Rhinopias feeding

[Drewwood85]

Hello all need some advice. I have 2 rhino pins fish. They both eat very well. I want to switch them from minnows over to silversides. The both eat from my tongs that I use for feeding so I don’t think I will have any issues. My echmeyer rhino is about 5” and my weedy is about 5.5”-6”. My question is will they be able the water silversides that r like 2.5”-3” safely? Any advice would be great

 

[Drewwood85]

Sry about the typos lol

 

[lion king]

I know you dont want to hear, maybe you wont even believe me, but these guys do not live very long eating a dead only diet. To successfully keep them long term on a dead only diet you will need to get them to not only eat silversides for the bones and guts, but also fresh shrimp with shells. They will also need fatty fish like tuna and salmon with the skin on, fresh preferred. This is what they will need nutritionally, and thats a tall order, because most of them are picky eaters. Even if they take to dead food, its usually short lived, going on hunger strikes frequently, and not really eating enough, just taking a chunk here or there as a feeding response.

Hikara silversides is what I recommend, they are a variety of fish which does not contain thiaminzse, which binds vitamin B1. There are other food choices but these are the ones I know of, supplementation may help, although I still don't know anyone keeping these guys much more than a year on a dead only diet, usually much less. Vitamin defiencencies can take hold in just a few months, I've known a few that only lived 4 or 5 months eating only silversides.

You should get them off rosies, these contain high amounts of thiaminese and they have a hard time digesting them, which can lead to bloat.

I feed my rhino mollies, some Hikari silversides, and some fresh shrimp. He mostly eats live I have had him for about 2 years.

It is better to feed them smaller items rather than something too large, especially a dead food item. I would cut a 3" silverside in half. Maintaining reef levels of mg also helps with digestion. Overfeeding can also be an issue, a couple times a week seems to work well. They poop like a dog, so its easy to see if they are regular.

 

[Drewwood85]

Lion king ty for the reply. I don’t have to do a dead only diet. I want to do what’s best for the fish. I was wanting to do the silversides because I know rosies have the thamin in them. I’d really like to use some sort of cheap live salt water feeder fish but haven’t found anything cheap yet.

 

[Drewwood85]

I have a reef tank and use the same salt in the venomous tank. So keeping the mag up shouldn’t be an issue. Plus I have rock flower nems and mushrooms in the venomous tank so I kinda have to keep reek tank parameters in it anyway. Like I said before I want to do what’s best for the fish. I’d like to only use salt water feeders. Live only but like I said before it’s not cheap lol

 

[lion king]

I dont recommend saltwater feeder fish because the spread of disease will pretty much be a given. It would be impossible to qt your feeder fish and you wouldnt want to feed any fish that was poisoned by medications.

Mollies have a similar fat and protein structure to saltwater fish. They are actually a brackish fish that lives and breeds in up to 1.017 sg in the wild. Because mollies are usually kept in fresh water, there is little to no chance of transfer of disease. I have used mollies for over 20 years with results of long life and no disease. I have a lfs where I live that sells me mollies for a dollar.

Trying to get predatory fish like lions and scorps a complete nutritional balance with dead food only is "near" impossible. And there has to be something said about the health of gut flora eating live foods. Including live foods with Hikari silversides and fresh shrimp I have found to be an excellent diet. Beware of other brands of silversides, if they dont indicate the species of fish, it is likely rainbow smelt, which also contains thiaminese.

 

[MERKEY]

Good advice here!

Sounds like you need to start a 10g fresh water molly tank!!!

 

[Drewwood85]

I have a 20 gallon minnow tank set up already. So I just need to find some cheaper mollies. I will definitely get some hikari silversides. Lion king what kind of fresh shrimp are u feeding?

 

[lion king]

I have a 20 gallon minnow tank set up already. So I just need to find some cheaper mollies. I will definitely get some hikari silversides. Lion king what kind of fresh shrimp are u feeding?

The same shrimp you would eat yourself. The thing these guys can be picky as you know what, the dead food really just helps me with my food bill. I have some preds that don't eat any dead. Some that will eat it for a while then stop. I have to trick my rhino by making it the 1st item I feed, bring it in to his side to get an automatic feeding response. He ate dead well for a while, now he's too smart and eats a very limited amount. I saw too many other guys attempt to feed dead only fail, that mine gets a steady supply of mollies. Some guys that see me at the lfs, the 1st question they ask me is "is your rhino still alive?".

 

[lion king]

Did you get your rhinos from an lfs, do they carry fresh water fish. Ask them if they would give you a deal, and order a bag of like 10 or 20 at a time. You can just pick the bag up from the lfs, they font even gave to unload them.

 

[Drewwood85]

No I didn’t get them from a lfs. I have a friend that’s in the industry. I paid $150 for the echmeyer and $300 for the weedy. He’s gonna hook me up with mollies. He’s also has some salt water ghost shrimp I’m thinkin about getting. So far I’ve had the echmeyer rhino for about 6 months and it seems happy with the rosies. Has refused to eat and eats aggressively when I feed. I feed them Monday Wednesday and Fridays. I make sure the rosies have just eatin before I feed them to the rhinos. I feed the rosies brine with spurlina flake and a feeding block that has a bunch of stuff in it. I’ll feed the mollies the same way.

 

[Drewwood85]

It hasn’t refused any of the rosies. Sry for the typos

 

[lion king]

No I didn’t get them from a lfs. I have a friend that’s in the industry. I paid $150 for the echmeyer and $300 for the weedy. He’s gonna hook me up with mollies. He’s also has some salt water ghost shrimp I’m thinkin about getting. So far I’ve had the echmeyer rhino for about 6 months and it seems happy with the rosies. Has refused to eat and eats aggressively when I feed. I feed them Monday Wednesday and Fridays. I make sure the rosies have just eatin before I feed them to the rhinos. I feed the rosies brine with spurlina flake and a feeding block that has a bunch of stuff in it. I’ll feed the mollies the same way.

You definitely need to get them off the rosies. Ghosties are good, my rhino doesnt care for them.

 

[Drewwood85]

Lion king in ur opinion do u think just feeding mollies and ghost shrimp would be all they need?

 

[lion king]

Lion king in ur opinion do u think just feeding mollies and ghost shrimp would be all they need?

Yes, I have kept many of my preds for years and years with just that diet. i have a molly tank where I feed 2 types of highly nutritious pellet food, and a ghostie tank where I feed Omega One micro pellets. I dose the tanks with chemivit.

 

[Drewwood85]

What kind of pellets for the mollies r u using

 

[lion king]

The reason I was more specific on the ghosties is the pellets are small enough for them to get down, you can see the pellets in their guts. You choose from a number of pellets for mollies. Right now I'm feeding Aqueon Tropical Granules and Newlife Spectrum Algaemax.