Converting Cichla off Live Food

[gangster]

This is how I convert my cichla.
Start w/ frozen blood worms...thaw em out.
Crush the pellets you would like your bass to eat.
MIx them in w/ the blood worms till they are a pastey-dough like consistency.
Feed by the spoon full or roll em up into little balls.
Feed away.

Then continue to add pellets to the mixture while keeping the bw the same.
Eventually they are eating 100% pellets.
Dither/teacher fish work wonders.







In these pics I am also adding water to the mixture because I was using so many pellets to bw.
The water allowed me to use tons of pellets to very little bw and still made it dough like in texture.
I keep mine in the fridge and add water if needed to get to my desired consistency.

 

[lemarj]

I just bought one WC Orino and a WC French Guiana Occel from Sookn21 lastweek. Im going to try this method of pellet training.

This is how I convert my cichla.
Start w/ frozen blood worms...thaw em out.
Crush the pellets you would like your bass to eat.
MIx them in w/ the blood worms till they are a pastey-dough like consistency.
Feed by the spoon full or roll em up into little balls.
Feed away.
Then continue to add pellets to the mixture while keeping the bw the same.
Eventually they are eating 100% pellets.
Dither/teacher fish work wonders.




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In these pics I am also adding water to the mixture because I was using so many pellets to bw.
The water allowed me to use tons of pellets to very little bw and still made it dough like in texture.
I keep mine in the fridge and add water if needed to get to my desired consistency.

 

[heatherbeast]

Just chiming in with another option for frozen foods, if you have small bass that are stubborn about getting off live feeders:

If you have an international farmers market near you that have an SE Asian or Polynesian section, you may want to try picking up a pack of frozen whitebait fish (sometimes called silverfish). They are these really super small tiny fish that are eel-shaped and about 1-2 inches long. They are not any specific fish species, the term just refers to tiny juvenile fish that are eaten en masse in soups and other dishes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitebait

They can be torn in half or thirds after thawing, and my lilttle guys would pick them up nearly instantly -- sometimes the same day as receipt for 2.5" bass. I really like them because it's fish, so it's a no-brainer for most bass, and they are frozen as well, which means no parasites, and it buys you some time to get them trained on other frozen (and eventually dry!) foods.

 

[FishAddict808]

What should i feed my 2 inch mono to get him growing quick?

 

[shelbybmc]

Frozen Bloodworms & Follow Gangsters advice above.

 

[anothermix]

i have 2 8" kelberi gold which i bought 3 weeks ago, and have tried starving them for a time frame of a week before throwing in some feeders to them. however, they are totally uninterested in mps or pellets even though i starve them for 4-5 days. any suggestions what else i can do? i have another 2 azuls and another kelberi that are on full pellets.

 

[sabmakj21]

If they're all in the same tank, usually the new guys will learn from the others that the pellets are food to eat. Don't give in and start feeding them feeders or anything other than what they should be eating. Eventually they will conform.

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[stitch69]

it works like a charm! thanks!

 

[ZidanSanz]

Oic... I often throw many feeders at the time... I gonna try it tomorrow

 

[johnny potatoes]

If they're all in the same tank, usually the new guys will learn from the others that the pellets are food to eat. Don't give in and start feeding them feeders or anything other than what they should be eating. Eventually they will conform.

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I wish this was always the case. I have six bass in one tank, five of them eat anything that his the water. One simply shows no interest and I go a month before I'll break down and throw in some feeders so the guy can eat. This has been going on for five months and the guy is half the size of the others. He simply won't break.
Any other advice?

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