ThRoewer
New member
No real secret - its all the fish and very little me.
Usually the ones below 4 inch make not much trouble taking food. Most I've seen here at AC took already food the day they arrived at the store. Even the 5in ones. And they keep them there sometimes in tiny, completely naked compartments:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJZT_be6_ws" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That was a 4 inch Sumatra regal.
The main issue I ran into was getting them to stuff themselves at feedings and not only eat a little and then stop only to get hungry half an hour later (yes, I have to untrain them their healthy eating habits and train them my unhealthy habits to get them fat - it worked well for me
). The trick is to feed as unpredictably as possible and sometimes to let them go hungry for a day. They quickly learn that they have to eat as much as they can during feedings as the next feeding may be a day away. Over time they enlarge their stomachs and will start stuffing themselves like pufferfish (if you have ever seen a green pufferfish doubling his weight in a single feeding you know what I mean).
This worked very well with larger on of my Sumatra pair. At first he would just a little bit at the time. He wouldn't gain much weight for a long time., but then fatten up quickly.
The smaller one was a ferocious eater from day one and it didn't take much time for her to get to a healthy weight. She was also the first to copy the other fish and try pellets. The larger one started soon after seeing her eat.
That is another trick - let them learn from other fish.
BTW: I still do some TTM during Hyposalinity treatment. This is basically to speed up the treatment and be done in two weeks:
1. transfer: fish into the sterilized treatment tank at already hyposaline condition.
2. transfer: 7 days later to another sterilized tank at hyposalinity. At this point the fish should already be clean.
3. transfer: another 7 days later another transfer and start of ramp up.
Usually the ones below 4 inch make not much trouble taking food. Most I've seen here at AC took already food the day they arrived at the store. Even the 5in ones. And they keep them there sometimes in tiny, completely naked compartments:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJZT_be6_ws" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That was a 4 inch Sumatra regal.
The main issue I ran into was getting them to stuff themselves at feedings and not only eat a little and then stop only to get hungry half an hour later (yes, I have to untrain them their healthy eating habits and train them my unhealthy habits to get them fat - it worked well for me
). The trick is to feed as unpredictably as possible and sometimes to let them go hungry for a day. They quickly learn that they have to eat as much as they can during feedings as the next feeding may be a day away. Over time they enlarge their stomachs and will start stuffing themselves like pufferfish (if you have ever seen a green pufferfish doubling his weight in a single feeding you know what I mean).This worked very well with larger on of my Sumatra pair. At first he would just a little bit at the time. He wouldn't gain much weight for a long time., but then fatten up quickly.
The smaller one was a ferocious eater from day one and it didn't take much time for her to get to a healthy weight. She was also the first to copy the other fish and try pellets. The larger one started soon after seeing her eat.
That is another trick - let them learn from other fish.
BTW: I still do some TTM during Hyposalinity treatment. This is basically to speed up the treatment and be done in two weeks:
1. transfer: fish into the sterilized treatment tank at already hyposaline condition.
2. transfer: 7 days later to another sterilized tank at hyposalinity. At this point the fish should already be clean.
3. transfer: another 7 days later another transfer and start of ramp up.
