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I bought this little dinosaur, named him Rex, in September or August of '08. He was about 2 inches.

Can you tell me please do you think I am feeding too much, does he look alright? He seems good to me. Nice and thick. But wanted your opinions. Also the never ending question, pardalis, disjunctivus, multiradiatus?

He is in a 75 right now with my 5 syno euptera. They get along fine. He eats sinking Hikari algae wafers and HNB sinking algae grazers, he gets his veg and fruit every day, and I am sure he eats syno leftovers. (shrimp pellets, cichlid pellets, canivore tabs, defrosted Hikari everything.) I was thinking if you think he is too chubby I could cut down his fruit and veg?

every day I put in a part of a zuchinni, part of a cucumber and part of a mango or a mushroom or sweet bell pepper, all on one fork or spoon sunken down. I was thinking maybe he needs on only one piece a day not three, i cut them about 2 inches long the cuke and zucchinni. Anyways here he is sorry re the flash and oh my I just saw all the water stains on the glass, I'll clean that right now.

Hi Andywoolloo,
Here's the newbie's opinion. I think your Rex's tummy is more spotted than vermiculated (reticulated is the expert's word) so he is pardalis. See the CotM April 2008 for the expert wording!! Apparently the multiradius does not have side patterning that goes into a chevron -- >> << . Your little guy is rather stout in that 2nd pic. lol My Plecie is the vermiculated so he is disjunctivus. (And he ATE a little frozen shrimp treat today!!!)
Your guy looks really great, --well fed and well taken care of imo!

thank you! and I am so glad to hear that yours is eating!!

I was just thinking I may be giving him too much food. And I was always leaning towards pardalis too.

Hi andy,

it's a pardalis indeed, i have one myself too. from the looks of the genital papilla, i think it's a male.

these guys do need lots of food. but i think yours is a bit on the chubby side

I feed my pardalis (27 cm TL) zuchinni every other day, a 2 inch piece. once a week i skip the zuchinni and offer him a big shrimp, which he happily shares with my 2 Hypancistrus species.

of course i drop some hikari wafers and other pleco wafers in the tank every day. he eats some of it, but ignores the most. i think he prefers vegetables and meaty foods.

i will cut a bit on his diet if i were you. he almost looks like a gravid female to me!

ok thanks I will cut him back. I get a little over zealous in the feeding department.

Do you think I can give him fruit or veg every day if I just give him one? Like now I put zuchinni and cuke and bell pepper or mango or mushroom on a fork every night, cept last night he got none , cause the pics showed his tubby brelly. maybe I could put just one selection? Every day? Or should I still do every other day?

He got no veg or fruit last night and this morning got some sinking spitulina wafers. The synos got sinking cichlid pellets. So he may have snabbed one of those. So tonight can I give him just one selection of fruit or veg? He so relishes his food. Poor beefy dude.

of course you can give him something every night, just try to cut back in the amounts you feed him every time.

and maybe in time, when he is still a bit chubby, you can give him a slightly bigger piece every other day.

also an indicator: when my pardalis has fed on zuchinni the whole night and i see his poo in the color of zuchinni, i know he has had enough, and i know i can skip a day (or two) before giving him another piece!

alright, so I have a question. since i am trying to slim down Rex, and his tank mates are the 5 syno eupterus, or is it euptera now? Did that change recently? Anyways So I have started given Rex just one piece of fruit or veg a day instead of three on a fork weighed down.

He usually got at night 2 inches long of cuke, 2 inches long of zuchinni with a strip of bell pepper oit mushroom in the middle on the fork weighed down. I think I was trying to make sure the fork stayed down, unknown what I was doing but I was obciously feeding him too much. And plus in the morning he got 3 algae wafers.

So I cut him down to one piece of whatever at night, and 3 algae wafers in the day. Is that ok or not enough or too much?

I can cut down the syno food, they are pleasingly plump also, cause I think Rex is supplementing his diet with theirs now, or always was. And he peers at me from behind the driftwood like I am a meanie.

The synos usually get defrosted food 3 days a week, 3 days a week sinking tabs of all assortments and one day fast. for the 5 synos I usually pick 8 pieces of each diff thing. Liek I will 8 sinking shrimps pellts, 8 sinking carnivore and a few sinking cichlid pellets, or another day a pinch of spirulina pellets a pinch of krill pellets and some sinking shrimp or carnivore. When I feed them defrosted food i give them at one feeding, and they get fed just the once per day at light s out, I cube of spirulina shrimp, 1 cube daphnia, I cube bloodowrms or tubifex one cube krill. The yare small cubes, or normal size , and there are 5 synos?

I need help on feeding I think. Or advice on dieting them. Or maybe I am feeding them appropriatley. I mean i knows synos like mine have rounded tummies, they arent grotesque or anything. I will try to get pics. I just figured I'd diet them all. ok im done sorry it was so long.

5 syno eupterus, or is it euptera now? Did that change recently?

Yes it is starting to get used now...

You are feeding your fish very well, but I also know your fish have developed very well and you have kept your conditions excellent, but there does come a fine line between feeding well and producing a lot of extra waste which you have to deal with.

thank you, I think.. lol

can you please tell me, should I cut it in half? feed every other day? what do you reckon? It's always been my hardest part of fish.

It's so easy with bettas. You can see their bellies all the time and know.

If the syno's look anything like rexi you could probably leave them for a week and not notice too much difference in them...that would probably be harder on you than them
But seriously in the wild they have to work a little harder for their meal generally they do not get fed a constant diet, they become opportunistic and will eat what they can when they do have food so you have to watch them and judge for them. You do not want them obese as this can create problems as well.
It is hard for me to tell you how much to feed without seeing them.
I think you already miss a day of feeding a week but you could either cut down your amount or miss more days.(cutting down the amount is probably better for rex)

ok thanks , and I will take pics of the synos on days off.

I know this is going to sound terribly stupid, cause obviously when you put a fish on a diet he will not poop as much but....

Rex hardly poos at all anymore. I mean a little bit every day but not like the poo fest it was prior?

Should I be concerned? He only gets a piece of one veg or fruit a day now, plus only 2 wafers.

I am feeding the synos every other day now and a less amount, and they are pissed.

Today I fed Rex cooked shelled peas. Which he devoured.

Rex hardly poos at all anymore. I mean a little bit every day but not like the poo fest it was prior?

Should I be concerned? He only gets a piece of one veg or fruit a day now, plus only 2 wafers.

Well at least you are not feeding the filters with as much gunk anymore...so I would not be concerned unless Rexi really starts to thin out, that is all part of the monitoring process.

I am feeding the synos every other day now and a less amount, and they are pissed.

That's funny LOL...they will get over it...and again your filter thanks you.

thanks so much for putting my mind at ease!

I never really realized that synos could glare. LOL At least I take it like a glare, prob cause I feel guilty dieting them. LOL The biggest one is even testy. Chasing the others if they get too close to him etc. Haven't witnesssed that in a long time.

The dieting and monitering continues!

And yes you are so right about my filters. I can barely go 3 weeks without having to clean them and they are big canister filters. I have to do the tubes every 3 weeks also. Maybe that will slacken off for me.