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When people ask me about feeding the geryi I always give them the same advice so I thought I might as well create a topic about it because for me...it has worked for all the Serrasalmus I keep.
I feed mainly catfish chunks. You can get them frozen at the grocery store and here they are like $2.00 a pound. I thaw it out in cold water...which I change a few times because it reduces the oils..... and then cut it into bite size pieces. This will vary depending on the size of the fish. When feeding...only feed them what they will eat before it gets to the substrate. IME...most Serrasalmus do not like to feed off the bottom.
What I do with the geryi is toss 2 or 3 pieces at a time..each piece about the size of a dice. I continue this until I feel they have had enough...or in the rare case they stop eating. I try to never overfeed this group. If any food hits the bottom there is a good chance it will never get eaten and need to be removed the next day. I really try to avoid this. I always leave them wanting more if I can. Im not worried about loosing a fish in this group...of course it can happen with any group of piranha...but they have been together a long time so that is not a concern.
With the irritans I cut the fish into much smaller pieces..about the size of a pencil eraser... and only feed one piece at a time. If a piece of food hits the bottom there is a 90% chance it will be forgotten...so once again...I need them to want to eat.
My rhom gets a large pieces of catfish...but only if he reacts to it when I hold it up to his tank. He will kind of beg when he is hungry...angling up to the top of the tank and get anxious for the food. If he doest do this...I dont feed him...because he will not eat. I have learned that even when he goes though is fasting..which he does at least once a year...tossing in food is just a waste unless he reacts to me or the food before I add it to the tank. This is how it is with all my solo Serrasalmus tanks. Unless the fish shows a reaction to the food before I add it to the tank...there is a probably a 90% chance they will not eat it...and I will have to fish it out the next day. This technique works really good with fish that are acclimated to their environment and you. It usually doesnt work with new fish..however..it only took a couple weeks for my spilo to come around and although his reaction is not as strong as my rhoms...it is very easy to tell when he is hungry.
I think the key to feeding these fish is to feed them when they are hungry...not on a daily schedule. There are times when my rhom will eat every day...because when I am feeding the other fish in his tank he will start the begging...however there are times when he will eat once a week. It is all up to him because he has lost so much weight when he had that bacteria infection that he lost most of his fat reserves...so we are building them up. He also goes through his fasting period...so I am not concerned about him overeating. However he is the only fish that I let dictate when he is fed. The others are fed anywhere from daily to every 4 or 5 days....unless they are juvies. I do this so when I go out of town it isnt a big deal for them to go a few days or a week without food. I think it keeps the stress level down in the tank.
Anyways...that is how I see it...and now I am just rambling!!
Questions or comments are welcome.
I feed mainly catfish chunks. You can get them frozen at the grocery store and here they are like $2.00 a pound. I thaw it out in cold water...which I change a few times because it reduces the oils..... and then cut it into bite size pieces. This will vary depending on the size of the fish. When feeding...only feed them what they will eat before it gets to the substrate. IME...most Serrasalmus do not like to feed off the bottom.
What I do with the geryi is toss 2 or 3 pieces at a time..each piece about the size of a dice. I continue this until I feel they have had enough...or in the rare case they stop eating. I try to never overfeed this group. If any food hits the bottom there is a good chance it will never get eaten and need to be removed the next day. I really try to avoid this. I always leave them wanting more if I can. Im not worried about loosing a fish in this group...of course it can happen with any group of piranha...but they have been together a long time so that is not a concern.
With the irritans I cut the fish into much smaller pieces..about the size of a pencil eraser... and only feed one piece at a time. If a piece of food hits the bottom there is a 90% chance it will be forgotten...so once again...I need them to want to eat.
My rhom gets a large pieces of catfish...but only if he reacts to it when I hold it up to his tank. He will kind of beg when he is hungry...angling up to the top of the tank and get anxious for the food. If he doest do this...I dont feed him...because he will not eat. I have learned that even when he goes though is fasting..which he does at least once a year...tossing in food is just a waste unless he reacts to me or the food before I add it to the tank. This is how it is with all my solo Serrasalmus tanks. Unless the fish shows a reaction to the food before I add it to the tank...there is a probably a 90% chance they will not eat it...and I will have to fish it out the next day. This technique works really good with fish that are acclimated to their environment and you. It usually doesnt work with new fish..however..it only took a couple weeks for my spilo to come around and although his reaction is not as strong as my rhoms...it is very easy to tell when he is hungry.
I think the key to feeding these fish is to feed them when they are hungry...not on a daily schedule. There are times when my rhom will eat every day...because when I am feeding the other fish in his tank he will start the begging...however there are times when he will eat once a week. It is all up to him because he has lost so much weight when he had that bacteria infection that he lost most of his fat reserves...so we are building them up. He also goes through his fasting period...so I am not concerned about him overeating. However he is the only fish that I let dictate when he is fed. The others are fed anywhere from daily to every 4 or 5 days....unless they are juvies. I do this so when I go out of town it isnt a big deal for them to go a few days or a week without food. I think it keeps the stress level down in the tank.
Anyways...that is how I see it...and now I am just rambling!!
Questions or comments are welcome.
