How to get them to eat dry...

I

ichthyogeek

New member
How do y'all get your fish to eat dry foods? Obviously, some fish like lionfish and seahorses can't eat dry, but for the rest of the fish? Whenever I get fish, they always seem to hate whatever dry foods I stick in with them (flake, or pelllet it doesn't matter), and then they'll sometimes begrudgingly eat frozen. The only good feeding response I ever get is with the NHBBS, but I'm not doing that for the rest of my tanks. Is there a specific regimen I can follow to get them eating? So far, the only fish that seem to like the pellets is my damselfish...

Oh, and as for the species I'm talking about, are banggais, shrimp gobies, probably dwarf angelfish, smaller dottyback species, and clownfish. They never seem to eat dry, and I always cave and offer frozen...
 
laga77 said:
Never use garlic. It is bad for the fishes liver. Your fish will be better off with a fresh, frozen or live diet instead of flakes or pellets. They will have more growth and color and have a better immune system to fight off disease.,http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/sp/
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I couldn't find anything in that article about it being bad for their liver. Only thing it focused on was combating parasites and diseases.
 
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From what I gathered from this is it definitely has a long term effect on the fish if you use it like hot cakes. Using it in moderation to boost the immune system every now and then as well as to help picky eaters eat food they aren't used to helps out in the short term. Granted I don't use my garlic guard hardly at all, I do use it about once a month to give my fish a treat. However my pellets do have the garlic ad on it and I will be finding new food for them since I don't want any long term effects on my fish.

Thanks for sharing that post with us!
 
I don't see why you wouldn't just feed fresh or frozen. With all of the work we put into these tanks the easiest and one of the most beneficial is to feed quality. I'd personally rather try and replicate their wild environment as much as possible.
 
Hmm...we do have plenty of garlic at home...so I take it the scientific consensus on garlic is a very big no then?

reefbroao: because while I'm at college, asking my parents to come home and feed my fish a tiny chunk of frozen food is too much. They're busy. And the automated fish feeder is a godsend. It wasn't a problem when I was in high school and was physically there to observe my fish to get the skinny (ones out of the tank). My parents don't care about my fish as much as I do, and, while perfectly okay with tossing a chunk of food in every week or 2, asking them to feed a quarter chunk of cyclops, a .2" square of mysis, and a small pinch of nori (what I would normally do), would be too much. I'll spoil my fish silly when I'm home (frozen food+water changes every day if I can), but the rest of the year, they're stuck with dry food.
 
Is ORA glo pellets still available? Long time ago when I worked in a LFS we used it a lot with great success, even got idols to start accepting it.
Another trick is to soak foods, esp pellets and flakes in selcon not only does it contain lots of vitamins but it also contains omega3 which presumably from the fishy smell of it was either krill or fish derived, either way I'm a firm believer it increases pellets/dry foods appeal to many finicky fish.
 
I've had the best luck with most fish eating NLS pellets. My Hector's goby is crazy about them and knows what time of day I feed them. He won't eat any other food but NLS pellets. He turns his nose up at mysis and LRS as well as a few others.
 
I would never soak my dry foods in extreme garlic. If the fish eat the pellets as soon as they drop into the water, then they are getting a concentrated amount of the garlic. Using Selcon for dry soak would be the better option.

IF....you wanted to use a drop of garlic as an attractant that was introduced into the water column at the time of feeding, that would be a better way to imploy the use of it.

I personally only used garlic in rare occasions....to get some very difficult feeing Anthias to stimulate their appetite. It did work...and I was juicing my own raw garlic. Hence....because it's super concentrated, I was only using one drop into the QT for stimulation.

Less is better than more with using this stuff...especially if it's concentrated.
 
Dry food should only be used as a last, temporary, last resort. If it is a choice between let them starve or pellets, then feed them the pellets. Almost all dry food contains flour or cornstarch or alfalfa,or vegetable extracts, which marine fish are not meant to consume.They also contain ingredients can be down right harmful to animals, like Olestra, an artificial fat substitute which blocks the absorption of vitamins when consumed. Usually listed as sucrose polyester, see Wikipedia. Ethoxyquin, which according to WIKI can be toxic to fish and is actually required to be included in fish meal, which is a large ingredient in almost all dry fish foods.,http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/fishmeal.html, Check the spirulina flake you feed. Often the spirulina is the fifth or sixth listed ingredient behind, fish meal, flour, soy, cornstarch, and yeast. It is up to you. All I am advocating is read the ingredients and know what you are feeding your fish. I spend too much time and money to fed mine crap. I want them to live long. No, I will not name Brands or products. You can look that up yourself.
 
During quarentine i soak all foods in Selcon. It gets even the finicky fish to eat. They love it for some reason. By the end of the quarentine period the fish is fat and eating all that i feed in to the display tank.
I feed flakes,pellets,freeze dried brine, frozen brine, frozen squid, frozen mysis, and something frozenfor the herbivores(cant remender the name at the moment). I rotate between foods daily and that seems to keep everone happy.
 
laga77 said:
Dry food should only be used as a last, temporary, last resort. If it is a choice between let them starve or pellets, then feed them the pellets. Almost all dry food contains flour or cornstarch or alfalfa,or vegetable extracts, which marine fish are not meant to consume.They also contain ingredients can be down right harmful to animals, like Olestra, an artificial fat substitute which blocks the absorption of vitamins when consumed. Usually listed as sucrose polyester, see Wikipedia. Ethoxyquin, which according to WIKI can be toxic to fish and is actually required to be included in fish meal, which is a large ingredient in almost all dry fish foods.,http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/fishmeal.html, Check the spirulina flake you feed. Often the spirulina is the fifth or sixth listed ingredient behind, fish meal, flour, soy, cornstarch, and yeast. It is up to you. All I am advocating is read the ingredients and know what you are feeding your fish. I spend too much time and money to fed mine crap. I want them to live long. No, I will not name Brands or products. You can look that up yourself.
Click to expand...

:lmao: as much as you post this I sure hope you have it on your desktop to copy and paste :lmao:
 
seems to me that fw and sw fish have been doing quite well on flake and pellets for many years. I always mix frozen and dry. some fish just won't eat dry. my two year old Bangaii will not touch flake or pellets. the only dry food it will eat is freeze dried blackworms.
 
I start my fish on all fresh and then once they are fat I put some of the juice from shucking clams or selcon on the pellets to help them get the idea. It also helps if they are with other fish that already eat the dry food, like they learn from them.

I feed alot of fresh, a good variety of blender mush and whole clams. I feed flakes and pellets in the morning when I'm heading out to work. I think it's good to get the fish used to eating them so you have the option. That way if something comes up my fish won't starve if I have to be a way for a week, and I don't feel chained to my tank.
I don't think OP should have to choose between college and a fish tank, there can be room in life for both.
 
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