Shubunkin eating patterns

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I've recently acquired 2 shubunkins for a 50 gallon tank, and I am
unfamiliar with their eating patterns. The pet store dude recommended I
buy (which I did) goldfish pellets, instead of flakes. Well, when I
drop them in the tank, the fish stare at them, eat a few, then spit
them. They appear to be picking at them on the bottom, but I cannot
tell if they're actually eating them.

Is it natural for these fish to pick at them? I'm used to my former
tetras that just swallowed flakes whole, so I guess I was expecting
these guys to eat them. Are flakes prehaps better for them? I'd like to
figure this out before they starve to death.

Thanks, from a new proud shubunkin owner,
Adrian

[Charles]

On 1 Apr 2005 13:28:01 -0800, wrote:

>I've recently acquired 2 shubunkins for a 50 gallon tank, and I am
>unfamiliar with their eating patterns. The pet store dude recommended I
>buy (which I did) goldfish pellets, instead of flakes. Well, when I
>drop them in the tank, the fish stare at them, eat a few, then spit
>them. They appear to be picking at them on the bottom, but I cannot
>tell if they're actually eating them.
>
>Is it natural for these fish to pick at them? I'm used to my former
>tetras that just swallowed flakes whole, so I guess I was expecting
>these guys to eat them. Are flakes prehaps better for them? I'd like to
>figure this out before they starve to death.
>
>Thanks, from a new proud shubunkin owner,
>Adrian


They won't starve. The normal goldfish eating pattern is to dig
around on the bottom, pick up stuff, spit out what isn't edible. this
behavior gets modified when they learn about surface food, flakes,
etc.

Just don't overfeed. They can go a month or more without any food,
keeping them a bit hungry is good, they tend to get obese just like
people if fed too much.
--
Charles

Does not play well with others.

[Yorkshire Pudding]

On 1 Apr 2005 13:28:01 -0800, wrote:

>I've recently acquired 2 shubunkins for a 50 gallon tank, and I am
>unfamiliar with their eating patterns. The pet store dude recommended I
>buy (which I did) goldfish pellets, instead of flakes. Well, when I
>drop them in the tank, the fish stare at them, eat a few, then spit
>them. They appear to be picking at them on the bottom, but I cannot
>tell if they're actually eating them.
>
>Is it natural for these fish to pick at them? I'm used to my former
>tetras that just swallowed flakes whole, so I guess I was expecting
>these guys to eat them. Are flakes prehaps better for them? I'd like to
>figure this out before they starve to death.
>
>Thanks, from a new proud shubunkin owner,
>Adrian


Seems to be the normal behaviour at feeding time in my tank, a lot of
people recomend that the pellets be soaked before putting them in the
tank as the fish have problems eating them "dry" and whole plus I
suppose that there is the danger of the pellet swelling after the fish
has eaten it.
Just lost two lovely fantails from my pond, looks like the work of a
Heron, only got one left now and two Golden Tench, going to put some
black thread over the pond tomorrow, got a sheet of polystyrene as a
temporary measure. I was considering using some netting, but thought
it may be a bit too un-aesthetic. On the brighter side, I've
transplanted five buckets of frogspawn to the pond at the bottom of
our housing estate as I didn't want the remaing GF to eat the
tadpoles.
Just had a thought, that works out at roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon
of spawn per frog, and women think they've got it tough during labour
;)

Howard
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm

[Katra]

In article >,
Yorkshire Pudding <> wrote:

> On 1 Apr 2005 13:28:01 -0800, wrote:
>
> >I've recently acquired 2 shubunkins for a 50 gallon tank, and I am
> >unfamiliar with their eating patterns. The pet store dude recommended I
> >buy (which I did) goldfish pellets, instead of flakes. Well, when I
> >drop them in the tank, the fish stare at them, eat a few, then spit
> >them. They appear to be picking at them on the bottom, but I cannot
> >tell if they're actually eating them.
> >
> >Is it natural for these fish to pick at them? I'm used to my former
> >tetras that just swallowed flakes whole, so I guess I was expecting
> >these guys to eat them. Are flakes prehaps better for them? I'd like to
> >figure this out before they starve to death.
> >
> >Thanks, from a new proud shubunkin owner,
> >Adrian
>
>
> Seems to be the normal behaviour at feeding time in my tank, a lot of
> people recomend that the pellets be soaked before putting them in the
> tank as the fish have problems eating them "dry" and whole plus I
> suppose that there is the danger of the pellet swelling after the fish
> has eaten it.
> Just lost two lovely fantails from my pond, looks like the work of a
> Heron, only got one left now and two Golden Tench, going to put some
> black thread over the pond tomorrow, got a sheet of polystyrene as a
> temporary measure. I was considering using some netting, but thought
> it may be a bit too un-aesthetic. On the brighter side, I've
> transplanted five buckets of frogspawn to the pond at the bottom of
> our housing estate as I didn't want the remaing GF to eat the
> tadpoles.
> Just had a thought, that works out at roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon
> of spawn per frog, and women think they've got it tough during labour
> ;)
>
> Howard
> http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm

Condolences on the loss of your fish... :-(
When I do finally put in a pond, I know that herons are going to be a
problem!

