Cheap food

[dan89schmidt]

MY aor is about 14 inches now and in the 150 gallon tank with him now is a 17 inch common pleco and an 8 inch tiger shovelnose catfish. I feed them 13cent golf fish and about 2 every other day....the aro gets one and the cat gets one and I also feed the aro dead krill to fill imon the off days or he starts banging everywhere around the tank! ok now ive heard of ppl feeding there Aro's worm's, frog's, lizard's, etc.... wut can i find outside that is free and SAFE???? those goldfish add up on my paycheck! I could barrely afford the tanks and fish and then the setup for them now I loe em to death but having hard time keeping them on budget! and also ive noticed on these pics and posts almost all the larger aro's have drop eye! how do I prevent this now before it happens?? please let me in on this...i love my aro! Thanks MFK!!!

 

[joel]

your aro will most likely develope drop eye. there is not much you can do about it. stop wasting money on gold fish. go to your local supermarket and get yourself some raw shrimp. i remove the shells. and cut them into smaller pieces. tilapia fillet is also good. certainly a healthier cheaper diet. hope this helps

 

[Steve_89]

Make your own beefheart mix. It is very cheap.

Another alternative is white bait. Thats what we call it. Im not sure what you guys call it over there.

Drop eye is something that happens to 99% of silvers. You cannot prevent it.

 

[xrtg]

since you've been feeding him live food.....i gather it'll be almost impossible to switch to pallets. you could try as advised by fellow members beef heart if he's willing to eat.

overhere we buy market prawns to feed our aros. we'll trim of the pincers or any sharp edges, cut to manageble sizes and feed.

and drop eyes are very common with silvers. some say its genetics and other say its due to fatty food like live gold fish. never hear any reports on blacks having drop eyes.

 

[WyldFya]

I use freeze dried Krill, Fresh market shrimp, and beefheart, and Hikari gold with the occasional tilapia. The krill I buy by the 5 lb bag, and the shrimp cost $10 for a 2 lb bag. Beefheart is like $5 for a 3-3.5 lb heart, and the tilapia is $8 for 5 filets. I would recommend keeping there diet varied.

 

[dan89schmidt]

Wow guys thanks! I will most def. have to start changing up his diet here! And Yes for some odd reason he has ALWAYS eaten pellets i feed those also as filler on an off day... He seems to much rather the live food though, when given a choice!!! Well I must give a thanks on a good speedy reply. I know no other forum where this would happen! Go MFK!!!

 

[jimk]

As far as food from the yard, aro will almost certainly eat crickets. Mine loves redbacked salamanders which are under rocks or logs. If you have a pond near you you can net bluegills, minnows, and newts. I have not had a lot of luck getting mine to eat worms but I am guessing you can get the aro to eat them also. You are right, feeders do add up.

 

[Steve_89]

Yeah mine goes crazy for crickets and moths.

 

[WyldFya]

Mine love worms, trick to getting them to eat them is getting them to float. I have a little pump that is meant for popping wine corks, but works perfect for this. Stick the worm, fill it full of air, and it'll float, the aros will go to town on it in seconds. A syringe would work well also.

 

[gman]

the way to go is market shrimp, silversides, and maybe even market fish (like flounder or tilapia). It is alot cheaper, more nutrient rich and carries far less diseases. Goldfish not only have all sorts of disease, but they also can inhibit the uptake of thiamin. This can eventually cause the death of your fish, from a thiamin difficency. DONT FEED GOLDFISH WHATEVER YOU DO!