How to wean fry off of live food

[teesquared]

Hi folks! Q for you all - how do you get fish fry to start eating non-live foods? I have 26-day old Honey Gouramis that have been eating infusoria, then Sera Micron for their first two and a half weeks, but I’ve slowly started to integrate BBS for the last week or so. I’d like for them to start eating more powdered/pelleted food (like Hikari First Bites and Micro Pellets), but every time I’ve tried to feed them either of the two, the food just ends up sitting at the bottom without them touching it. I’ll leave it for a whole day to see if they’d munch on it but unfortunately, they aren’t interested. That being said, how do you get baby fish to become enticed by “regular” fish food (non-live food)? TIA!

[KBOzzie59]

Let them get hungry!

[Hobbit]

Oh hey! I was about to come here and say “I only have experience with honey gourami fry” but that’s exactly the fish you’re asking about!

I’ve found that it’s much easier to wean them when they’re older. I haven’t tried to wean them earlier than 9 weeks old. I documented the process a bit here: 

 

Waiting until they’re 10-12 weeks old would certainly be easier. For the youngest fish in that batch, which were probably only 8 weeks old at the time, I don’t think they ever took to the prepared food, even after a week.

But the gist of it is, yes, just let them get hungry enough. Crushing the food and soaking it so it’s soft seems to help. It also seems easier to go from live bbs to frozen bbs to prepared food. They turn up their noses at the frozen bbs at first too—these guys are stubborn! But I would recommend staying on the live baby brine for another month at least.

When you do decide to start feeding them frozen bbs or prepared food, I recommend putting a plate under where you feed them so they can eat off the bottom. (If you have a bare-bottom tank this won’t be necessary.) I also try to get some to stick in the hornwort and moss so they might come across it when they’re grazing.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Hobbit
Remembered something else :)

[teesquared]

@KBOzzie59 @Hobbit thank you both! @Hobbit I love tracking your journey, so cool! This is the exact blueprint I need lol, the male and female ended up spawning a couple times more and having a guide or just previous experience from someone else to expect what to come next is super helpful. Thanks again! 🙏

[Daedalus]

Starve em for a few days and they'll eat whatever you feed them afterwards.