Black bird netting is not all that visible......

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

There is no need to change the world. All we have to do is toilet train the world and we'll never have to change it again. -- Swami Beyondanada

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra

[blue sky]

losing fish really sux....Sorry dude
<Yorkshire Pudding> wrote in message
...
> On 1 Apr 2005 13:28:01 -0800, wrote:
>
>>I've recently acquired 2 shubunkins for a 50 gallon tank, and I am
>>unfamiliar with their eating patterns. The pet store dude recommended I
>>buy (which I did) goldfish pellets, instead of flakes. Well, when I
>>drop them in the tank, the fish stare at them, eat a few, then spit
>>them. They appear to be picking at them on the bottom, but I cannot
>>tell if they're actually eating them.
>>
>>Is it natural for these fish to pick at them? I'm used to my former
>>tetras that just swallowed flakes whole, so I guess I was expecting
>>these guys to eat them. Are flakes prehaps better for them? I'd like to
>>figure this out before they starve to death.
>>
>>Thanks, from a new proud shubunkin owner,
>>Adrian
>
>
> Seems to be the normal behaviour at feeding time in my tank, a lot of
> people recomend that the pellets be soaked before putting them in the
> tank as the fish have problems eating them "dry" and whole plus I
> suppose that there is the danger of the pellet swelling after the fish
> has eaten it.
> Just lost two lovely fantails from my pond, looks like the work of a
> Heron, only got one left now and two Golden Tench, going to put some
> black thread over the pond tomorrow, got a sheet of polystyrene as a
> temporary measure. I was considering using some netting, but thought
> it may be a bit too un-aesthetic. On the brighter side, I've
> transplanted five buckets of frogspawn to the pond at the bottom of
> our housing estate as I didn't want the remaing GF to eat the
> tadpoles.
> Just had a thought, that works out at roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon
> of spawn per frog, and women think they've got it tough during labour
> ;)
>
> Howard
> http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm

[blue sky]

yeah! Its normal
> wrote in message
ups.com...
> I've recently acquired 2 shubunkins for a 50 gallon tank, and I am
> unfamiliar with their eating patterns. The pet store dude recommended I
> buy (which I did) goldfish pellets, instead of flakes. Well, when I
> drop them in the tank, the fish stare at them, eat a few, then spit
> them. They appear to be picking at them on the bottom, but I cannot
> tell if they're actually eating them.
>
> Is it natural for these fish to pick at them? I'm used to my former
> tetras that just swallowed flakes whole, so I guess I was expecting
> these guys to eat them. Are flakes prehaps better for them? I'd like to
> figure this out before they starve to death.
>
> Thanks, from a new proud shubunkin owner,
> Adrian
>

[Yorkshire Pudding]

On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 01:06:38 GMT, "blue sky" > wrote:

>losing fish really sux....Sorry dude

Thanks for the thoughts folks, but the Heron is only doing what comes
naturally, it's my fault as I've seen it around for a few weeks now,
but fell victim to the old "It'll never happen to me". Now it's war,
me versus an overgrown fish eating budgie.

Howard
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/otters/Fish.htm

[Sarah Navarro]

I have two shubunkins also. They are both little hogs. They eat pretty
much anything I put in there, flakes, pellets, granules, worms, etc.

Sarah
> wrote in message
ups.com...
> I've recently acquired 2 shubunkins for a 50 gallon tank, and I am
> unfamiliar with their eating patterns. The pet store dude recommended I
> buy (which I did) goldfish pellets, instead of flakes. Well, when I
> drop them in the tank, the fish stare at them, eat a few, then spit
> them. They appear to be picking at them on the bottom, but I cannot
> tell if they're actually eating them.
>
> Is it natural for these fish to pick at them? I'm used to my former
> tetras that just swallowed flakes whole, so I guess I was expecting
> these guys to eat them. Are flakes prehaps better for them? I'd like to
> figure this out before they starve to death.
>
> Thanks, from a new proud shubunkin owner,
> Adrian
>