[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Can spangled pikes be weaned on to dried foods like NLS or Tetrabits, especially when they're young? Just curious, because pikes seem to be picky eaters, but then somebody says theirs eats pellets.

I'm a bit confused :-? But suddenly I have this interest in all kinds of SA cichlids

Ted

 

[DirtyBlackSocks]

Yes, it's not easy though. Most people go with market shrimp and then go pellets after that, pike are predators by nature and are about as hard as peacock bass to get onto pellet foods.

Try putting a powerhead into the tank and placing food directly in the output path to send it flying.

 

[MetalHead06351]

if there are other cichlids in the tank, your pike will watch them eat. If you stop feeding him live foods and you do have other fish in there, he should learn to eat pellets or flakes in a week or so because the other fish do.

 

[dwarfpike]

Agreed. My dward pikes learned to eat freeze dried krill and even flakes watching their Laetacara tankmates. Though on strickly flake food they did lose weight quickly, so I'd stick to pellets instead of flake.

 

[misplacedsooner]

i have a pair of sveni that love frozen krill and bloodworms when i dont put any in hte tank they pick at the pellets but dont eat hearty. on the other hand i have a female proteus that eats pellets but when i put in frozen bloodworms ignores them....go figure. i have a trio of xingu coming in soon and hope they settle on a few foods, pellet and frozen.
mike

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Wow. I guess tankmates help a lot!

How many/ how active fishes should be used? Could a single rival cichlid activate feeding response as well as a school of not bite-sized tetras/barbs?

Ted

 

[dwarfpike]

Good question ... tank one of the more shy noto dwarves had two large Laetacara thayeri they learned from, no schooling fish in the tank.

The second pikes were the more outgoing compressiceps, whom had gold barbs but didn't learn from them and were fighting with the dempsies too much to learn from them. It wasn't until the barbs and dempsy were switched out for dwarf acaras that they started taking flake.

So it didn't seem they learned from the barbs, but that is a small sampling. Both types learned from other cichlids though.

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

They fought with Jack Dempseys?! Wow! But they aren't the smae species of pike I'm talking about so I'm not sure.

I was curious about the spangled pike, Crenicichla saxatalis. I hope they aren't as aggresive as compresseps?

And could they learn to eat from a Acarichthys heckelii? :-? That's the only cichlid I have.

I don't have all the fish, nor am planning to do so this instant.......Just gathering information, for the future........ 8)

Ted

 

[dwarfpike]

Yeah, actually the male killed a jack dempsy about twice it's size in length and three times as heavy. A second bigger dempsy had to be moved for it's own safetly.

Compressicep dwarf pikes for their size are one of the nastiest beings in existance. (my male was only 3 inches total length btw, if I remember even in Tommi's huge tank they still go after each other) Saxatalis usually are no where near the range of them in aggression, but becuase they get bigger can do more damage. Go well with like blue acaras and port cichlids, I think your A. heckelii would be a great tankmate ... BUT keep an eye on them, both the heckelli and pike are very variable in personality. 9 times out of 10 it should work ... at least it's a combo I would personally try.