What brand pellets do you feed your Rams?

[Stitch]

Two qns I need help...

1) What brand pellets do you feed your Rams?

2) If I have fast swimming/feeding fish together in the tank e.g. zebra danios and rummy nose, how to train the Rams to eat those pellets? Usually the pellets would have been wipe out before they reach the bottom.

[stormhawk]

The current ones are feeding on Sera Viformo and live grindal worms. They attack anything I throw into the tank during feeding time. To date I have not tried with the NLS pellets since my previous fish did not really like those, so I fed the pellets to the grindals and then feed the grindals to my fish. Gut-loaded grindal worms work very well for Rams.

[Stitch]

How did you train them to come out to "attack" the food?
Mine will just hide and watch the others finished the food.

Are there any other tank mates with your rams? What are they?

The current ones are feeding on Sera Viformo and live grindal worms. They attack anything I throw into the tank during feeding time. To date I have not tried with the NLS pellets since my previous fish did not really like those, so I fed the pellets to the grindals and then feed the grindals to my fish. Gut-loaded grindal worms work very well for Rams.

[stormhawk]

I don't train them, they just feed on the pellets. Now eating Tetrabits as well. They chew then spit, but I know they're eating something. Keeping my 9 Rams together with a school of 30 Cardinals, 3 Galaxy Danios, 1 Boraras and some Otos and Corys. The Cardinals eat everything, even microworms.

[Stitch]

Is it a natural behaviour of Rams to hide ?

[stormhawk]

Not really. Mine are very adventurous. However, in a tank with other Cichlids, they might behave that way.

[Stitch]

Any comments on the below type of pellets?
Which one is more welcoming for the Rams?

1) Sera Viformo
2) Tetrabits
3) JBL Novobit - for Discus & other fastidious fish

[stormhawk]

Tetrabits, but having other fish in the tank that are greedy eaters will help. My Cardinals eat anything I throw in, from dead rice beetles to any pellets they see.

The Rams however, eat anything I put in, irregardless of the food item. They do ignore it if the item is too small, but mine just love Viformo for some reason. You can probably try O-Nip, or soak foods in Seachem's Garlic Guard before feeding. The garlic acts as an attractant, and also helps to clear out the bad bacteria from the the fish's guts.

[Stitch]

I tried to feed my ram with prawn bought from market. Cut into small pieces and threw into tank. Surprisingly, it ate.

The next few days, it will race to the falling prawn and dared to swim nearer to the surface waiting for the prawn bit to fall.

Finally, found something that it eats and less troublesome than the worms (which I really hate).
=)

[Stitch]

Stormhawk, I thought you mentioned that the ram will chew the Tetrabits and then spit it out? So meaning they dont welcome this food?

The Sera Viformo comes in tablet form? Just the right bite size for the ram?

[stormhawk]

They do chew and spit out the Tetrabits but they still feed on the pieces. The Cardinals take care of the smaller fragments that the Rams spew out. Where the Viformo is concerned, it is in tablet form, and the Rams just pick at it. They will still spew out a lot of smaller fragments but mine always turn fat after eating the bits and pieces from the Viformo. In any case, they still prefer live foods like the grindal worms.

You might have to try different foods before you find one that suits your purposes. In my case, they take Viformo and Tetrabits, but they might not do the same for you. So your results may vary. My catfish eat the Viformo fragments whenever the Rams are feeding, and I've not noticed any issues as yet.

Since you find that they do take market prawn, you can try that instead of wasting money on dry food.

[Stitch]

Thank you stormhawk for the advice.

They do chew and spit out the Tetrabits but they still feed on the pieces. The Cardinals take care of the smaller fragments that the Rams spew out. Where the Viformo is concerned, it is in tablet form, and the Rams just pick at it. They will still spew out a lot of smaller fragments but mine always turn fat after eating the bits and pieces from the Viformo. In any case, they still prefer live foods like the grindal worms.

You might have to try different foods before you find one that suits your purposes. In my case, they take Viformo and Tetrabits, but they might not do the same for you. So your results may vary. My catfish eat the Viformo fragments whenever the Rams are feeding, and I've not noticed any issues as yet.

Since you find that they do take market prawn, you can try that instead of wasting money on dry food.

[stormhawk]

You're welcome. Another thing with using market prawn is, you can purchase the vitamin additives like Sera Fishtamin, and soak the prawn pieces in it before feeding to the fish, so they get some extra nutrition.

Some people have reported success using Seachem Garlic Guard or NLS Thera A+ pellets to tempt picky fish like Rams to feed on them. Perhaps you can try those products before junking the pellets/dry food that the Rams do not seem to feed on. Garlic Guard works as a soaking bath for the dry food before you feed them to the fish. More details at www.seachem.com

[Stitch]

I really have problem with this fish. It does not want the market prawn anymore.
Do you know if there are SAMPLE pack of the Tetrabits or the Sera Viformo that I can try it out to see if it wants to eat before I buy either one of them?
Headache...

[stormhawk]

There's a really small plastic container of Viformo for sale. I usually see it at C328, but sometimes it is sold out. I forgot the price, but that is the closest to a sample pack you'll ever get. I think the size is 50ml, contains 130 tablets according to the Sera site.

[Stitch]

Thanks StormHawk, I'll see if there are similiar product in Seaview. C328 is too far for me.
Thanks.

[lab]

My pair of german blue rams likes to eat Nutrafin max (micro granules).