PlanetCatfish.com

I just bought some of thes fish, but they seem to be uninterested in feeding. I have given them carrots, different algaewafers and even a few carnivorepellets just in case. They got some squash/succini today but still havent touched them...

What do you guys feed them? There is little written info on them...

facts:
they are approx 12 cm
newly imported (5 days ago)
2 look very healthy, one is a little thin.
They sit in a 110 liter quarrantine tank with a deacent circulation(i upped it a little today, but its windy there now )
pH 7
gH 5


Thanks for any advice.


PC

Start them on live blackworms or frozen bloodworms and/or frozen brine shrimp.
-Shane

Thanks for answering, however i am sorry, i do not know what Black and bloodworms are. Do you have a scientific name for them? Or any other name?

I have a friend who suggested mosquito larvae, but the fish are supposed to be herbivore, but i guess like so many other fish they don't read too much..

PC

Btw, I am looking forward to your trip to Oslo shortly and hope to be able to see you speak.

PC,
I am not sure what live or frozen foods are available to you, but I have never seen specimens I have kept eat much else. Like many loricariids I am sure they will pick up on other aquarium foods in time, but they need meaty foods to start with.
I look forward to meeting you as well.
-Shane

Interesting article on Blackworms here. Now i know what they are, but i dont have access to them.

I tried to squeeze out a few blackheads but i was worried that they would foul the water.

What i do have are some of these socalled whiteworms.
They are also pretty fatty and i hope they might do the trick.

Thanks for all the help in the right direction.


PC
[/url]

bloodworms are the larvae of midges (Chironomidae). Sometimes they are erronously sold as 'red mosquito larvae'.Most fish stores will sell them frozen

Jeff

Thanx.
Good pages, these. I learned a lot in just one day

PC

I just managed to get hold of a new package of frozen food with "Blackworm" printed on them, but the contents were definately what some would call mosquito larvae

So now i am totally confused again...

I wish people would start using scientific names on stuff so it would make sence to people from different parts of the world.


PC

That's the thought I had when I first read the Blackworms, that it's "Mygglarver" (in swedish).

I've never heard of anything else called blackworms, but then I haven't exactly been out looking on the web, etc.

What does the fish think about them?

--
Mats

Up to just recently i have been certain that its the best way to get almost any fish into breeding condition using "black mosquito larvae(Don't know what spec )" that i catch myself. They love them when they wiggle, but the frozen black ones my fish didn't like much.
Just a few months ago i tried a new brand wich has changed all that for me. The fish like them a lot, and it looks as if the P. anthrax have eaten them too, though i haven't actually seen them eat yet...I was on a livebearerconvention in west Norway this weekend and as always there are lotteries, so now i have 5 new different types of food to try on them, too

The P. anthrax seem ok, at least they aren't getting any slimmer than they were when i got them from the shop.

PC, white worms have the reputation as being a fatty food, and they are, if fed fatty foods. I feed mine wheat germ and other grains as an article I read some time ago in an aquaculture magazine gave a chart showing the fat content of Enchytraeus when fed various types of common foods. They were higher in protein content and lipids if fed on dry whole grains, and the fat content was much lower.

I culture several trays of Enchytraeus worms (white and Grindel) year round in a lab refrigerator in my basement.

djw66 wrote:PC, white worms have the reputation as being a fatty food, and they are, if fed fatty foods. I feed mine wheat germ and other grains as an article I read some time ago in an aquaculture magazine gave a chart showing the fat content of Enchytraeus when fed various types of common foods. They were higher in protein content and lipids if fed on dry whole grains, and the fat content was much lower.

I culture several trays of Enchytraeus worms (white and Grindel) year round in a lab refrigerator in my basement.

Thats very interesting.
I grow Enchytrae too. mine thrive in room temp actually, though i read they like it cold.
The ones i have now are aprox 2 cm long fully grown, and 1 mm Ã?.
You think they would be a smart move? There are only some Dermogenys babies sharing the tank with them, so all they don't eat will be left to rot if i don't see it...


PC

PC, white worms will last in an aquarium for the better part of a day. If you have ANY corydoras or Botia species loach, you would have no worries about the worms dying and rotting.

Also, Grindal worms (named after the woman who isolated it) is about 60 or 70 percent the size of what you have. If you have access to a biological supply house, it might pay off for you if you need a smaller worm. They also thrive at a higher temp, say 75 Æ?.

A trick I used in the past to get a picky eater eating was emulsifying freeze-dried Tubifex worms in Super Selcon before feeding. Something about the smell of the Selcon (a product with HDH, HUFAS, etc.) got them going.

By the way, I keep my lab refrigerator at 68 degrees Æ? for the worms as recommended by a publication. Cool, not cold.

Hmmm. i think i tried Grindal worms many years ago, but they recieved a Veto from the ministry of interiors....
They smell like "¤%&/, don't they?



PC

PC Hasselgreen wrote:Hmmm. i think i tried Grindal worms many years ago, but they recieved a Veto from the ministry of interiors....
They smell like "¤%&/, don't they?



PC

PC,

Grindals look and behave exactly like white worms (same family), but smaller, and smell like nothing. Both species are Enchytrae. The smell you mentioned was most likely caused by souring the soil they were in with rich foods. I use potting soil mixed with peat in my trays, and since the white worms are in the fridge, the Grindals are in a cabinent in my basement and no one knows they are there unless I show them. If anything, the trays smell like soil when I harvest. My girl thinks they are creepy, not smelly

Dave