CACAdmin
Apr 26th 2009, 01:56 PM
I have decided that my adult leaf fish are the epitome of the true hunter. As they are carnivores, I have tried offering live and frozen foods of many sorts but all are ignored. And so, they are fed live fish which is their natural diet.
Last week I even offered up a fish which through my own fault had sadly just met with its demise (when it encountered the impeller on the pump I was using in the tank when I bumped the intake cover off ::(: .) The leaf fish were not the least bit interested. Simply being a fish is not enough, it has to be alive and swim. :rolleyes:
Today when I fed them a few fish again, it dawned on my why this is so. If a fish foolishly just swims by the leaf fish (which one did several times right next to its mouth) it's not dinner. I'm assuming that part of the eating ritual is the thrill of the hunt. It's not that the leaf fish wasn't hungry. He waited until the 'feeder' fish was no longer right there and then began stalking it and of course eventually ate it.
Hence, I would assume this is why other live foods such as red wigglers aren't the least bit appealing (at least to my leaf fish)... even though they move and thus are obviously alive.
I have not actually tested feeding them shrimp but I think they might because the shrimp swim. If I do, I'll post my observations here. If anyone else has leaf fish, I'd be interested in what you feed them and your observations.
Last week I even offered up a fish which through my own fault had sadly just met with its demise (when it encountered the impeller on the pump I was using in the tank when I bumped the intake cover off ::(: .) The leaf fish were not the least bit interested. Simply being a fish is not enough, it has to be alive and swim. :rolleyes:
Today when I fed them a few fish again, it dawned on my why this is so. If a fish foolishly just swims by the leaf fish (which one did several times right next to its mouth) it's not dinner. I'm assuming that part of the eating ritual is the thrill of the hunt. It's not that the leaf fish wasn't hungry. He waited until the 'feeder' fish was no longer right there and then began stalking it and of course eventually ate it.
Hence, I would assume this is why other live foods such as red wigglers aren't the least bit appealing (at least to my leaf fish)... even though they move and thus are obviously alive.
I have not actually tested feeding them shrimp but I think they might because the shrimp swim. If I do, I'll post my observations here. If anyone else has leaf fish, I'd be interested in what you feed them and your observations.