Feeding darters
#1 Guest_Jrm2157_*
Posted 10 February 2013 - 05:30 PM
#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 10 February 2013 - 05:52 PM
Something that might help is a feeding tube. You distract the shiners with something near the top of the tank, and drop something that sinks down a tube so it reaches the bottom near the darters.
In my own tanks personally I just kept feeding them until the swimming fish were full and gave up. If you're having problems with cost, a grated up unbreaded frozen cocktail shrimp is inexpensive, as are home-bred grindal worms.
Edited by EricaWieser, 10 February 2013 - 05:53 PM.
#3 Guest_Jrm2157_*
Posted 10 February 2013 - 05:58 PM
#4 Guest_fundulus_*
Posted 10 February 2013 - 07:50 PM
#5 Guest_Usil_*
Posted 10 February 2013 - 08:22 PM
Usil
Edited by Usil, 10 February 2013 - 08:23 PM.
#6 Guest_Owain4_*
Posted 10 February 2013 - 09:37 PM
#7 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 10 February 2013 - 10:05 PM
I guess I think of overfeeding differently. I see it as a problem if there's uneaten food leftover in the aquarium to rot. But if the fish are still hungry and want to eat more food, I'll feed them. My aquarium has live plants growing in it so the nitrogenous waste from all the food the fish eat is no problem. The growing plants utilize the nitrogen in their new stems and leaves, cleaning the tank by removing nitrogen from the water. *nods* So, yeah, I just keep adding food to the tank bit by bit until finally one of the pieces of food goes uneaten.They usually keep eating as long as their is food but I try not to overfeed them a lot.
Edited by EricaWieser, 10 February 2013 - 10:08 PM.
#8
Posted 10 February 2013 - 10:05 PM
I normally feed them flakes first... its cheap and I can feed them a lot and it stays on the surface... and they like getting their food up there anyway... shiners hit the surface of streams for food anyway. And the activity certainly brings the darters out to see what is going on...
Then you can either use the tube, or turkey baster or I thaw the frozen food in about 4 oz of tap water and then just dump that in which sort of drives the food to the bottom, and gets it in the darters range pretty quickly.
#9 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 10 February 2013 - 11:27 PM
Wow, that's kind of intense. I had swordtails with my darters so I didn't know that about shiners. Swordtails aren't as gung-ho.Erica, no shiners do not give up, I have seen them eat until bloated and then still eat.
#10
Posted 11 February 2013 - 07:45 AM
I have a 55 gallon with three Christmas darters and half a dozen greenfin shiners. The shiners are very enthusiastic feeders. I can back up what Michael says about their gluttony. They will eat, if allowed, until their bellies are grossly distended. Then they'll regurgitate a bunch and eat it again. (I saw this twice when I switched frozen bloodworm brands and dumped in more than I realized would be there.) I make sure the darters get their chow by placing a small amount of thawed bloodworms or brine shrimp on the tip of a bamboo bbq skewer, and placing that in the outflow of my HOB filter. That pushes the chow down to the darters quickly and gives it a semblance of being "live", which seems to activate the darties. The shiners do snag much of what is intended for the darters, but no darter is going hungry and I can keep greater control of the amount fed.
I also have one swamp darter in a community tropical tank ( lfs rescue) and he associates me with food to the point that he actively begs. The fish in that tank aren't all that fast, so he makes it to the top of the 40 gallon and nabs his flakes there.
Obviously, my tanks are much smaller than yours so the food is less prone to getting "lost". Maybe if your darters are as interested in food as mine are, the turkey baster mentioned above would be able to put the food right in front of them, helping to concentrate food where it's easiest for them to find it and also reduce the time the minnows might have to hone in on the dartie chow.
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
#11 Guest_exasperatus2002_*
Posted 11 February 2013 - 08:59 AM
#12 Guest_jblaylock_*
Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:11 PM
#13 Guest_Kanus_*
Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:21 PM
#14 Guest_gerald_*
Posted 11 February 2013 - 05:49 PM
#15 Guest_keepnatives_*
Posted 11 February 2013 - 08:06 PM
Another smaller tank had less aggressive darters with several large female guppies to provide some occassional random live food hunting for the darters but the guppies would eat a tremendous amount of black worms until I started keeping the turkey baster in the tank and blasting short bursts at any encroaching guppy marauders after a while they mostly stayed on the other side of the tank. Worked but time consuming.
Edited by keepnatives, 11 February 2013 - 08:07 PM.
#16 Guest_Skipjack_*
Posted 11 February 2013 - 08:40 PM
#17 Guest_steve_*
Posted 13 February 2013 - 06:04 AM
#18
Posted 13 February 2013 - 11:35 AM
Good to hear you are doing well with your hogsucker. I think I remember that fish. 6 months is not a total indicator of hogsucker health, but so far so good. I think with "abundance feeding" you have a good chance to heep him going. When you can say that he has actually grown a half inch or so, then you are really having success. I would recommend some simple things like Wardley Shrimp Pellets as a fast sinking, meaty food that the shiners sort of ignore and the sucker (well at least the jumprock in my case) learns to try... and if he doesnt, it breaks down and then he will get it as he is sifting sand (assuming your substrate is sand).
#19 Guest_steve_*
Posted 13 February 2013 - 04:11 PM
Yep, deep sand substrate covering a few inches of top soil and a literal jungle growing out the top of the tank.
ps. Thanks again for talking me into keeping him. He may not be the most colorful fish in the tank, but he's definitely the cutest.
#20
Posted 13 February 2013 - 04:56 PM
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