about 1-1.5" when I got them a year ago, and have more than doubled in size since then. Slow growers. There is one I call "lefty" because he(?) has no right pectoral fin, don't know if it is a birth defect, or lost somehow, but it doesn't seem to bother the fish. It certainly doesn't affect his growth or activity.

[karl]

Well they've been in the tank 9 days and still show no signs of interest in any food I put in the tank. Not sure why. But they do seem very active still and there are no signs of stress, so I presume they must be browsing the small amount of algae on the rock and plants.

In the mean time, I'm putting a small piece of algae pellet in there in the evening and there are pieces of flake that reach the bottom, which my newly added hatchets have missed.

I don't know whether the catfish are eating the food or whether the filter is....

[toddnbecka]

You just added hatchet fish to the tank? What is the pH? Petricola's come from Lake Tanganykia, and while they are adaptable to different water conditions, they should at least be kept in hard, alkaline water, which would likely kill hatchet fish before very long. Hatchet's are like neon tetra's, they thrive in soft, acidic water.
Mine are in a tank with my cichlids, Ph of 8.2. Can you find out what water conditions they were raised in? I am assuming they are f1, not wild-caught specimens, but most breeeders maintain similar conditions to those they come from.

[MatsP]

Don't know where in the UK Karl is, but if it's anywhere far south/east of a line roughly from Newcastle to Plymouth, the water is more suitable for African Cichlids than the South Americans.

<Donning asbestos clothing>

This doesn't stop me from keeping Neon's in one of my tanks, Angels in another, and Satanoperca jurupari in a third one, along with about half a dozen species of catfish from 3 different families. This is in tap-water, not RO or otherwise modified water. Water in this region is generally HARD and Alkaline - my test-kit showed well above pH 8.

Yes, I know, this is not IDEAL conditions for any of the fish - but given that they grow nicely and look very nicely coloured, I can't say that I think I'm doing terribly badly. When I have moved into the new house, however, I will get an RO system installed in my new fish-room. But I don't expect this will be ready until may-june timeframe, as the move isn't slated until february, and there's plenty of non-fish things that need to be done first [yes, I know, fish comes first, just that my wife doesn't agree with that priority all the time].

In my personal opinion, clean water is more important than the exact right pH, hardness etc. Obviously, THE best conditions are those that reflect the natural habitat best, and that means similar pH, temp and hardness.

Any replies to this tomorrow will possibly be ignored, as I'm flying to Paris for the day [1 hours worth of presentation]. Not because I WANT to ignore anyone, but because I have to be off to Paris...

--
Mats

[karl]

Hi

Yes, I'm southern based in the UK. The water is very hard (20 degrees gh) and alkaline (haven't done a precise reading but 8. something), so ideally suited for the petricola or most cichlids and not great for Hatchets, although many do successfully keep hatchets in these water conditions.

The plan though is to halve the dilution of the main tank with RO water to bring it down to 10 degress and I'm aiming to adjust the ph to 7 to 7.5 to make it more suitable for a varied community tank. It's one of my jobs over the Christmas period to plumb in a new RO unit without having to call out the emergency plumber

Cheers

Karl.

p.s, why did the forum put asterisks in my cichlid ? didn't think it was a swear word ?

[thefishdaddy]

Karl, what you need is more catfish at least six of this schooling fish is the bare minimum more the better and you need to add some top swimming fish if you are fortunate enough to have this much fish then you wont have the problem you are facing right now.

[karl]

Thanks for all the replies.

The fish did look a bit emaciated for a while, but thankfully the syn. petricola are now taking food greedily

Maybe it was just an acclimatisation thing. They're now in the planted 200 litre community tank and have been in there for a few weeks.

They don't seem to like algae/catfish pellets much, quite like blood worm, but seem to really like chopped mussel and seem to like small pieces of pea.

I have to drop the food over the areas they 'patrol' which is basically beneath leafy plants with a pair of pincers, but that's fine. I could probably get away with just dropping the food in the main feeding at lights out, but for now I want to monitor their feeding OK.

Cheers

Karl.