Mauled Halfbeak

[0x0000ff]

Those of you with halfbeaks ... here's a strange experience!

I've had over 15 gold halfbeaks for about 8 months now, multiple successful pregnancies->births; and not a single adult has ever died.


I'm temporarily keeping a Running Ck Fasciata Rainbow fish in one of my tanks containing halfbeaks.

I feed them live black worms once every 2nd day. The halfbeaks can't swallow them whole, so they swim around the tank with half the worm hanging out as they slowly guzzle it down.


Last night during feeding, my rainbow fish decided It wanted a worm which was currently being eaten by one of my very pregnant halfbeaks.

BUT, ah..... in the process of trying to snap the worm out of the halfbeaks mouth, the rainbow fish ended up biting the whole f'ing head off my poor halfbeak, it was horrid!


Apart from accidently getting murdered, is it ok to feed them these worms when it means they have to swim around the tank for a couple of minutes in order to swallow them?

sorry for scattered paragraphs, busy at work.

 

[nmonks]

Apart from accidently getting murdered, is it ok to feed them these worms when it means they have to swim around the tank for a couple of minutes in order to swallow them?

It isn't a problem. But as a general rule, try and get them weaned onto veggie flake food. I've been told by people who have watched them in the wild, that halfbeaks are fairly herbivorous, eating algae and (bizarrely enough) pollen rather than insects all the time. As with any fish, flake foods are the best balanced diet, if your fish will take it.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[0x0000ff]

thanks for the reply and the tip. Luckily my Halfbeaks eat pretty much anything; I vary their diet between real veggies, flakes, pellets, shrimp, and worms.

If only some of my other fish weren't so picky

 

[guppymonkey]

Apart from accidently getting murdered, is it ok to feed them these worms when it means they have to swim around the tank for a couple of minutes in order to swallow them?

It isn't a problem. But as a general rule, try and get them weaned onto veggie flake food. I've been told by people who have watched them in the wild, that halfbeaks are fairly herbivorous, eating algae and (bizarrely enough) pollen rather than insects all the time. As with any fish, flake foods are the best balanced diet, if your fish will take it.

Cheers,

Neale

Now I have read (not sure on specific books I can quote) that half beaks are mostly carnivorous and need a majority of their diet to consist of live foods. I have also read that they need to have live food to successfully breed and will miscarry if kept on a diet mostly consisting of vegetable matter or prepared foods like flakes.

 

[nmonks]

Now I have read (not sure on specific books I can quote) that half beaks are mostly carnivorous and need a majority of their diet to consist of live foods. I have also read that they need to have live food to successfully breed and will miscarry if kept on a diet mostly consisting of vegetable matter or prepared foods like flakes.

Confusing isn't it. Marine halfbeaks eat both animal and plant foods, apparently alternating between the two depending on various factors. Some eat plants at certain times of the year, others at certain times of the day. I uploaded some links to scientific papers on marine halfbeaks diet to the Wikipedia article I've been looking after. So the ancestors of freshwater halfbeaks at least are definitely omnivores.

As to the freshwater ones, I consulted with someone who studies them in the wild and collects various species for aquaria. He replied thus:

All that is written on halfbeaks that they are insectivorous food-specialists is pure legend in my eyes. Especially for Dermogenys it is almost impossible to eat even fruitflies. In nature they seem to feed mainly on pollen - at least this is what I observed in Dermogenys siamensis in Central Thailand. So it seems wise to try at least to add plant material in the diet of all halfbeaks

There's no harm in feeding any fish vegetarian flake (most seem to like it) and if halfbeaks are indeed partially herbivorous veggie flake will do them good. Speaking from experience, they can live and breed fine on flake and frozen, and the only time they miscarry is when I do something stupid like move a pregnant female or make a big change to the water chemistry of the tank.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[guppymonkey]

That has been my experience with my N. ebrardtii but I have only had my pair for about a year (maybe). I was going by the assumption that what is in books is correct information. (LOL)