feeding with pellets

[thetim6]

I am using hikari cichlid gold medium sized pellets. all my fish eat these, but i recently got a new male convict that can't get the pellets in his mouth, he is too small. he is too large to put in my grow out tank with my oscar, pink convicts, and convict fry as he could eat the fry. i dont want to feed flakes in my big tank but will, but will this work. could i soak the pellets in a little tank water 15 or so minutes before feeding, would this soften the pellets so that the convict can eat? i have been cutting the pellets in half with scissors, which is a pain, so i was wondering if this would work.
tim

 

[cichlidmaster]

thetim6,

Simple solution here.....get smaller pellets for the cons until they can handle the medium size!!!!

As for soaking the pellets.....this is a very good idea!!! It is always wise to soak them prior to feeding so the pellet does not swell in the fish's digestive tract!!!

Using a little tank water for this is also the way to go. One more thing....try adding a few drops of a liquid vitamin to the water before putting the pellets in. The pellets will soak the vitamin enriched water up and be an added bonus to your fish's health!!!

Do this once a week and see how much healthier your fish become!!!

CM

 

[cichlid_freak]

I have had an extremely hard time getting my P. polleni to eat pellets. They are eating earthworms for the time being, but I know this isn't a good varied diet. I will soon start feeding "blackworms." I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to get them on pellets. I have mediums and minis but both are definatly large enough to eat mediums. Also, I have a problem with them going into the sump filter. Is there any way to fix this without one of those little feeding rings? Thanks for any replies.

 

[thetim6]

my oscar wouldnt eat pellets at first. after three days of not eating anything he tried them, and now wont eat anything else. i also had pellets coming into my sump., but this only happened when there was uneaten food. maybe you are overfeeding?? that was my problem.

 

[Gibbo]

I use Vitacraft 'Cichlid Red', these pellets sink so generally don't get sucked into the filter.

CF - My Pollini's eat both pellet and livefood, as well as a small amount of Cichlid flake. I find them to be extremely unfussy feeders... do as thetim6 says, stop feeding for a couple of days or so and then try pellet. Mine actually really enjoy catfish pellets as well! They'll try anything once... (or twice... and so on..!)

 

[cichlid_freak]

TheTim6-I will try the sinking type of cichlid pellets. Very good idea, I didn't even know they had those kind I have only been putting 2 pellets at a time, they aren't even touched, and in about 30 min. they end up in the sump.

Gibbo- Are your polleni's as LAZY ass mine? Both of them just sit behind each of their chosen piece of African root.

P.S. I had to seperate them (she was pushing him around too much for my liking ) I will try to reunite them this weekend , but will not change any of the scenery. Hopefully now that I have two "good" hiding places and they have established their own territory, they will not fight over territory/sleeping spots.