# 2nd Mouse Feeding.



## Davoo (Jan 30, 2004)

Well 1 of my buddies wanted to see a mouse feeding ever since I told him about the 1st time I did it a couple of months ago. So we get the mouse and throw it in. They did absolutely nothing! The mouse swam and swam 'til I felt bad and let it go outside(Probably died of hypothermia). The first feeding they attacked right away and shredded the mouse in less than a couple of minutes.
I think there is something seriously wrong with my reds. They have not eaten steady in a couple of weeks and they had no reaction when I put the mouse in. I checked my parameters and they check out good with the PH being a bit low. I cannot get my PH to stay at 6.6 or so. It always goes down to 6. The ammonia is at 0. I am not sure what is up with them. I have heard of hunger strikes but man... I am afraid I am gonna start loosing these guys.


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## rufus (Jan 6, 2004)

temp at 82ish, weekly water changes and you shouldnt have anything to worry about


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## pmGFK (Feb 27, 2004)

> 'til I felt bad and let it go outside(Probably died of hypothermia)


How could it die of hypothermia in a piranha tank, where the temperature is up to 82°F? Do you know what hypothermia is?


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## Davoo (Jan 30, 2004)

pmGFK said:


> > 'til I felt bad and let it go outside(Probably died of hypothermia)
> 
> 
> How could it die of hypothermia in a piranha tank, where the temperature is up to 82°F? Do you know what hypothermia is?


 Do you know how to read?The worst part about it is that you actually quoted me saying that I let the mouse go outside.


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## pmGFK (Feb 27, 2004)

Hehe, I usualy speak french.
So I understand what I can read. In fact, I don't care if the mouse is dead or not. I just didn't understand why you said that this mouse could have died from hypothermia... that's all.

I don't care anyway!


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## jeepman784 (Jan 8, 2004)

it's cold outside, so when he let it go out there it probably got cold since it was soaking wet from ur 82* water


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## Davoo (Jan 30, 2004)

jeepman784 said:


> it's cold outside, so when he let it go out there it probably got cold since it was soaking wet from ur 82* water


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## SpAzZy (Mar 30, 2004)

i'm not sure if you know this or not.. but there is a product out there called "PH Up" and it will probably help you out. water out of the tap in my area is 8, i'm not sure what it is in other places. so maybe a water change would help you out too. good luck =)


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## Scarlet (Apr 15, 2004)

Instead of messing with pH buffers, which can be hard to regulate and can cause pH swings, (especially if your KH is low), a safe and easy way to raise your PH and keep it steady is to add a little coral sand to your substrate. Add it a very little at a time so the pH changes gradually. About 10-15% in your substrate should buffer the water fine for years.


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## ViBE (Jul 22, 2003)

This may sound inhuman, but have you ever thought of either dipping the mouse in a bit of blood or may cut it a bit so that it bleeds?

This may excite the RBPS more.


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## readingbabelfish (Jan 16, 2003)

My piranhas have had very irregular feeding habits also. They are over a year old and I usually put in 30 feeders a week. Occasionally I'll feed them some mice. I toss in 3 at a time. Sometimes they've taken them out quickly, sometimes slowly. I also reccommend leaving your ph alone. I am under the assumption that a stable ph is better than a constanly changing ph. Mine has always been around 8 or maybe 8.5 since I have wellwater. Hope this helps.


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## ralphinnj (Mar 2, 2003)

If they haven't eaten in 2 weeks, its not to do with the mice. My p's will eat mice, within an hour (if I put dead ones in) and within 5-10 min if they go in alive. The entire time when they are alive is for swimming around. Once one p pulls him down, they eat him in 3 seconds......I have 22 p's, and only 4 or so actually get to eat the mouse.....they are big p's.

Work on your parameters. I would do a 50% water hange and clean all of our filters. Make sure you stir up the gravel good; a lot of toxins get in there and they build up, etc. Get he pH to 7, get the temp to 80, and you are good to go.

RL


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## Davoo (Jan 30, 2004)

Hey guys. thanks for the advice. i put the crushed coral in my tank and my PH has been holding at around 6.6 or so. Thanks for the idea. After a couple days of the PH holding steady my reds took out 3 smelts in a couple of seconds so I put in more! they seem to be doing better though they still don't acknowledge that the mouse was in the tank(I tried again).The reason why this bothers me is because they attacked the mouse within seconds the first time around.


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