Hand feeding pimelodus ornatus

[bigamefish, posts: 311]

Hey everybody! I've been interested in hand feeding my Pimelodus ornatus and I know others on this forum have had success hand feeding similar fish! I'm just looking for some tips/tricks to help me get it going! Thanks !

[Birger]

Stick your hand in with food in it...

Condition the fish to associate your hand in the tank with food...everytime you feed stick your fingers/hand in the tank at the same time. These could be a bit skittish but I would suppose should figure it out.

Birger

[Richard B, posts: 6305]

Many fish will hand feed after a bit of training. This species might not be that easy though (i may be wrong). In addition to the above you might wanna incorporate a starve day prior to the attempts as they will be more keen to feed.

[sidguppy, posts: 3827]

patience, young jedi

first let the fish get used to the tank and what goes around it

then let them appear at feeding time

after they do show up at feeding time, you can try to handfeed them
but start too soon or force it and you'll just end up with stressed-out fish that are afraid to eat......

IMO pimelodids can vary widely.
pictus for example are always quite a bit on the stressy ADHD side and are easily spooked, while P blochii can be very curious and boisterous too after a while
right now i have Rhamdia (not a true pim, but the Heptaterid, but that's hair splitting) and these guys are the crows in the Pim-world i think.

they statch the food right from my hands and i was trying to feed the syno's.......

to my surprise my new Pimelodus tetramerus are also more visible than I expected.

pim ornatus isn't very shy; when i see them in a store they're quite visible most of the time, even if there's bogwood.
so you might get lucky indeed

[bigamefish, posts: 311]

Sidguppy my fish is nothing but ADHDish and stressy!

[sidguppy, posts: 3827]

you got a single fish?

P ornatus is a grouper, it should not be kept single; it'll get stressed.....

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2273]

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=35380&hilit=+ornatus
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=34921&hilit=+ornatus
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=35103&hilit=+ornatus

[bigamefish, posts: 311]

Well after weeks of trying my best little buddy ( Pimelodus ornatus ) will now snatch food out of my hand in a very greedy fashion! I was rather exited to be able to do this!
In the proccess I also learned that my Synodontis ocellifer likes to eat from my hand/nibble and play with my fingers! Which i thought was adorable . if anybody would like i can post a video! But please request it or i`ll never remember to take a video!

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2273]

Excellent job!

Goldfish memory syndrom?

[Jools]

P ornatus is a grouper, it should not be kept single; it'll get stressed.....

I've seen them kept singly and have done so myself for years without issue - certainly it did not get stressed - but they do get stressed if not given a lot more room than you might normally expect.

Jools

[bigamefish, posts: 311]

Excellent job!

Thanks viktor! I was quite exited to be able to do this! I can`t wait to get my 6x2x2 so i can get a couple more of the awesome fish! i would reccomend them to anybody!