I thought i would start this as they are beautiful fish and after having sucess with these thought i would share some tips.
One thing to mention firstly is that Tuka have a life span of approx 3 years and have very fast metabolism and require frequent feedings. They also do best in schools where if there is no male in the group the larger or dominant female will transform to male as with many other species.
These fish are quite shy and should not be kept with boisterous fish or they will perish.
The hardest thing with these fish is to get them to feed initally, QT for this fish should have ample hiding places.
your food shopping list should include
frozen baby brine
frozen daphnia and or brine spirulina
forzen rotifers
frozen brine
frozen mysis
cyclopeze
spectrum 1mm pellets
for the real finicky eaters you will need to have live baby brine
to start with feeding these you will need to defrost the smaller foods and feed very regulary. Tuka seem to only eat small foods to start with but the nutritional value in these is not great so minimum 4 feedings er day should be supplied. It is also important not to startle the fish when feeding also.
If they will not eat the smaller foods you will need to add the live baby brine, then mix live with some defrosted frozen till you ween them on only frozen.
after several days of eating the smaller food brine/mysis should be added, however it is unlikely they will eat whole ones so these should be chopped and mixed with the small foods.
after a week or so of previous feeding step only feed chopped brine/mysis mixed with unchopped versions - feedings can now reduce to 3/day. Once you notice they are eating all sized foods there is no need to chop, now you can start mixing some spectrum pellets into the mix.
Once they are feeding on pellets and brine/mysis steadily you can reduce to 2 feedings/day where i personally fed pellet in the morning and frozen varities at night.
I kept a school of 5 tuka for close to 2 years like this till i pulled the tank down.
on a side note when i tried to increase the school size they would kill any new addition so i would advise getting your ideal school size from the one source intially.
Ryan
One thing to mention firstly is that Tuka have a life span of approx 3 years and have very fast metabolism and require frequent feedings. They also do best in schools where if there is no male in the group the larger or dominant female will transform to male as with many other species.
These fish are quite shy and should not be kept with boisterous fish or they will perish.
The hardest thing with these fish is to get them to feed initally, QT for this fish should have ample hiding places.
your food shopping list should include
frozen baby brine
frozen daphnia and or brine spirulina
forzen rotifers
frozen brine
frozen mysis
cyclopeze
spectrum 1mm pellets
for the real finicky eaters you will need to have live baby brine
to start with feeding these you will need to defrost the smaller foods and feed very regulary. Tuka seem to only eat small foods to start with but the nutritional value in these is not great so minimum 4 feedings er day should be supplied. It is also important not to startle the fish when feeding also.
If they will not eat the smaller foods you will need to add the live baby brine, then mix live with some defrosted frozen till you ween them on only frozen.
after several days of eating the smaller food brine/mysis should be added, however it is unlikely they will eat whole ones so these should be chopped and mixed with the small foods.
after a week or so of previous feeding step only feed chopped brine/mysis mixed with unchopped versions - feedings can now reduce to 3/day. Once you notice they are eating all sized foods there is no need to chop, now you can start mixing some spectrum pellets into the mix.
Once they are feeding on pellets and brine/mysis steadily you can reduce to 2 feedings/day where i personally fed pellet in the morning and frozen varities at night.
I kept a school of 5 tuka for close to 2 years like this till i pulled the tank down.
on a side note when i tried to increase the school size they would kill any new addition so i would advise getting your ideal school size from the one source intially.
Ryan
