# Feeding Whole Silversides?.....



## Red Sox Fanatic (Jun 13, 2011)

I have 6 - 2" RBP's and i was wondering if feeding them a whole silverside (3 - 4" inch fish) is ok,i mean it wont promote aggression will it?? And does it mean only the Alpha fish will eat? Thanks.


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

Imo aggression is rarely about hunger. Fights could start over one piece. I'd probably break them in half & feed a couple at a time if you aren't handfeeding them.


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## ibcd (Jan 8, 2011)

I fed my lil rbp's silversides with no problems. Break em in half or throw a few whole ones in give em 20-25 min see how much they eat then you can adjust from there. Remember to take out any uneatin food.


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## Red Sox Fanatic (Jun 13, 2011)

BRUNER247 said:


> Imo aggression is rarely about hunger. Fights could start over one piece. I'd probably break them in half & feed a couple at a time if you aren't handfeeding them.


These lil dudes are a little too crazy to hand feed right now as soon as the food hits the water the almost jump out of the water,but when i did throw in a whole silver side they let it sink 1st..


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

Use chopsticks or lil tongs if your worried about getting bit.


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

OH CRAP! I hope a noob doesn't see that I'm secretly saying its ok & safe to handfeed piranha. Or that I'm so special or im the only one doing this.


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## amazonjungle (Jun 6, 2011)

I wouldnt throw in a full silverside lol.

earthworms are good whole though IMO. they are lonnnnnnnnnng. let them play tug of war.


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2011)

You can't change what is already programmed as natural behaviour in your fish. They might share the same space but they are only out for what benefits oneself. Its all about survival.

If they are juvie pygos then I would cut the silver fish into chunks, instead of feeding them whole. That way you will minimize the possibility of any of your fish getting hurt by accident.


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## Da' Manster! (Sep 1, 2009)

Throw a whole, thawed silverside in there!...and let the juvi reds have a field day!...I saw your video that you posted, and your baby reds had a hard time finishing off an earthworm, so I don't forsee any problems and I don't think they will be able to eat the whole thing...Just clean up when they are finished with it!...


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

ksls said:


> You can't change what is already programmed as natural behaviour in your fish. They might share the same space but they are only out for what benefits oneself. Its all about survival.
> 
> If they are juvie pygos then I would cut the silver fish into chunks, instead of feeding them whole. That way you will minimize the possibility of any of your fish getting hurt by accident.


I agree. For my adult p's I feed silversides whole as one p can handle the whole silverside. If you cut the siversides in half and drop a couple pieces in at once then you will lessen the chance of any lip bites and things like that. You may want debonned fillets as I found rbp under 2" may leave the spine of the siverside. You can try but if they are picking around the spine then you may want to wait untill they are big enough to eat the whole thing. At 2" i think they are on the verge of eating the whole thing though they still may be a tad small.


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## Red Sox Fanatic (Jun 13, 2011)

Thanks guys!!!!!


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

I choppeed them up until my P's got about 3" then I dropped the entire thing in. What this does is helps keep you from over feeding. The first time say fish #1 will eat 90% of your silverside. Two to three days later you drop an entire silverside in and fish #1 eats none of it but fish #2 gets 80% an fish #3 gets 20% by time it all comes around fish #1 is eating what he needs and not to much. This keeps him healthy and a steady growth rate. Where if your droping mulitiple chunks in the tank then all the fish are eating a little bit everytime. I dunno just my theory


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