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I have a group of 4 L66(I think) and hope to establish a breeding group. They are currently small at 2 inches and are in a species tank with no one competing for food. Having recently aquired them they do not appear to be feeding well, although their belly looks full and round. I wondered if anyone had any experience of preffered diet. All my other L nos eat a mixture of cucumber sinking algae waffers and live food. So far all I have any evidence of them eating is the bog wood in the tank. Oh and they are producing waste, so must be eating something.

Many thanks Ian

Hypancistrus in general are quite good omnivores, but like a bit of meat - blood worms are always appreciated by these species. A bit of mussel or cockle would also work, I would think.

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Mats

I would ditch the cucumber, as this is a very nutrient poor vegetable for a fish that needs a richer diet. Sweet potatoes or courgette are a better choice.

My Hypancistrus love cockle, whole shrimp, bloodworm, tetra prima and pumpkin seeds!

Stupid question, but should the shellfish be cooked first?

Thanks Ian

Cooked shellfish works just fine, but raw is just as fine, in my experience. There's little difference when it comes to the fish. Cooking obviously have the advantage of killing many possible parasites and such. But most seafood come cooked anyways, so that sorts that out...

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Mats

The cockle I feed is cooked, but the shrimp is raw. I buy mine frozen from the LFS, as they've been sterilized, and it's more convenient.

Frozen cooked prawns would be fine too.

If cost is an issue, they can be bought much cheaper at the fishmonger, just don't buy the pickled cockles in jars! I don't think fish are too keen on vinegar!

Tesco's have got big bags of frozen, previously cooked cockles (500g or something like that) that cost about 5 quid (4.94 or something like that). Not bad I thought.. Also got prawns and other seafood in the same range at decent prices. Did consider the Queen scallops for me and the wife, but in the end, I decdied against it...

I buy most of my fish-food, aside from the Tetra Prima and bloodworms, daphnia etc from the supermarket. If it's good enough for humans to eat, the fish probably will cope fine too... I even buy those cheap crab-sticks - fish love them. And I also ignore the bit about "Previously frozen, do not refreeze" - my thought is that if I chuck it straight into the tank without defrosting it, it's unlikely to have a huge increase in bacteria growth, compared to if it was before I froze it...


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Mats

Thanks for all the replies. I bought a few muscles from the fishmonger then was not sure whether to cook them or not. Thanks for all the help.

Ian

I am have problems with one of my L66 still. It has got very thin and weak, over the last 2 days. I have issolated him and tried hand feeding it but withought success. Does any one have any bright ideas, or even an artical they can direct me to? His belly is sunken but his eyes look ok. Many thanks Ian

In my experience, hand feeding and removal from the an old tank is absolutely the WORST thing you can do to rectify feeding issues. This almost always results in an even more stressed out fish that will refuse to feed and whittle away to nothingness. If anything, leave the fish alone, feed bloodworms or other small frozen foods (weak fish probably will only take a passing glance at the cockle), perhaps soaked in garlic, turn off the lights, and wait.