Getting my Jurs off live (guppies)

[Decker504]

How have you accomplished that?

I just started dropping him 1 or 2 massivore pellets when he got to 4 inches or so. At first he wouldn't move much unless I fed him guppies. Later after he started taking massivore, he started taking sinking gold too, than next thing you know he was taking freeze dried krill from the top of the tank w/ my baby cichla in my 240.

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[thebiggerthebetter]

Thanks guys. It's amazing how bipolar the experiences with this fish mostly are. Either a breeze or a pain. Why? What determines it? Does any one spot a commonality between the two groups of experiences? I cannot.

(Love your sarcastic signature, ShadowStryder. Such a precise portrait of me )

 

[bassfisher91]

Off topic but you're the first person I've seen use ceramic media as substrate....talk about dedicated haha.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I dont think this is good but just a temporary compromise... as the OP states. There is no external filter.

 

[necrocanis]

Hmmm, I feel your pain. I had almost no trouble getting him to eat non live. Just started with blood worms then krill, silversides, ect. Then as he grew he got shrimp and fillet. A very good eater too. Would eat shrimp til his belly was massive lol. Would perch when I would walk by the tank as if asking for food lol. If they are starved a few days, and you do a water change try some stuff and see what happens. I know that always seems to work for me. I'm not really sure why everyone has so much trouble with this....... Very odd. Even my filamentosum went on blood worms right away. Everyone who got one on here couldn't seem to get them off live for anything. I thought it was lack of dedication during the starve period, but I may have been wrong lol.

 

[Chicxulub]

Holy cow! Could you post a link to stuff about your filamentosum? I looked in your profile and didn't see it. Those fish are awesome! And so wonderfully rare!

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

So far, the two commonalities I see is "starting feeding non-live when they are small and starting right away". Would people agree???

 

[Chicxulub]

^^^That, plus persistence. The longer they feed live, the harder they'll be to break!

 

[necrocanis]

^^^That, plus persistence. The longer they feed live, the harder they'll be to break!

I agree with this statement. When I first started fish keeping I had a rtc that was fed live only, and I kept up with that also until reading up about how bad it could be. Then I tried to ween him off at over 16" lol. It was tough. He fasted for a month before I got him on shrimp. Usually fish that come in are starved for transport so they don't puke and foul the water. I use that as an advantage in getting them on dead right away. Once they acclimate and hunger hits I just introduce blood worms to start with(smaller and easier to digest at first) then chunks of krill or shrimp, then fillet. I bet you can break them, but they might give you some troubles. I've seen 12" catfish go on hunger strike for up to 3 months before eating again. They really waste away by that time.

 

[captainhook]

Man they are beautiful