Channa feeding

[Mir]

Hi All,

I have set up a 2 ft tank blackwater for my channa gachua. I have included plenty of ketapang leaves, driftwood, caves and java ferns in his tank. He is literally invisible in the tank due to the setup.

The problem is I cant get him to eat. Whenever he ses me approaching the tank, he hides.The moment I open the top cover to try and drop food, he takes cover. This means that I really cant drop any food in the tank, since he will immediately hide when he sees me. If I just drop the food and leave it there, I think he will not be able to find it, and the food will just rot. Bascally, I really want him to get used to me and my feeding routine. I am trying to feed him frozen foods.

Any idea how to coax him to come out? I really dont want to add any live fish in the tank for food.

Thanks
Murali

[_kai_]

Leave him, drop the food in and leave it. Channas have good sense of smell, they will find it easily. He is still shy, give him some time. Feed and sit back and watch from a distancs, soon he will see you as a "food source" and will warm to you. I have kept some
Channas for years, and they still are shy towards me. There's no way to coax them out, this is just the way they behave . Good luck!

[Mir]

Thanks bro Kai.

He is no longer shy and is out and about feeding I alternate between frozen bloodworms and terabits every day. Do you know how frequently they he should be fed? I have read that 3 times a week is enough, but I feel that once a day seems justifiable...

By the way, he has colored up beautifully. Will post some pics when I can

[_kai_]

No problem. 1 time a week is more than enough. Some of mine eat once every 2 weeks, and some of my friends feed once a month. The fish still has a massive build.

Sounds good.

[Mir]

Thanks Bro!.

So just to clarify, I only feed him 1 cube of bloodworms once a week?

He seems pretty active though when I'm around, and is always hungry...Im a bit worried he may not get enough food...

[_kai_]

Channas get fat easily, overfeeding is very bad for them. They are active when you are around, but you should see how they behave when you are not around. They spend most of their time resting motionlessly. So once a week, maybe even once every 2 weeks is fine. Just monitor the channa's weight.

Don't feed even if he is begging. Most of my channas do that. Mix up the diet as well, mix with prawns and some live insects. They eat those in the wild, they will greatly appreciate it if you can get some once in a while. I dont feed bloodworms as they are not as nutritous

[Mir]

Thanks Bro! I will vary his diet a little. Currently I have started feeding him every other day alternating between tetrabits and bloodworms, but will try now to vary his diet with more live foods and reduce the frequency.

By the way, for an 8inch fella, how much should I feed? (i.e how many market prawns, or how many insects per feeding session per week, assuming it is once a week)?

Thanks

[_kai_]

I recommend for live food, only live mealworms and crickets, stay away from fish feeders. Have had many bad experiences.

I recommend every sitting just feed two small chunks of prawns will do. Small enough that he can swallow without any problems. For live crickets, 2/3 (depending on cricket size) should be good. If you plan to get mealworms, i suggest the small ones. The big mealworms i seldom buy, and when i do, i feed them only to my bigger species. They are much more tough to chew and digest, from what i seen.

[Mir]

Here are some shots of him

[Mir]

And more of himimage.jpg

[Mir]

Some more still

[Mir]

And more of my boyimage.jpg

[_kai_]

Very nice. Setup looks good too.

[Mir]

Thanks Bro Kai Hope he thrives

[_kai_]

Im sure he will