they botrh live in a 55 gallon tank, my needlefish goes after every goldfish but i must say is not like they can fit anything down it's throat, i have an 8" one and he couldnt even eat a 2" goldfish he did bite it but then left it alone, so my question is do u think my grouami will survive with a 12" needlefish because thats as big as they can get, blue gouramis grow to about 5" or 6
Will My Needlefish Eat My Blue Gourami?
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nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
The short answer is that an adult blue gourami should be relatively safe with a needlefish. In fact an aggressive male blue gourami is more of a threat to nervous needlefish than the other way around.
Why are you feeding your needlefish goldfish? Please do read around the subject! Even if you must use live fish, goldfish and minnows are the worst possible foods, and you're crazy using them. There are lots of mystery deaths that surely come down to the introduction of parasites via cheap feeders, as well as increasing amounts of scientific evidence that the thiaminase and fat in goldfish and minnows causes harm over the long term. Reptile-keepers have long been aware of this and act accordingly; why on Earth is the fishkeeping hobby sticking its head in the ground about thiaminase? There's simply no excuse at all. None.
Let's recap. Needlefish don't feed only (or even mainly) on fish in the wild. They also eat insects and crustaceans. Live river shrimp, particularly brackish water ones as are widely sold in England at least, are a safe and useful food. Though shrimps contain thiaminase, they don't contain much fat, and brackish water ones are very unlikely to contain parasites that would infect freshwater fish. At least initially then, they're a good, safe food. Earthworms are free and easy to collect, so if you have a clean (organic, non-sprayed) garden you should be able to find these through most of spring and autumn. Earthworms are extremely nutritious, and readily accepted by well adjusted fish.
Crickets are another good food, and provided you stick with the smaller, bite-sized ones you should find them safe and readily accepted.
Once settled in, patient fishkeepers should have few problems adjusting their needlefish to frozen foods. The "trick" is to put the food in the current so it moves; once the needlefish makes a strike, it generally swallows whatever it catches if the taste is right.
Needlefish are not solitary fish, and you're going to find it hard maintaining a single specimen for long. They simply don't do well. You're probably going to find a 55 US gallon tank far too small for these fish in the long term. They are skittish and prone to damaging themselves.
Cheers, Neale
Why are you feeding your needlefish goldfish? Please do read around the subject! Even if you must use live fish, goldfish and minnows are the worst possible foods, and you're crazy using them. There are lots of mystery deaths that surely come down to the introduction of parasites via cheap feeders, as well as increasing amounts of scientific evidence that the thiaminase and fat in goldfish and minnows causes harm over the long term. Reptile-keepers have long been aware of this and act accordingly; why on Earth is the fishkeeping hobby sticking its head in the ground about thiaminase? There's simply no excuse at all. None.
Let's recap. Needlefish don't feed only (or even mainly) on fish in the wild. They also eat insects and crustaceans. Live river shrimp, particularly brackish water ones as are widely sold in England at least, are a safe and useful food. Though shrimps contain thiaminase, they don't contain much fat, and brackish water ones are very unlikely to contain parasites that would infect freshwater fish. At least initially then, they're a good, safe food. Earthworms are free and easy to collect, so if you have a clean (organic, non-sprayed) garden you should be able to find these through most of spring and autumn. Earthworms are extremely nutritious, and readily accepted by well adjusted fish.
Crickets are another good food, and provided you stick with the smaller, bite-sized ones you should find them safe and readily accepted.
Once settled in, patient fishkeepers should have few problems adjusting their needlefish to frozen foods. The "trick" is to put the food in the current so it moves; once the needlefish makes a strike, it generally swallows whatever it catches if the taste is right.
Needlefish are not solitary fish, and you're going to find it hard maintaining a single specimen for long. They simply don't do well. You're probably going to find a 55 US gallon tank far too small for these fish in the long term. They are skittish and prone to damaging themselves.
Cheers, Neale
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