Paris updates (burrfish)
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:33 pm
Oh, I know, I should have photos.. but I've been waiting until I get her moved to the 75 and I've been working so much overtime that's been out of the question (although I've finally gathered up all the equipment and supplies to do it!).
Well, she's growing. And eating. And eating! This fish could eat 4 times a day and still want more!
Yesterday she ate 8 grasshoppers and 6 MTS snails (trust me, I tested them out, she has absolutely no trouble crunching those shells and loves them), and was still looking for more! I ended up giving her a nightcrawler a few hours later. I don't want to overfeed her, but man, I don't want to not feed her enough either! Generally she can eat 2 nightcrawlers in one sitting before she doesn't have a ton of interest in food anymore but she just never gets much of a belly bulge, like OraL said is the same with hers. At least her belly isn't sunken anymore. She's been dewormed 2x now, and I might still do a third try with Flubenol later on, just to see if I notice any change. The first two dewormings were Levimasole/Metronidazole soaked food.
She also eats New Life Spectrum Cichlid pellets (when she's in the mood), and absolutely adores the Massivore Delight food that just came out (I think its new?). Neither of those are a staple, just an ocassional snack. Her main diet is the snails (MTS or ramshorns when I have enough extra to harvest, really need to set up a breeding tank again) or nightcrawlers. I really want to try her on some shell on shrimp, but they look HUGE for such a little fish. Suppose I can chop them in half or thirds? Her being able to eat the MTS snails has been a real life saver, I can grab a handful out of my one planted tank that is seriously infested with them, toss them in and she'll hunt down every one. No matter how picky she's being, she never turns down a snail.
She's still in the 20H for now, but I recently added a skimmer to the tank to help try and make it a bit more stable/comfortable for her in the mean time. I'm having fun trying to adjust this thing and will stand there just staring at the bubbles. Yeah, it doesn't take much to amuse me. I'm not sure what I'll do when I move her to the 75, use my current skimmer or end up buying a larger one (this one was initially purchased for my small reef setup and only does up to 65 gallons). Probably use this one for now then buy a bigger one as she grows, after I work some more overtime!
She gave me a scare the other afternoon.. was swimming normally, begging for food, then she'd go nose down, tail up and start spinning like a top! Did it multiple times, it was almost like she passed out and got trapped in a whirlpool current! Did a quick water change and she immediately stopped and hasn't done it since. I have no idea if it was a new "trick" or if there was something wrong, but as usual, clean water saved the day.
Anyways, I'm hoping to have her in the 75 by the end of next weekend! I just need to move the fish out of that tank (still rearranging my other tanks) and pick up some base rock, and of course drain and remove all the old planted substrate and refill with new substrate, rocks, etc... oh boy, "just" is a huge understatement!
Well, she's growing. And eating. And eating! This fish could eat 4 times a day and still want more!
Yesterday she ate 8 grasshoppers and 6 MTS snails (trust me, I tested them out, she has absolutely no trouble crunching those shells and loves them), and was still looking for more! I ended up giving her a nightcrawler a few hours later. I don't want to overfeed her, but man, I don't want to not feed her enough either! Generally she can eat 2 nightcrawlers in one sitting before she doesn't have a ton of interest in food anymore but she just never gets much of a belly bulge, like OraL said is the same with hers. At least her belly isn't sunken anymore. She's been dewormed 2x now, and I might still do a third try with Flubenol later on, just to see if I notice any change. The first two dewormings were Levimasole/Metronidazole soaked food.
She also eats New Life Spectrum Cichlid pellets (when she's in the mood), and absolutely adores the Massivore Delight food that just came out (I think its new?). Neither of those are a staple, just an ocassional snack. Her main diet is the snails (MTS or ramshorns when I have enough extra to harvest, really need to set up a breeding tank again) or nightcrawlers. I really want to try her on some shell on shrimp, but they look HUGE for such a little fish. Suppose I can chop them in half or thirds? Her being able to eat the MTS snails has been a real life saver, I can grab a handful out of my one planted tank that is seriously infested with them, toss them in and she'll hunt down every one. No matter how picky she's being, she never turns down a snail.
She's still in the 20H for now, but I recently added a skimmer to the tank to help try and make it a bit more stable/comfortable for her in the mean time. I'm having fun trying to adjust this thing and will stand there just staring at the bubbles. Yeah, it doesn't take much to amuse me. I'm not sure what I'll do when I move her to the 75, use my current skimmer or end up buying a larger one (this one was initially purchased for my small reef setup and only does up to 65 gallons). Probably use this one for now then buy a bigger one as she grows, after I work some more overtime!
She gave me a scare the other afternoon.. was swimming normally, begging for food, then she'd go nose down, tail up and start spinning like a top! Did it multiple times, it was almost like she passed out and got trapped in a whirlpool current! Did a quick water change and she immediately stopped and hasn't done it since. I have no idea if it was a new "trick" or if there was something wrong, but as usual, clean water saved the day.
Anyways, I'm hoping to have her in the 75 by the end of next weekend! I just need to move the fish out of that tank (still rearranging my other tanks) and pick up some base rock, and of course drain and remove all the old planted substrate and refill with new substrate, rocks, etc... oh boy, "just" is a huge understatement!
