I got myself some clown killifish, but they don't really respond well to dry food..

[slashy]

Hi guys!

i'm keeping my clown killis in a shrimp tank.

my clown killifish is not too keen on dry food ( borneowilds staple s) and they have already cleared my tank's seed shrimp, copepods and nematodes...

do you guys have any recommendation for good dry food that floats?

regards,
chan

[griffinkid]

You can try hikari micro pallets. It works wonders

[stormhawk]

Unless they were "trained" or accustomed to eating dry food, they will ignore it. I feed mine with Borneowild Staple S too and they eat it readily. Then again, they were already eating the pellets while still at the LFS.

[slashy]

hello stormhawk , did u get it from green chapter ?

i'll try the hikari brand, it floats right ? ( have to see if they eat the staple s first)

[stormhawk]

Yes mine were from GC. Hikari brand pellets, I think they float for awhile before sinking. Alternatively, you may want to try flake food? Perhaps Sera Micron? There is this product called GarlicGuard from Seachem, which might help you to get your clowns accustomed to dry food.

[slashy]

thank you stormhawk. you've been very helpful

[stormhawk]

You're welcome. We must do every bit to help others enjoy the killifish part of the hobby.

[RonWill]

do you guys have any recommendation for good dry food that floats?

Chan,
It isn't a must that the food floats. Slow sinking type will work as well. I know where the GC uncle put his stash of fishfood and whenever I kaypoh around there, I'd use BW Staple S, crushed Hikari Carnivore tabs, crushed Tetra Bettamin flakes and ADP (Artificial Daphnia Powder). You can skip feeding the shrimps since they'll be picking off the leftovers.

If you have other small fishes, eg. Boraras species, as tank mates, their feeding frenzy will also help trigger the ANN's appetite and most healthy ANNs will eat readily. They will also enjoy the occasional treat of live daphnia and BBS.

Did you buy the ANNs from GC? Ask the shop-master if he has any live food. He usually has fresh daphnia and tubifex coming in on Thursday but that's in limited amount and for his regular customers.

[slashy]

ah , thanks for the advice ronwill. Will definitely visit THAT uncle for more recommendation at gc. he knows his stuff well

he keeps the live stock at GC very healthy

[stormhawk]

THAT uncle is cranky too you know. He told me he has MMS - Male Menopausal Syndrome... HAHAHAHA!!

[slashy]

oh my...

[RonWill]

he keeps the live stock at GC very healthy

I think he will be pleased to know that you appreciate his effort. He can get cranky but he's not unapproachable... just need to catch him on smoke breaks!!

JianYang, I think you've been over-raiding uncle's tanks for red ramhorns. He just brought in 200 of these but don't go over today or this weekend. He's very frustrated now, having to pack about 1000 fishes and shrimps into one hard-case luggage and spending a working weekend in Vietnam.

[stormhawk]

The Red Ramshorn laid egg cases all over my tank.

[gtbROX]

A method that I've done for betta fry that were stubborn in eating dry food was putting some guppy fry in their tanks. Guppy fry are not picky at all and will eat any dry food readily which would encourage the picker betta fry to eat the dry food too since fish tend to have a slight monkey-see-monkey-do mechanism. The same worked for my group of A. australes I recently got a few weeks ago. They weren't eating the freeze-dried bloodworms and live fruitflies so I placed 2 of my adult guppies int heir tank and just fed them, and on the first feeding they were already competing with the guppies for the food.

[apistomaster]

The path of least resistance is to use live foods. Brine shrimp nauplii are one of the best but live mosquito larvae are better. I would only experiment with prepared foods gradually while feeding live food with the hope they will begin to accept them.

I would not keep any other fish with them if you are hoping to breed them. Their fry are very small and need infusoria until they have grown large enough to take bbs( Brine shrimp nauplii).
Are you trying to breed them in species colony of in trios. Sometimes you can get good results using breeding colonies even though the average female's production will be less do some egg eating but they are easier to breed in colonies than in pairs or trios.

[stormhawk]

Here in Singapore, we get fined if we "culture" mosquito larvae. They are by far the best live food for any fish, but pose an inherent health risk seeing how we're undergoing a dengue epidemic at the moment.

We have no proper sources of rotifer cultures or even pure Paramecium cultures in Singapore, so we make do with what we've got.

[apistomaster]

Here in Singapore, we get fined if we "culture" mosquito larvae. They are by far the best live food for any fish, but pose an inherent health risk seeing how we're undergoing a dengue epidemic at the moment.

We have no proper sources of rotifer cultures or even pure Paramecium cultures in Singapore, so we make do with what we've got.

I can understand the regulation but it is true that mosquito larvae are one of the best live foods for them. Artemia nauplii is a good basic component to their live food diet.
You can get a good infusoria culture by adding some rice to aquarium water. It will not be a pure culture but it will be assorted Protozoans and rotifers of different sizes so even the smallest fry can feed. Next I would try Vinegar eels or Mikroworms until the fry can all eat brine shrimp nauplii. There is more than one way to successfully raise E. annulatus.

[stormhawk]

I agree with you

However, vinegar eels while great, are annoying to harvest. Do you boil the rice grains before using in the bottle to jump start the infusoria or do you just dunk them in? I usually have a tray of old tank water with whatever rotting plant material I fish out from the tank during maintenance. There's usually some tiny animals zipping about in the container.

[apistomaster]

Either raw or cooked rice will work. Cooked rice will decay faster.
the infusoria first must have a supply of bacteria before the organisms in the aquarium water can under go a population explosion. I use slight aeration as this will greatly reduce the smell and support more infusoria.

[stoker]

Either raw or cooked rice will work. Cooked rice will decay faster.
the infusoria first must have a supply of bacteria before the organisms in the aquarium water can under go a population explosion. I use slight aeration as this will greatly reduce the smell and support more infusoria.

That`s the complicated way of doing it ,,, just use some mature tank water and add a few drops of milk. Stand in the sun and after a few days the culture will clear that`s now your infusoria culture . Done it this way for 40 years and NEVER had any problems..


Mike