Problems feeding reedfish...

[illuminum]

I have a tank with alot of fish, but the reedfish is the only one that has a specialized diet. I'm supposed to feed him beef heart. Every time I've tried to feed him, some of the other fish stop eating the flake and go for the beefheart. I can't get the reedfish to eat the beefheart before all the other tankmates finish his food. Can anyone help me? I figure if the reedfish get's too desparate he'll go after the really tiny fish I had in there that I couldn't catch.

 

[Sati]

Have you tried feeding more beef heart so that there's enough for everybody? I don't know anything about the behaviors of reedfish, but would a turkey baster or tongs or something to put some of the food directly in front of him?

 

[illuminum]

actaully I did try putting the food directly in front of him... No such luck.

 

[Fruitbat]

illuminum...

The reedfish, Erpetoichthys calabaricus, will usually eat all sorts of food....not only beef heart. I've had success feeding them bloodworms, sinking pellet foods (small pellets....reed fish have small mouths for a Polypterid), earthworms and pieces of uncooked shrimp. They'll also pick off a small fish or two...especially at night when the lights are out.

Don't limit yourself to beef heart when feeding these fish.

 

[Toirtis]

illuminum...

The reedfish, Erpetoichthys calabaricus, will usually eat all sorts of food....not only beef heart. I've had success feeding them bloodworms, sinking pellet foods (small pellets....reed fish have small mouths for a Polypterid), earthworms and pieces of uncooked shrimp. They'll also pick off a small fish or two...especially at night when the lights are out.

Don't limit yourself to beef heart when feeding these fish.

Agreed...over 20 years now, I have fed my E. calabaricus all those things and more....my current 6 eat pretty much any meaty that they can swallow.

 

[madasafish]

Sati mentioned tongs... Have you tried feeding your other fish flakes and while they're eating, using a not-too-sharp skewer to move the meat in a fish-like way infront of the reedfish? Others have had success with such a technique. I never had to do this for my polypterids, though. I fed them feeder fish. They could eat up to 10 Rosy Reds of moderate size in one night. I once added 15 feeders to my 55 with a P. senegalus in it (at night) and found only 5 left the next morning.

N.B.
Of course, I no longer recommend getting feeder fish from the stores (did back then). Absolute certainty that these will transmit some sort of disease to your carnivore. If I were to get more Polypterids, I'd breed my own plain guppy feeders in a large tank.

 

[illuminum]

I tried the skewer idea... No luck. It didnt seem interested. I'll try some bloodworms I have sitting in the freezer. Would anyone suggest brine shrimp???

 

[Fruitbat]

The reed fish will take brine shrimp if it can get to them before the other fish do. Another thing you might try is some feeder ghost shrimp. Those little buggers will stay near the bottom (right in the reed fish's line of travel) and most fish seem to like eating them.

 

[illuminum]

yeah, there were two ghost shrimp in the tank when I bought them. I dont know if they were in there as food or not, but I took them out and put them in my 12g. I'll try using them as food, see how it goes.