Picture courtesy of Christy Hammer
Final month I talked about methods to get your fish to cease consuming your aquarium vegetation, and one of many strategies was to place carnivorous fish within the tanks the place you need to show vegetation.
The meat-eating fish I urged had been:
- Betta fish,
- Black ghost knife fish,
- Oscar fish,
- And rosy pink minnows, which are literally omnivores.
After which it occurred to me that our readers could not have expertise with caring for carnivorous fish. So I’m going to treatment that by providing you with this primer on methods to handle your little meat eaters.
Right here’s what to do…
Rule primary: Watch out about tank mates
Many species of carnivorous fish must be saved separate out of your different fish species. The rationale needs to be apparent — tank mates can get eaten.
Now, lots of people interpret this precaution as that means you’ll be able to solely have certainly one of these fish in a tank, such because the frequent lone betta fish aquarium. However that’s not the case. In actual fact, even bettas can do effectively with tank mates.
The principle reason behind aggression between betta fish is sharing a too small tank. Like many animals, bettas are territorial — particularly males. However in the event you give them sufficient house, they’ll be simply advantageous collectively. In fact, you don’t need to put ONLY two males collectively as a result of preventing is way more frequent in that situation, however a few males and a bigger group of females can completely work.
What you shouldn’t do is put your carnivores in a small tank with a bunch of small, plant-eating fish.
Comply with strange fish care procedures
As talked about above, tank dimension issues for carnivores. They are often aggressive, and also you need to give them sufficient room that they don’t really feel like they’re preventing for house.
Apart from that, you actually deal with your carnivorous fish similar to you’ll every other aquarium specimens. Preserve their water clear and at applicable temperatures. Add aquarium components as wanted. Clear away algae that grows within the tank (however perhaps don’t stick your hand in there; they could chunk!). And use a water filter and air pump.
Know what to feed
Clearly, carnivorous fish are going to wish completely different meals from herbivores. It’s greatest to feed a weight loss program with a little bit of selection. They usually’ll must be fed as soon as per day.
Listed here are a number of the choices out there from unique pet suppliers:
Yow will discover just a few completely different styles of pellets to your carnivores, resembling betta pellets, shrimp pellets, and shrimp and lobster pellets.
You too can buy stay feeder fish as an occasional deal with to your meat eaters. These contains minnows and guppies. Simply bear in mind that including stay feeders may cause aggressive behaviors in your tank.
When you had been frightened about what to feed your carnivorous fish, you’ll be glad to know that much more choices can be found than those listed right here.
Cease in at The Tye-Dyed Iguana to take a look at all of the choices we have now in inventory for carnivorous aquariums.
