my jaguar dillema !

[africanmarty]

setup: 75 gallon bare bottom tank with two heaters ( 200 and 300w ) temp is 27.3 degrees C, hangover type filter (Cascade 300 Power Filter). two pots for cover and some driftwood.

ATM I have two jags in this tank one is about 5.5 inches the other is 3.5 inches, I'm not going to keep both in their for long I am planning to just keep one in there in the long run. However my question is once I moved the fish into the new tank ( 75 gallon ) the first fish ( 5.5 inch ) has gotten all shy and stays in its cave a lot, it did this when I fiorst baught it about 2 months ago but with time came out of its shell and would accept feeders from my hand, now it just lazes around in its cave hardly ever coming out ( though sometimes it will, rarely ) the other smaller one is fine swims around and crusses everywhere. the water temp is the same as it was before ? what should I do ? I fel sorry for it. also sumtimez theres left over feerders at the bottom, wich I usually sifenout, I was just wondering if I could put sumething in their that would eat the left over, I tried mystery snals but the jags just stressed/killed them.... should I take one jag out ? though they are both pretty small and there is room for them in the tank ATM. any advice would be helpful thanks.

regards MArty.

 

[liv2padl]

sumtimez theres left over feerders at the bottom, wich I usually sifenout,

i'd suggest NOT using feeders in the first place. here's the problem: "feeder fish" are almost always maintained at your LFS in very overcrowded tanks with poor water quality. they're not fed a nutritious diet, almost always harbour numerous pathogens and parasites and are thus in very poor condition.

if you feed these to your healthy fish at home, your fish will contract one or more of these pathogens and parasites. moreover, since these feeders are not fed very well, they contain very little nutritional value for your fish.

the best food for your jaguars is a varied diet consisting of various quality pellets manufactured by such as Hikari, OSI and others. freeze dried krill, earthworms obtained from you garden (never from an area treated with pesticides or fertilizers), crickets, grubs and other "live" foods that you find yourself are also good.

as for the shy behaviour, you might consider adding some 'dither' fish such as 5-6 African Mbuna ... making sure they are smaller to or equal to the size of the Jags. also, i'd add some gravel to the tank so it was not 'bare bottom'. the glare from the glass may be upsetting to the fish.

 

[africanmarty]

hi liv2padl thanks mate, but i breed my own feeders most of them just come from my live bearers and occasionlly from my cons when they breed, so the live food is kept in good condtions. As for gravel i keep it like that becuase the jags have so much waste its just so much easier to clean, and i know that i'm getting it all as its easy to see with a bare bottom tank. i think it may just take time for them to settle in... i feed them a block of beef heart today in the morning when i got home from work it was all eaten, so thats good i 'll give them another soon and see how they go.

regards

Marty.