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RTG stopped eating his pellets.

S

Sunkist

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 11, 2021
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Hey guys,

I have a 45cm RTG who all of a sudden is not interested in his pellets anymore. He'll eat it in then spit it back out. This has been happening for the last 2-3 weeks.
He gets fed once a day, with one fasting day during the week. Every fortnight, I give him either prawns or mixed marinara.
I have fasted him for a few days and he still wouldn't eat the pellets but would smash the prawns and marinara mix.

Should I be mixing up his diet more or should I just fast him until he gives in to pellets?

His tank mates consist of a ray, few loaches and a severum and they're all eating fine.

Thanks!
 
My view may be contrary to many on this forum.

I do not believe in getting predators to eat pellets, I think it is cruel. If your aro wants fresh meat, thne give him fresh. Live food is better. That is his natural diet.
 
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Midwater said:
My view may be contrary to many on this forum.

I do not believe in getting predators to eat pellets, I think it is cruel. If your aro wants fresh meat, thne give him fresh. Live food is better. That is his natural diet.
Click to expand...
Is he not talking about a red tail gourami I could be wrong but that's what I thought a rtg was.
 
Bbuckley said:
Is he not talking about a red tail gourami I could be wrong but that's what I thought a rtg was.
Click to expand...
Red tail gold Arowana

Midwater said:
My view may be contrary to many on this forum.

I do not believe in getting predators to eat pellets, I think it is cruel. If your aro wants fresh meat, thne give him fresh. Live food is better. That is his natural diet.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response and I respect your view. Guess I'll see how he goes and if he starts to show aggression, might have to resort to fresh food and maybe sacrifice some of my guppies.
 
Sunkist said:
Red tail gold Arowana



Thanks for your response and I respect your view. Guess I'll see how he goes and if he starts to show aggression, might have to resort to fresh food and maybe sacrifice some of my guppies.
Click to expand...
Ah fair enough you learn something new every day so they say lol.
 
Midwater said:
My view may be contrary to many on this forum.

I do not believe in getting predators to eat pellets, I think it is cruel. If your aro wants fresh meat, thne give him fresh. Live food is better. That is his natural diet.
Click to expand...

I can see the logic behind this view - we must always give what suits the animal best if we have said animal as a pet. However, I would like to give a caveat that live food can harbor nasty pathogens which may kill the arowana, in which case pathogen free pellets would be better.
So my 2 cents is to only proceed with the live food if you are certain it is pathogen free.
 
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MultipleTankSyndrome said:
I can see the logic behind this view - we must always give what suits the animal best if we have said animal as a pet. However, I would like to give a caveat that live food can harbor nasty pathogens which may kill the arowana, in which case pathogen free pellets would be better.
So my 2 cents is to only proceed with the live food if you are certain it is pathogen free.
Click to expand...

I understand that many do not follow my view, but I do not understand your logic: The right food might have pathogens so give the wrong food!

Surely, the best thing is to give the right food, and ensure it is safe. I am a great fan of ghost shrimp. Seems to be good for aros and does not transmit parasites. Tilapia feeders that are raised in open ponds can have parasites, so it is better to use enclosed tank raised feeders.

If not live food, raw food is still way better than pellets, and it is easy to get safe food. Anything licensed for humsan consumption should be good for fish. Market prawn, chopped tilapia.

I know that getting live or raw food all the time is difficult. Raising a big predator is a responsibility.
 
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Midwater said:
I understand that many do not follow my view, but I do not understand your logic: The right food might have pathogens so give the wrong food!
Click to expand...

Apologies if this wasn't clear, but the fact that the otherwise right food has deadly pathogens in some cases makes it the wrong food in those cases because of the pathogens. I don't know much about ghost prawns so I can't comment, but supermarket seafood being safer is logical.
 
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