Getting my RTCxTSN on pellets

[Bimmerboy12]

I really want to get him off live, and onto a solid base diet of cichlid gold and massivore pellets, however he is refusing to egknowledge that the pellets are food, what is the best way to get him to realize they are food and get him to eat them? Is fasting the best way?

[MatsP]

You are probably lacking patience. Fish that is really hungry will try to eat almost anything. (So, yes, fasting is at least part of the puzzle)

Also, if you have another similar size predatory fish that you could bring into the tank, that already eats pellets, it may help.

You may also find that feeding it "non-pellet" dead food, such as prawns or pieces of fish will help it figure out that "non-living stuff" is edible.

Since your fish is from South America [technical]it's from a fishbreeding plant somewhere, since it's a hybrid, but the two natural species involved are both from South America[/technical], I've moved this subject to the "South American Catfish - Other" section.

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Mats

[Bimmerboy12]

Sevenyears of keeping fish and I am still plauged with inpatience. I'm sure it will be fine, I just worry. I prefer my fish on a good diet. I will try some thawed Tilapia also.

[MatsP]

Yeah, I'm with you. And we all suffer from lack of patience at times... Well, at least I've met a few other people that do. And in this group, seven years of fishkeeping is probably somewhere "in the middle". I've kept fish for a lot longer than that, but I wasn't that serious about it until about 5 years back when I got my first BIG tank (RIO400, about 100 us gal). Right now I'm running 13 tanks plus one for my son.

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Mats

[Viktor Jarikov]

Hi Bimmerboy! Welcome! I have had a small RTCxTSN for about 1/2 year now. He is about 5" now. He NEVER ate any pellets out of ~10 different kinds offered - he is in a community tank so others feast on pellets like there is no tomorrow but he turns his head the other way. He always holds out for MEAT: pieces of raw shrimp are his fav, tilapia is ok too. At some points live gold fish were given to other fish in his tank - he LOVED them but had no problem switching back to dead food. I also have two RTCxTSN's in my tropical pond. They are 1.5-2'. They would grab pellets that are thrown in but appear to spit them out in 5-10 sec - all or most of them - I cannot be sure. They are holding out for MEAT! I never tried to starve them to any significant degree to get to eat pellets but one of the big guys is from a previous owner, who told me that he was eating nothing but pellets in his tank but then again, the fish had no option there. He was not eating them as well as his large RTC tankmate, not nearly as well.
Best wishes. ----- Viktor

[Bimmerboy12]

Thanks for the information on yours, I also have a RTC living with mine, soon their pond will be finished and all will be well, hopefully I can get them on some form of stable pellet, just so I have something to fall back on.