# ONLY eat feeders?



## MrRob (Oct 20, 2003)

Are Piranhas taught by LFS's to only eat Feeders because that is what they are feed thier entire lives until we buy em? I've had mine for almost a week & they wouldnt touch pellets, flakes, or brine shirmp, but when i threw a dozen feeders in there, they em in 12 hrs. Do they learn to only eat live food?????????


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

I think they use feeders to stem aggression. They are not the best food for any fish and in my experience all fish can be taught to eat non-live foods.

"moved to feeding"


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## camotekid (Sep 21, 2003)

MrRob said:


> Are Piranhas taught by LFS's to only eat Feeders because that is what they are feed thier entire lives until we buy em? I've had mine for almost a week & they wouldnt touch pellets, flakes, or brine shirmp, but when i threw a dozen feeders in there, they em in 12 hrs. Do they learn to only eat live food?????????


 Ah yes, learning. Piranhas are intelligent fish too like cichlids and others. So just like GG said, they can be thaught. They can learn how to eat pellets too like they have learned eating live foods. You can start using the starving method. Any starved piranha will bite anything that drops in the water and eventaully take it in. You just gonna have to extend your *patience.*


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## pamonster (Jun 26, 2003)

you can also try giving them other live food to "show" them that other food is good too.


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## vlahos (Sep 7, 2003)

the best way to get them to eat non live foods is by starving them and introducing a certain type of food at a time and let them become accustom to it. only problem when you have a shoal is the cannabilistic character of piranhas. if you starve them too long they'll take out a member. so be careful when trying to switch to another food source.
jim


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## JesseD (Mar 26, 2003)

vlahos said:


> you starve them too long they'll take out a member. so be careful when trying to switch to another food source.


 i dont think u would have to worry too much about cannabalism as long as they arent caribe and u are attempting to feed them...even thought that may not be eating what u are throwing in for them to eat.

just pick a certain food to feed them and that everyday at the same time until they finally eat it. just try cutting it into smaller strips rather than chunks. it looks more appealing to them...like a worm or something.

goodluck


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## tweaked (Aug 3, 2003)

JesseD said:


> vlahos said:
> 
> 
> > i dont think u would have to worry too much about cannabalism as long as they arent caribe and u are attempting to feed them...even thought that may not be eating what u are throwing in for them to eat.


 I think this goes for all pygo's. Not just caribe's. It would also apply to a shoal of spilo's.


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## Humboldt surfer (Sep 10, 2003)

Afet reading B Scotts article all I feed mine is fish, either live or fillets. I mean we are trying to make them happy, and thats what they eat in the wild, not beef heart, or some man made pellet or flake. You should see how happy they (caribas) get when I drop a feeder in. I haven't had one last more than 2 minutes. All my friends are impressed. Read B scotts article at the top of the feeding page. It makes sense!


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## akio525 (Sep 4, 2003)

In my opinion pellets are by far the best all around food source for piranha. Not only are they enhanced with essential vitamins, made with a variety of fish/crustaceans they have a higher protein percentage than any meat I can think of. I like to throw in a live feeder everynow and then to keep my fish entertained but other than that its not nutritious for them.


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