Going on holiday - Fussy Apisto - help!

[Mononoke]

Hi all,
I have a little dilemma on my hands...
I am going away for 5 days in a few weeks, and am hoping to set up an automatic feeder for my community tank.
I have a pair of Ap. Cacaduodies in this community which I normally feed brine shrimp, and I have been trying to get them to take sinking pellets so they can be part of the auto feeding routine. The male is pretty quick to take pellet foods, especially NLS Cichlid pellets, but the female refuses all but frozen brine shrimp. She occasionally tries a pellet, but will then spit it out. I am concerned that I won't be able to train her to take dried foods and will starve over the 5 days I'm away.

Does anybody have some tips on how to train her to eat dry foods? Fast her for 24 hours and then try? Other kinds of dried foods?

Thanks everyone.

 

[prototop]

IMO you are making too big a deal of it. If the fish are in good condition prior, 5 days without getting feed should not be a problem for them. Then, when you return home, you could start out feeding them dry food and see if the fish in question is hungry enough to eat it.

 

[Mononoke]

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if this might be ok, and go with the idea that if she gets hungry enough she will eat what she's given. On the other hand though, if she she still refuses does 5 days without eating pose a danger to her? She is healthy but still young and quite small (about 4cm).

 

[prototop]

You could try feeding dry food for 2-3 days in a row and see if she takes to it. But if she does not, then make sure she eats well at least 2 weeks prior to your travels. I would say she could handle 5 days at her size, if she is fit. Then after a couple of weeks of stable diet, you could start experimenting again with getting her to take dry foods. I myself only feed live and frozen, but I have seen this problem pop up on the forum a few times, so you could try searching older threads.

 

[Mononoke]

Well, wouldn't ya know it, I think little girl has just laid her first set of eggs! She's come up yellow this morning and is spending most of her time in a hidden spot amongst the driftwood. The male has been trying to entice her into one of the spawning caves over the last couple of weeks, but she seems to have picked the driftwood instead as her spawning spot. I can't see the spot, it's well hidden, but I'll wait and see what happens. It will be interesting to see if her eating habits change after having laid eggs...

 

[Mike Wise]

Sounds like the Ella Pittman rule of breeding: "Decide to take a week vacation and your Cardinal Tetras will spawn". I noticed my A. cf. luelingi Cristal had fry last Friday - the day before a my trip to speak in Seattle - and I won't be back until Wednesday evening. I doubt any fry will survive.

 

[Mononoke]

Yes, I'm fearing the worst for these little ones as well... its her first brood and there are tetras a-plenty in my tank. Anyway, I'll give her some more Java Moss and Almond Leaves for extra cover and set up the auto feeder with powdered NLS pellets as well. The rest will be up to her, bless her determined little face.

 

[Mononoke]

Well, she will take freeze-dried blackworms. The trick now is to get her to come up to the surface for them, as they are a floating food. It's hard to tell if she's actually got a brood, as her nesting spot is well hidden and I don't know if hubby has fertilized her eggs or not.

 

[Mononoke]

If anyone else was following this thread, I thought I'd just give a little update. I had only one baby survive from the first brood. Her second brood occured soon after, and I had a week to feed them ahead of another work trip. That time I had 10 survive. Third brood and I transferred them all to a breeder tank so I now have 23 strapping month-olds growing fast. I've transfered all young from the different spawns to this tank where they are growing together... 33 beautiful Super Reds!

Long and short... the famale can manage on dried blackworms when I have to use an autofeeder, and will feed at the surface when hungry.

 

[regani]

Good to see that everything is coming along well.