Ropefish eating? Or not?

[windeindoiel]

Ok so I have my ropefish with a very greedy senegalus bichir. I've tried feeding meat pellets but the bichir has those gone before the ropefish even realizes there's food in the tank. I thought about feeding extra but that does not deter the bichir, he eats them all and I'm worried about overfeeding. I've tried feeding him bloodworms but I'm really not sure he's actually getting them. Does anyone have any recommendations about how I can feed this guy and make sure he's eating? There's also a moonlight gourami and 2 plecos in the tank with him. Thanks.

 

[Candycat21]

Try using a turkey baster with bloodworms and target feed him. Gently squeeze out the bloodworms right in front of the ropefish. They use their smell to locate food in the tank and are pretty slow at getting to where it is at.
For my ropefish, I have to make sure I place a good amount of bloodworms right where he's at and then also throw some on the other end to keep my Angels and Clowns etc busy for a while.
Try that and see if that works. Mine will just take the bloodworms right from the turkey baster. Very cool!

 

[windeindoiel]

That's a good idea. It's kind of hard though because the tank is on a stupid ledge that gives me access to one of the smaller sides, the tank needs to move, I know. Anyways so my dilemma is that the ropefish is only at my end of the tank a small amount of the time. I'll try it though, I haven't had much luck with turkey basters (except for my pufferfish, and they focus on one of the worms still in the tube and follow it down into the water, it's adorable) so I haven't tried with the ropefish yet. I will do that though. Would feeder guppies or something like that be helpful?

 

[Candycat21]

The feeders would work. I give my ropefish ghost shrimp and feeder guppies(as they're on the smaller side) every now and then. I'm just thinking though if you're bichir is eating aggressively like you say then the ropefish may or may not be very lucky in getting the feeders either, but it's definitely worth a try!!
I put in about 20 ghost shrimp and 10 feeder guppies once every 2 weeks and feed the bloodworms and brineshrimp inbetween. All the feeders etc though are gone by the next morning...but I'm sure some of my other fish pick a few off as well :