Nandus Nandus

[Dwarfs]

I've kept Schomburgk's leaf fish in the past and was unable to get them to eat anything but live food...I saw some Nandus at a LFS recently and they peaked my interest, but I don't want to have to stress over getting them to eat like I did with the Schomburgki's.

My current tank is a 75g, stocked with a few dwindling giant danios, a senegal bichir, a purple spotted gudgeon, a Ctenopoma Acutirostre, a bumble bee catfish and two three spot gouramis. I'm thinking to add either a couple nandus or (if they are a pain to care for) another ctenopoma or two.

Sooooo basically I am asking: Are they hardy and ready to eat nonliving food, or will they be finicky? I have done some research, I'd like a first hand account from someone though

 

[dave_oddballs]

they are absolutely fantastic fish to keep. i kept a pair of them for ages, i recently sold them to davo86 on this forum. i loved them but i had to re-home them to keep my stingrays.
they are really tricky eaters, at first mine wouldn't eat anything, but when i put it in a smaller tank it had one of my clown loach's in its mouth so they are inclined to only want live foods.
i got mine eating bloodworms, but then they would only eat bloodworms. as you must know they are true predatory fish and need propper meaty foods to thrive. the bloodworms were never enough for them but thats all they would eat so they was always... not skinny, but not as bigger built as maybe they should have been. then i got them eating prawns by moving them about in the water and then chucking it in so they thought it was alive and there instinct is to ambush it.
im talking over the length of aa year it took me to get them to eat bloodworm and prawns.
the nandus nandus are supposidly solitary fish / hunters but when i added my second (as the lfs gave it to me free!) they became inseparable and was together at night in the plants and together at feeding time, they was excellent!
if you have the time to 'train' them to eat different foods then go for it, but if you want something that will just eat when you throw it in then don't.
here was my two, which davo86 now has, at feeing time, waiting for there dinner!

wonderful fish, id recommend them to anyone that will put their time into caring for them!

Dave

 

[Davo86]

Agree completely with Dave, they are a great species that get on fine with a wide range of tankmates,

However feeding could well be be similar to the schomburgks depending on where they are sourced from,
The preferred food for the two that I purchased from Dave is now proving to be dried mealworms, but they are also happily taking lance fish, diced prawn, bloodworm and mysis shrimp.

I have just got a new camera yesterday and as soon as i get a new SDcard in the next day or so I'll be posting a few pics of the two which are long overdue.

 

[Dwarfs]

Thanks guys They look really awesome but I don't have as much time as I would need to care for them. I go to school about a half an hour from my home and I'm usually only around on weekends (currently I'm on break). My dad can feed them dried foods during the week with ease, but I don't want to make him responsible for getting these guys to eat. I think I'll hunt down a few more ctenopomas, they're almost as cool looking and a little bit more manageable.

 

[Dwarfs]

As an update...I just bought one lol. The pet store owner said he had it eating frozen foods and krill so...I got it

 

[Dwarfs]

He won't eat frozen; I set up a guppy breeder tank and we have a growing colony of cherry shrimp at my house so I think we'll be ok. He's a really cool little fish, he follows around my three spot gouramis and surinam geo constantly (I assume he wants to eat them but seeing as he is only 3" he can't lol) Have you guys had luck with earthworms/nightcrawlers? I just bought some from a bait shop and he didn't seem interested (The bichirs and african brown knife in my tank had a fiesta with them though ). I think it was either because the worms were too big or because I had given him a guppy the day before, idk at this point.

 

[Davo86]

He won't eat frozen; I set up a guppy breeder tank and we have a growing colony of cherry shrimp at my house so I think we'll be ok. He's a really cool little fish, he follows around my three spot gouramis and surinam geo constantly (I assume he wants to eat them but seeing as he is only 3" he can't lol) Have you guys had luck with earthworms/nightcrawlers? I just bought some from a bait shop and he didn't seem interested (The bichirs and african brown knife in my tank had a fiesta with them though ). I think it was either because the worms were too big or because I had given him a guppy the day before, idk at this point.

Give it time and it will start to take other foods, mine are now eating, earthworms, dried mealworms, diced prawns, frozen bloodworm/brineshrimp and dried river shrimp and have even started taking the odd cichlid pellet.

Try dropping the food into the current, a live worm should be taken provided its dropped near enough to them, I have found that once the item of food drops too far below the waterline they will not touch it

 

[lucky62]

It is now eating freeze dried krill...............took about a month