Feeding Boesemani

[twodoctors]

Hi,

I got my 3 boesemani on Wed and another 3 on Thu. They live with 12 small tiger barbs. Have been trying to feed them but the tigers seems to get there first all the time. I am using Tetra Flake food. I have also tried frozen food, but they seemed to be a lot slower and less aggressive then my barbs. Should I worry? Should I get slow sinking pellets instead as they don't appear to want to fight with the barbs for the floating food. Thanks.

Adrian

 

[Sanj]

It may be a case of them settling in. Rainbows like Boesmani are usually quite boisterous and voracious eaters. They eat and eat, so you have to manage their diet. I wouldnt get too worried yet. You can indeed try sinking tabs but your Tigers may just go for those aswell. My rainbows will eat from pellets although morphologically they are naturally more inclined to feeding from the surface. They are opportunists and some species live in environments where for many months of the year food is hard to come by. It is also good if their staple has significant vegetable content, vary their diet and they reward you.

 

[mikev]

Concurring... it may take a week for a rainbow to settle in. My alpha lacustris rejected all food for a week after being moved across the room, and for another week only took bloodworms.

Now, as for the combination... hopefully it would work for you somehow, but it is really better not to mix like this...

 

[myrtle]

My M herbertaxelrodi have been in for almost 2 weeks and are only just starting to take the odd bit of flake. Prior to that the only thing they would go for was daphnia and bloodworm and not even that for the first 4 or 5 days. Once they've settled they'll get what they need. My M praecox who have been in for 4 months barge my very large angel fish out of the way when it's feeding time. So much so that I have to feed at one end of the tank for the rainbows and then add some at the other end so the angel actually gets some!

 

[drobbyb]

I'd have to echo what everyone else has said. It can certainly take some time for rainbows to settle in. Offer a small amount of different foods every day and keep their water clean and I am sure that they will come round.