How and when to switch ray diet?

R

rainbowfish

New Member
Hi guys,

Can I ask for your advise. My ray is eating only frozen shrimp now at 5inches. Used to eat frozen bloodworms. When and how to switch him to eat prawns? Tried to cut prawns to small pieces but he simply will not touch.

Should I starve the poor pup?

Or shall I continue to feed him ghost shrimps? Thanks in advance. :)
 
At 5" your ray is still way to small to try starving it onto another diet (depending on the species). Just a few questions first.
What type of ray do you have?
Was your ray captive bred or wildcaught?
What tankmates do you have with it? (Certain tankmates may make it easier to break our rays onto other food)
 
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skynoch said:
At 5" your ray is still way to small to try starving it onto another diet (depending on the species). Just a few questions first.
What type of ray do you have?
Was your ray captive bred or wildcaught?
What tankmates do you have with it? (Certain tankmates may make it easier to break our rays onto other food)
Click to expand...

chen88 said:
I agree as per sky...healthy ray FIRST!....change food only when very healthy
Click to expand...

Mine is a P13
It is a captive bred
Tankmates are 18inch aro and fei feng.

So, I just continue feeding ghost shrimps? Till what size than can try to switch? Thanks
 
You can still try different foods on him, regardless of size. He's just too small to try starving him.

If your feeding frozen shrimp... isnt shrimp, prawn anyway?

Sometimes its not the food he is refusing to eat, it could be the texture, or the size of the food your offering.

Try feeding fish fillet. Tilapia has always been a top favorite for my rays.
Cut it into very small slivers.. worm shapped. Or cut it into sizes the same as the shrimp. If its froozen fillet, defrost in either cold water, or in the fridge. Dont soak it in hot water, or throw it in the microwave. Doing that, slightly cooks the out side and gives it a different texture. Which could make the ray refuse it.

You can also try other foods like earth worms(not a good time to get them though)

If he's taking shrimp, as in market shrimp, thats not a bad diet anyway. If he's taking them now, try stuffing with pellets. Carnivore is a good choice for that.

Bottom line is... its too soon to starve, like the others have mentioned... but its never too early to try other foods.

He might even take pellets by them selves....

Try different foods.....
 
Great advice motoro.
I've found p13's are one of the easiest rays to switch over to pellets. Use carnivore like suggested above and drop a few pellets in at the morning before feeding anything else and then about a half hour later do your regular feeding as time goes on you can try to do this at each feeding per day and then slowly start to remove the regular food all together. At this size I would be feeding 3 times a day at least.. Also Talapia are a favorite of my black rays. I've found market prawn isn't liked as well as the above but still will eat them. When cutting up market prawn use a pair of sharp scissors so you can almost mince the prawn. Earthworms are a great food to pack on the weight with small rays but your aro won't let that happen I'm sure. If you can use earthworms try canadian nightcrawlers cut into 3 as the blood gets them going. Do not use red worms as alot of rays are turned off by them. And I definetly agree with motoro all the defrosting should be done in the fridge or at the very least cold water.
You are doing the right thing by trying to get your ray on a different diet as a ray won't put on any weight with ghost shrimp or bloodworms.
Good luck and keep us updated to your progress.
 
motoro said:
You can still try different foods on him, regardless of size. He's just too small to try starving him.

If your feeding frozen shrimp... isnt shrimp, prawn anyway?

Sometimes its not the food he is refusing to eat, it could be the texture, or the size of the food your offering.

Try feeding fish fillet. Tilapia has always been a top favorite for my rays.
Cut it into very small slivers.. worm shapped. Or cut it into sizes the same as the shrimp. If its froozen fillet, defrost in either cold water, or in the fridge. Dont soak it in hot water, or throw it in the microwave. Doing that, slightly cooks the out side and gives it a different texture. Which could make the ray refuse it.

You can also try other foods like earth worms(not a good time to get them though)

If he's taking shrimp, as in market shrimp, thats not a bad diet anyway. If he's taking them now, try stuffing with pellets. Carnivore is a good choice for that.

Bottom line is... its too soon to starve, like the others have mentioned... but its never too early to try other foods.

He might even take pellets by them selves....

Try different foods.....
Click to expand...

Shall try some fillet tonight and see if he takes. Tried hikari carnivours but he has shown no interest at all. Feeding small shrimps has no issue, eats a alot until the rear humps shows.

Just thought of breaking it to eat bigger prawns but it refused. The small shrimps I fed, is too small to stuff any pellet inside. Those are only 2-3 cm shrimps I feeding, with shell and head.
 
skynoch said:
Great advice motoro.
I've found p13's are one of the easiest rays to switch over to pellets. Use carnivore like suggested above and drop a few pellets in at the morning before feeding anything else and then about a half hour later do your regular feeding as time goes on you can try to do this at each feeding per day and then slowly start to remove the regular food all together. At this size I would be feeding 3 times a day at least.. Also Talapia are a favorite of my black rays. I've found market prawn isn't liked as well as the above but still will eat them. When cutting up market prawn use a pair of sharp scissors so you can almost mince the prawn. Earthworms are a great food to pack on the weight with small rays but your aro won't let that happen I'm sure. If you can use earthworms try canadian nightcrawlers cut into 3 as the blood gets them going. Do not use red worms as alot of rays are turned off by them. And I definetly agree with motoro all the defrosting should be done in the fridge or at the very least cold water.
You are doing the right thing by trying to get your ray on a different diet as a ray won't put on any weight with ghost shrimp or bloodworms.
Good luck and keep us updated to your progress.
Click to expand...


Thats a good idea. I shall try to throw in some pellets half hour before feeding to let him know that thats food. Hope that he can take the pellet because I used to have any ray that takes carnivour pellets, it grew very fat and healthy.
 
mattpf said:
i to have dealt with this same thing"along with any body else who brought pups in".pups seem to be fusy and ghost shrimp are going to break your bank account.i know they will eat worms they are cheaper try some smaller worms from a local bait store or chopp large dew worms in half.One way i have had sucess is to introduce two new foods at once.try some mysis shrimp and some chopped worms at the same time.

everybody has their own methods best thing to do is experiment your self.the worst thing that could happen is you waste a bit of food.and its ok to maybe not feed them for a day or two but dont starve them for long.maybe stop feeding for 24 hours than dropp a mix of a few new foods and pay close attention to what they pick out and what they eat.its okay to mix it up alot.i feed different things daily to my rays with great results
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mattpf said:
smelts are way cheaper than carnivore pellets too, i get a 2lbs bag for $6 and it has all the same stuff plus alot more natural nutrients that fish pellets cannot contain.just rinse them after you chopp them.all massivore or new life spectrum pellets are is ground up fish mixed with alot of non natural stuff.its up too you what do you think the rays like better!!!! plus the pellets cost waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more
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You are right on the ghost shrmp, this guy is going to break my account if he continues. Tried using hikari carnivourous tablets to feed together but seems like he will not touch at all. Now trying out small pellets like hikari lionhead, hope he will eat together with the ghost shrimps.

Never thought of NLS Food, Thanks for your reminders, I had very good experience with their cichlid feeds and flakes, will take note of this alternative.
 
mattpf said:
I would recommend market shrimp and smelts.they are waaaaaaaay cheaper than pellets and I only ever had a few rays ever eat the pellets
Click to expand...

My first priority is to train the guy to get market shrimp, as my aro also taking that. Thanks pal for your advises.
 
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