# Feeding Hikari Gold



## Dav657 (May 23, 2007)

Hello everyone. Asking some questions on how to feed hikari gold. Ive looked around and all i found was they will just find it out. But the problem is i always have fake plant parts floating around the top of my tank. And yes i clean this stuff out when it gets more than like 5 pieces. Am just thinking they will just think of it as fake plants. Any advice? I know i can sneak it in their food but shrimp is getting expensive now since they go through like a bag every month. Here is my most recent shot from them.
View attachment 160003


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## LouDiB (May 22, 2006)

they look like 4 inches or so right?>..it is very difficult to "train" them to begin to eat pellet foods....When i had P's...I began at dime-quarter size with mini pellets and that was one of their staples ever since. I would say try and fast them and see if they go for it. Be careful though when you fast with nipping. If it doesnt work, trade em in and start fresh, and you'll def be able to feed the babies pellets


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## Dav657 (May 23, 2007)

Well am not starting over. Also I think they are about 5-6 inches. I had them since about the end of April so am a little attached. I might have to just sneak it in their food.


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

Good idea, you could definately stuff pellets in smelt. Although shrimp is a healthy food for them, it is only a part of what thier diet should be. If shrimp is getting expensive for you, try mixing it up. For myself, I like to switch up foods every week. I feed one food for a week then switch it to another the next and then another the next. I feed my fish tilipia fillets, shrimp, smelt, catfish nuggets, and bloodworms. I don't believe you'll be able to get them to start pellets at their size. Even though pellets are healthy and provide a well balanced mixed of things, they aren't a necessity. So long as you don't keep feeding your fish the same thing all the time, they should get all they need from a mixed diet.


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## jmax611 (Aug 6, 2006)

StryfeMP said:


> Good idea, you could definately stuff pellets in smelt. Although shrimp is a healthy food for them, it is only a part of what thier diet should be. If shrimp is getting expensive for you, try mixing it up. For myself, I like to switch up foods every week. I feed one food for a week then switch it to another the next and then another the next. I feed my fish tilipia fillets, shrimp, smelt, catfish nuggets, and bloodworms. I don't believe you'll be able to get them to start pellets at their size. Even though pellets are healthy and provide a well balanced mixed of things, they aren't a necessity. So long as you don't keep feeding your fish the same thing all the time, they should get all they need from a mixed diet.


agrred

what i do with finaky eaters is find something they like and feed them till they get a little fat storage and them fast them as stated above and introduce new foods once a week to see if they take them

it took me more than a year to get my elong off live food but now he eats nething i put in there

so i all i can say is a little patience goes along way


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Try to entice them with Crickets. They are live and should get there attention.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

like stryfe said mix it up i buy frozen cod fillets (about 5-6 portions) for only about 2.50
shrimp costs about 4


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

crickets will only work if yours ps arent scared of coming to the top...if they arent then go for it.

also remember to gutload the crickets before you feed them to your ps or itll be pointless.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

From my experience, reds are just naturally leary of feeding from the surface.
Natural instinct to avoid it because that's where birds and such lurk in the wild, waiting to eat them!

I've always had to 'train' my reds to eat floating pellets, but it's always worked in the end.
You may have to get them hungry for a good week or so to get them to do it, but they will eventually come around.

You might want to start with Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets in the beginning, dropping a few in while they're frenzying on shrimp.

They might ignore them at first, but work with 'em.

Drop in some pieces of shrimp as appetizers, and then some pellets.
They will probably ignore the pellets.
If so, don't feed them for the rest of the day.
Next day, do the same thing.
And again, everyday until they go for the pellets.

Then, start switching them over to floating pellets.

It's worth the effort, 'cause pellets are:

-Cheaper than lots of other foods.

-Packed with protein.

-Convenient.

-Don't spoil or need to be refrigerated.


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## Dav657 (May 23, 2007)

I can't believe it but they ate it! Am so happy! Now am just going to have figure out how much food to give them. Also the python no spill is possibly one of the greatest things I have bought. Am just so happy right now.


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Piranhas are never too big to train them to eat pellets.

There is more nutrition per pellet then combining shrimp, tilapia and all that other good stuff.

If you want your Piranhas to have their best color, then a diet that consist of 80-90% Hikari Pellets is a must.

Hater


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## tigerdat (Sep 5, 2003)

I was feeding my P's krill and pellets on the surface, but when I started feeding shrimp and other cut up fish they stopped going to the surface for food. If I starve them for a few days they will go back to eating krill and pellets but they don't like it.


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=37129
great read for introducing new foods.

so far as the floating plants, maybe you can try to make only half the surface covered in plants, or just get the sinking pellets.

i used the above method loosely and got a 3 year old red who only ever ate feeders to eat pellets. it just takes patience.


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

look up kensfish.com for cheep quality pellets.

Hunger is the key and a HOB filter that sends the floating pellets down at them will get them started. They can smell the fish oil in the pellets among other things.


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## Retaks (Apr 6, 2008)

The one of my Red Bellys has no problem eating anything from the surface. The other 2 are alot more shy though but ive only had them for a little over a week though. I feed mine wax worms on occasion and they float on the surface. When the bigger of the 3 hears something hit the water its looking all over for what it was.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

This old thread has certainly gotten some recent attention!

I have a tank with 20 pygos in it that go absolutely NUTS over pellets as soon as they hit the water.
In fact, they see me coming with the bag and they start swimming toward the surface in anticipation.

This week I'll shoot a quick vid of it and post it.
It's pretty cool.


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

^^ i beat you to it. haha
http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=170785

its not the best vid, but you get the idea. its great to watch them eat the pellets.


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## Corner (Feb 27, 2007)

Everyone talks about how hard it is to get them to eat pellets, but I picked some up last weekend to give it a go and they ate them all right away. I was pretty blown away, maybe I just got lucky? How many pellets do you feed? I have put in 20+ large size pellets and they eat them all?


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

how big are your fish?


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## Corner (Feb 27, 2007)

5"ish


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

true, well, thats pretty cool then man that they just took them.


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## bsonetwo (Aug 25, 2006)

If they ever go back to not eating pellets try sinking pellets. I wasted alot of time waiting for my caribe to eat pellets that don't sink. Then went to the LFS got a sample of sinking pellets (really don't know why I picked them up but I guess I was thinking what the hell). Mine had been killing my pockets with the shrimp, tilapia, cod, etc. and pellets to him was like meh. Dropped a sinking pellet in the tank and he went bizerk! After that he hasn't had a problem with any food I put in my tank.

Even though now he attacks the air tube for the bubbler.


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## TobiasRieper (Mar 14, 2008)

In my experience, once your p's know that whatever you drop in the tank is food theyll swim up to it, check it out and eat if they like it. I used to feed my p's shrimp pellets and they liked them, they would even eat snails that I dopped in the tank.


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