Needlenose fish

[CFC]

Piscavores (fish eaters) should only be fed once or twice a week,they will eat eat as much as they can in one go and then take a few days to digest their meal,in this time they must not be disturbed by water changes or moving things around in the tank or they may regurgitate their food and seriously foul the water and the digestive acids from the stomach may knock out bacteria colonies in the filter and substrate.
I kept needle nose gars and found that they do not enjoy the company of their own species,i bought three and the largest one killed the other two over night.

 

[jerenycool]

really cause every where i read it is better to have more than one? so i can no keep my feeder fish in there with him?

 

[CFC]

I personally wouldnt keep the feeders in with the fish,they are best kept in a seperate tank until needed.This way prevents over feeding and is less stressfull on the feeders which dont get eaten straight away.

 

[jerenycool]

ok cooool

 

[jerenycool]

i just got back from my fish store and got some more feeders. but when i got home he had tryed to eat a fish but he could not get it down so he ate the insides of it . and i had not fed him for 2 days cause some one said not to feed him no more than 1 or twice a week so what should i do? he just a feeder so should i feed him again?

 

[CFC]

Its up to you but i only feed my predators twice a week and they are all healthy,dont get me wrong my shovelnoses and snakehead would eat 3 times a day if i let them but that would create so much mess the filter would never keep up.When my needle fish was alive i fed it live fish once a week and ghost shrimp once a week,it would eat up to 6 guppies or tetras in one go and then take 2 days to digest them so by wednesday it would be hungry again and then eat 10 or so shrimp,later when it was bigger i got it taking frozen lance fish (what i believe americans call silversides) which it would take 2 or 3 of.

 

[smb]

I agree with CFC and wouldn't feed more than twice a week. They really don't need to eat very often.

 

[jerenycool]

well i gave him 2 yesterday after he atwe that fish and the were both gone ini like a min. . so i woke up this morning and he was opening and close his mouth so i thought he ate athoer fish but they were all there so i gave him other. will he attacki my convicts?what should i do about feeding him?

 

[jerenycool]

will someone answer plzs

 

[impur]

He won't attack the convicts unless they are small enough to fit in his mouth.

 

[jerenycool]

i have seen him open his mouth to be about a 1in. what should i do about feeding him?

 

[CFC]

Im sure weve already covered thisbut ill try to explain again.Piscavors like gars; big predatory catfish and characins only need to be fed as much as they can eat in one sitting twice a week,which in the case of your gar would be 3 small feeders twice a week so six a week in total.It will take 2 to 3 days for your gar to fully digest its meal and should not be majorly disturbed in this time,ie no water changes (unless absolutly nessasary) and no moving tank decorations around in the tank.Major disturbances may cause the gar to regurgitate its meal which can have seriously bad effects on the filtration system of the tank.Even though your gar may appear hungry during this time it does not need to eat.

 

[jerenycool]

my catfish is eating his feeders!!! will he get agg. and attack him cause he is eating his food? i have never seen my cat fish actually eat one but i will look at him about 10-20 mins after feeding my needlenose(4 fish tiwce a week) my catfish will have the big lump in his stomack like he has ate one?

 

[smb]

i have never seen my cat fish actually eat one but i will look at him about 10-20 mins after feeding my needlenose(4 fish tiwce a week) my catfish will have the big lump in his stomack like he has ate one?

Catfish will eat other fish. He probably is eating them.

will he get agg. and attack him cause he is eating his food?

What kind of cat do you have? I would be more worried about the catfish going after the gar than the other way around.

 

[jerenycool]

i really don't know what kind of cat he is he is grayish with alot black spots on him.
he has never been agg. before that i know of though