Show me your aquarium

[Oberheim]

Frozen bloodworm (thawed in hot water from the kettle of course) will surely appeal to him. I've never known a fish refuse or spit out bloodworm in all my years of fishkeeping. Same goes for frozen artemia (brine shrimp). though I have to chop it finely first for the small species that I tend to keep.

[budgie smuggler]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

I have read that it s fairly normal for Bettas not to eat for a few days; it has now been 4 days. He is swimming around and exploring, and occasionally takes a peck at things. Note also that I still haven t seen any of the water lice I added - beginning to think he may have polished them all off.

Almost certainly! They are great hunters.

I had to try quite a few different pellets until I found one that it would take. It was these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077QF2M1C

It also used to take frozen food quite well, mysis etc, but it really really loved live food (bloodworms esp).

Edited by budgie smuggler on Tuesday 9th December 23:32

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

budgie smuggler said:

I had to try quite a few different pellets until I found one that it would take. It was these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077QF2M1C

Those are the granules I’m offering him. I’ll persist with them. Perhaps he’s just not hungry yet, especially if he’s eaten all the Assellus.

Frozen bloodworm is a good option. I tend to find if you chop off a small enough piece and just dump it in, it thaws instantly. I believe they’re not all that nutritious though. Might try brine shrimp.

He’ll get a partial water change today, and I’m pretty sure the rainwater will contain some daphnia. It usually does.

[Oberheim]

I think you can still get frozen beefheart from aquatic suppliers. I used to chop a piece of frozen beefheart into little pieces and feed them to my bettas. They found it highly acceptable if I recall.

[MDUBZ]

The shrimp are doing very well in my small desk tank.. so well the snails i'm trying to remove dont get a look in on food in the trap..

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

So “Merlin” (my Betta) is now taking some frozen food I bought - it’s a “tropical mix”, but it doesn’t really say what’s in it.

https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/dutch-select-frozen-f...

But he’s still not taking anything else. Question is: is the above a reasonably complete food?

[Sway]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

So Merlin (my Betta) is now taking some frozen food I bought - it s a tropical mix , but it doesn t really say what s in it.

https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/dutch-select-frozen-f...

But he s still not taking anything else. Question is: is the above a reasonably complete food?

Should be pretty good - it's likely a fairly random mix of brine shrimp, artemia, daphnia and maybe mysis plus omega 3, perhaps some spirulina and garlic. I get the impression it's made up of pretty much all their other foods as its the only one without an ingredients list!

Brine shrimp are like McD's. Great for fussy eaters, but not much nutritional value. It's all the other stuff that gives the goodness.

Betta are incredibly unfussy fish overall - I find it really very surprising he's been the way he is, they're evolved to live in puddles and ditches!

I'm a fan of the 'bug bites' dry food, if you're aiming to wean him off the frozen, then mix a little dry in and gradually shift the ratios to fully dry.

[Sheetmaself]

This little bugger decided to eat my clam! At keast he’s eating I guess!!!!

Purple and Regal tangs starting to grow now and my Naso is starting to colour up as he is getting older.

[Sway]

Yeah, a clam is never surviving a copperband!

If you keep the shell, it's a good 'feeding spot', as it thinks it's eating more clam!

[Sheetmaself]

Oooh i love that idea, i will try and close it so that only it and my long nose butterfly can get into it.

Going to get some frozen clams for food for him tomorrow.

[Matt Harper]

I have a question regarding longevity.

I 'adopted' this Raphael Catfish from a friend who was moving out of state. He thought it was about 5 years old, when he handed it over. That was at least 15 years ago.

He's an ugly spud - and very elusive - these taken during weekly servicing of the aquarium. I don't think he expends a lot of energy and is very much nocturnal. But he's also docile and doesn't bother any of his tank-mates. He's about 5 inches in length - and pretty much has always been so.

I'm beginning to think he may be eternal. Any experts care to wade in?

[Caddyshack]

Matt Harper said:

I have a question regarding longevity.

I 'adopted' this Raphael Catfish from a friend who was moving out of state. He thought it was about 5 years old, when he handed it over. That was at least 15 years ago.

He's an ugly spud - and very elusive - these taken during weekly servicing of the aquarium. I don't think he expends a lot of energy and is very much nocturnal. But he's also docile and doesn't bother any of his tank-mates. He's about 5 inches in length - and pretty much has always been so.

I'm beginning to think he may be eternal. Any experts care to wade in?

I think 15 to 20 years would be doing very well but we get better at water and nutrition so maybe they will live longer?

[Sheetmaself]

Ok so the copperband LOVES cockles!

That much he will even eat them frozen.

He was eating fairly well anyway but he just seems to devour these!

Edited by Sheetmaself on Monday 22 December 19:55