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Old 04-14-2008, 02:10 AM   #23 (permalink)
Dave66
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Mars
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dougz View Post
What do you do if they get conditioned to eat only the staples you feed them, and stop eating algae all together, Dave?

Alternate between "starving" them for say, a week (forcing them to eat the algae in the tank?), and giving them veggies and algae wafers the next week..
Doug,
Trick is to keep algae and veggies in the tank all the time. Makes the loricariads, who do a lot of business at night, become accustomed to going to that spot in the tank for food. The won't TOTALLY ignore other foods, but they will concentrate on the algae and veggies. Its what I do with my loricariads.
Say you have a spot in the tank where you have algae. Put tasty veggies around it. Don't feed the tank for a couple days. Then feed as usual, still keeping veggies in that spot.
That usually gets them to eat the algae and veggies you give them, which is what they SHOULD eat.
Fish are like people. They'll eat what's bad for them if its offered. But keep salad and greens in front of them all the time, and eventually that's what they'll eat.

Dave
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