My aro hates MP

[Cirrus]

Oh boy. It looks like I have got myself one of those super picky aros that hates market prawn. I even went down to the docks and bought some fresh stuff right off the boats. No luck. Funny thing was the fish ate prawn for a couple days after arrival. And then just turned off. I gave it a few earthworms last week, hoped to stimulate its appetite for prawn. No luck. And so I gave in today and bought 50 super worms. Sigh. I know what I am getting into - a spoiled aro. Oh well, could be worse. At least it has a healthy appetite.

My plan A was to get the aro on pellets.
Plan B was market prawn.
Plan C is super worm gut loaded with high grade fish food. I will throw in some frogs and earthworms too. Someone local mentioned having success with roaches, might give them a shot. Gee, my wife is gonna love all this going on in the basement.

I suppose I should be a hard ass and starve the fish for a month or so; but I find that hard to do when it is such a beautiful specimen...

 

[Joey]

fill him up on super worms.. feed alot, to expand his belly.. continue it for a while, until he is stable and puts on some weight.. then starve him for a few days to a week... should be hungry enough to eat just about anything.

 

[carcrazy]

I should try to switch my red aro back to mp. He used to eat pellets and mp but I got him addicted to sw. It's tough to get them off of sw once they get used to it.

 

[m_class2g]

if hes taking prawn to begin with, i wouldnt switch him to anything else quite honestly. i had to train my golden head back into prawn. i know bret was feeding the gh mainly barramundi fillet and prawn. when i stuck him into my tank, it took a while for him to settle down. different aros = different times for them to settle down. i bought an absolulete gold from bret, the thing ate prawn and pellets like no tomorrow just after 1 day into the tank. this golden head took a little longer but after 2 weeks, is eating prawn like no tomorrow. they just need to get adjusted to the current water parameters and environment. dont spoil the aro. just starve him and he will come around!

 

[chen88]

mine was very picky too...he would go for days without taking any food...as long as they are healthy they will eventually take it...once my took it he kept at it during feeding....

 

[bluebasearoilove]

my aro wouldnt take anything other than SW or "live" prawns.
feed him 40 SW's a day tho appetite is ok
real hard to pump him up

 

[Marowana420]

my red was super picky too, it was turning down SW and live feeders. until i started pumping it with theo's frogs. now that the stomach is stretched it accepts almost everything i throw in there except pellets.

 

[skynoch]

Also give talapia a try. Mine was hit and miss with mp but allways takes talapia. I think Tim tried converting an aro of his off of s.w. and eventually had to give in after almost 1-2 months can't remember hopefully he'll chime in.

 

[rudy]

Also give talapia a try. Mine was hit and miss with mp but allways takes talapia. I think Tim tried converting an aro of his off of s.w. and eventually had to give in after almost 1-2 months can't remember hopefully he'll chime in.

It was well over 2 months. Funny thing is the fish did not even look starved and would never change his mind. One of the most head strong fish I have come accross!

 

[JLee]

I wonder if these fish were ever put back in their natural habitat, what would they do? I'm sure SW don't constantly fall off trees.

 

[chen88]

Eventually they will eat anything!....like mine who at one point didn't have anything for well over a month and now eats MP's on a regular basis fighting with my ST....

 

[Cirrus]

I have a couple hundred feeder frogs arriving shortly, so at least I can get my fish bulked up a bit. Right now he continues to be just pissed off, taking scales off the FF's, keeping the clown loaches penned up in their PVC pipe...yet, put in some MP and it just ignores it. :rolleyes

 

[Juice604]

I have a couple hundred feeder frogs arriving shortly, so at least I can get my fish bulked up a bit. Right now he continues to be just pissed off, taking scales off the FF's, keeping the clown loaches penned up in their PVC pipe...yet, put in some MP and it just ignores it. :rolleyes

i feel your pain , no mp for my guy , but it has been keen on sole lately

loves the kingworms , but i stopped those . i think i may need some feeder frogs as well , i was lucky enough to get some from king el and my aro loved it . good luck

 

[h.l_nathan]

You can try my approach and drop 1 prawn in go away for 10 min. If the prawn is still there starve him for a week then try again.
But most of my aros staved for over a month theres one Shelook that went for 2 month without taking food.
Now whatever i throw in there they eats up right away

 

[hondas3000]

I am so opposite. I have one bbxb that only eat MP no frog or KW what so ever, just MP. You can try to inject VIta Chem to KW and feed him for a week and starve for 3 days I am sure he will go for it. Work for my aro and Rays and now I hope they don't take vita chem at the first place.

 

[Cirrus]

Yeah, I will do the starving routine starting in another week or two. I just got a couple hundred frogs tonight, aro already ate a few. Nice to see it something of substance. Once these are gone, they are gone.

 

[h.l_nathan]

Thats y. if you start feeding frogs now for a whole week or 2 its gonna be even more of a headache to try and get them back to MP.
Try to drop 1 frog wait for a few min. then throw a MP so that it hits the water surface hard. I bet your aro will go after the MP chew for a bit, then spit it out. But it will be a start