Bloodworms or Pellets

jerms55555 · Post by **jerms55555** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 6:30 pm

I noticed that my 4 wild zebras love bloodworms,brine shrimp and maybe carnivore pellets, not to sure though since I can't really tell if they eat it or not, since I crush it up. But I have 4 F1s that I bought this last summer and I noticed they don't really fatten up on the bloodworms, but once I feed them carnivore pellets they fatten up overnight!

I talked to the breeder of these and he said all he feed them was carnivore pellets. I have been trying to condition them to eat all other type of foods but I don't want to risk losing one to starvation.

So my question is are zebra's diets conditioned on what food they grew up eating? Can I change their diets by starving them for 3 days or so and then feed them something different?

Thanks
Jeremy

Tom2600 · Post by **Tom2600** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 7:33 pm

Hi

The diet you are feeding sounds very good. Pellets often swell so this could be the reason why your plecs look larger after feeding on these.

I have found the best why to introduce a new food is to feed a little with existing tried and tested food. Often over time they will start to eat the new stuff as well. I have never tried starving a fish to induce this but is could work I suppose. HOWEVER, most fish can easily last for 2-3 weeks without food (although they will lose alot of weight) so I suppose they might not jump at new stuff after a few days.

I often let me fish go without food for a couple of days (every 3-4 weeks), I think this can help their digestive system.

Cheers

Tom

jerms55555 · Post by **jerms55555** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:35 pm

HI Tom
Sounds good I will try it to see if it works. You said those pellets expand, right? Do you think I should soak them in water before i feed them?

Thanks
Jeremy

Dr. P · Post by **Dr. P** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:14 pm

jerms55555 wrote:You said those pellets expand, right? Do you think I should soak them in water before i feed them?

For sure. This will definatly help. This is a tried and tested method with feeding cichlids. Although I would expect the zebras to rasp at the food so I can't see the swelling of the food to be much of a problem, but a strong possibility all the same.

Tom wrote:I often let me fish go without food for a couple of days (every 3-4 weeks), I think this can help their digestive system.

I do this too. I beleive it to be very benificial. Seemingly feeding shelled peas the night before the fast will also aid digestion....not that every fish will eat peas

Tom2600 · Post by **Tom2600** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:39 am

Hi

Totally agree with the Doc. I always soke my tetra prima for the same expansion reason as well. I very much doubt it would cause any harm but I always soke the food for a few seconds before feeding, just incase.

jerms55555 · Post by **jerms55555** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:43 am

Alright I will try it tonight.
Thanks again, Tom and the Doc!

Jeremy

Cascudo · Post by **Cascudo** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:25 am

I feed both frozen (sometimes life) bloodworms and food pellets.
I think it is good to feed both. Bloodworms for proteins and vitamins and pellets for fattening and because they are slow eaters, they got a chance to eat sufficient before other fish (or shrimp) eat everything.

I don't think you need to starve them for accepting pellets, my zebra's love it. I do have the habit to leave my fish (including my zebra's) once a week without food.

I never gave a thought about the swelling pellets. My zebra's are doing very wel, so I don't have the impression that is very important.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 9:34 am

The swelling might not usually be a problem for adult fish, but I have been told by other breeders that they have lost fry for this very reason.

zebra046 · Post by **zebra046** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 1:11 pm

I only feed pellets to the fry and to the adults I find it to be a lot of mess when feeding freeze dried blood worm, daphnia, cyclpe eeze, etc. ( I dont turn off the filter) and I'm to paranoid feeding them any live food especially black worms, with twice a day OVER feeding of pellets my females will breed every 4-5 weeks and longer for the less experienced females. with 4-5 varaities of pellets I'm sure they are covered nutritionally. the down side, the fry don't grow as fast as feeding them newly hatched brine shrimp.