Bunocephalus coracoideus confirmation

[bekateen]

The problem begins after hatching. I have tried different ways of keeping them, but without any grate success. I feed them newly hatched Artemia, and micro-worms. I believe that the problem is to get them to eat enough.

Is it a matter of how many times a day you feed them? Or how much food you can provide fast enough?

I don't know how your banjos will compare to B. coracoideus, but I had very good success feeding the hatchlings on finely powdered blends of various dry foods - normal flakes, algae wafers, freeze-dried tubifex worms, shrimp pellets. I mixed them together in random amounts and used a mortar and pestle to grind them until they were so smooth they felt like silk between my fingers. Then I fed this to the fry 3x per day (morning, dinner, and bedtime).

Good luck,
Eric

[Martin S]

Is it a matter of how many times a day you feed them? Or how much food you can provide fast enough?

I don't know how your banjos will compare to B. coracoideus, but I had very good success feeding the hatchlings on finely powdered blends of various dry foods - normal flakes, algae wafers, freeze-dried tubifex worms, shrimp pellets. I mixed them together in random amounts and used a mortar and pestle to grind them until they were so smooth they felt like silk between my fingers. Then I fed this to the fry 3x per day (morning, dinner, and bedtime).

Eric
Did you note that the eggs are in fact Spinipterus, not Bunocephalus? Though that's not to say your feeding suggestion would not be of use.
Makes you wonder if they have any specific requirements as young that can't easily be replicated in the aquarium?
Great post
Thanks
Martin

[bekateen]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for pointing this out. Yes I did know that these weren't Bunocephalus, but I forgot they were Spinipterus (I was thinking they were Pseudobunocephalus). Little senility kicking in on my part, I suppose.

You are right that there may be some nutritional need we don't recognize yet. But until we come to that point, we might as well try everything that's worked before. In that context, I use the same diet of finely powdered dry foods on my baby oil cats and they seem to eat well. So perhaps it's worth a try.

Cheers, Eric

[Erlend D Bertelsen]

Thanks for answering.

I am thinking that its how many times a day I can manage to provide food, together with how often I can clean for them, that is the problem. I need to try to give them food more often, but I have the problem with not enough hours a day. Let se if I can sharpen up a little!

At least I still have 3 small ones left from last batch. And one that I now has kept for over 6 months. But that’s not god enough out of many 100 eggs.


E

[Erlend D Bertelsen]

2 weeks since last post. And the 3 fishes are still alive and kicking (swimming). I started feeding more often and cleaning as often as possible. It is much work but it is more funn to see them survive, than to die!!

E

[Deb]

Good! Feeding more often and keeping things cleaner is a good recipe, and probably one that would work with many other species. One question: does cleaning more often mean more water changes or more siphoning of debris? Which seems to be needed more, of the two?