Emiciated Petros

[Daniells1]

I adopted a couple of petros that look to be in pretty bad shape. They honestly look like they have not been fed in a very long time. When I put them in the tank, I fed them NLS and they are ate pretty good. Is there anything I can feed them to speed up the weight gain assuming they do have anything as far as parasite or bacteria? Thank you ahead of time for your help.

[sunkenmetal]

assume they have parasites

[Daniells1]

I figured they did but was crossing my fingers until I get to the LFS for some meds.

[imagirlgeek]

You could add vitamins to their water and/or food. I use Vita-Chem on sick fish and it really does help. I feed Cichlid Excel though, so I soak the food in the vitamins before adding it to the talk. Not sure how NLS would absorb vitamins.

[Timber317]

Get them on Ken's flake too and feed them heavy mornings and evenings.

[Timber317]

Get them on Ken's flake too and feed them heavy mornings and evenings. Another great way to get them meds is add it to some frozen brine shrimp and let it soak for an hour before putting in tank. The shrimp will infuse itself as it thaws out.

[SunnyHouTX]

Also, get you some all natural scallops. chop up a little piece very finely and feed. My Polyodons put on some serious weight with that.

Feed as much as they will eat in a minute, from an hour after lights come to a couple of hours before lights out. Feed them every couple to three hours in that time period.

[Mandocruz06]

Also, get you some all natural scallops. chop up a little piece very finely and feed. My Polyodons put on some serious weight with that.

Feed as much as they will eat in a minute, from an hour after lights come to a couple of hours before lights out. Feed them every couple to three hours in that time period.

I knew the petrolord would stay far from this advise..lol...

[SunnyHouTX]

I knew the petrolord would stay far from this advise..lol...

Say what?

[SunnyHouTX]

Also, invest in an auto-feeder.

I feed my petros NLS 2mm Thera+A 3 times a day via feeder and the following by hand when I think of it (sometimes 4 times a day): Ken's Tropheus Lovers flake, Ken's Premium Flakes with Veggies, Rapashy Soilent Green, scallops

[myjohnson]

Ok.....ignore all comments about feeding them kens flakes.

Petro eat flakes but its not going to add the mass that's needed.

Also, your fish is most likely not sick in any way. Don't treat until you know 100% that they need it.

You need to feed 3mm if not 5mm pellets, shrimp mix, and/or gulf shrimp.

I've seen Petros get skinny on 1mm NLS pellets.

Feed them 6-8 times over the whole day. They should gain back the mass.

[SunnyHouTX]

I've seen Petros get skinny on 1mm NLS pellets.

Don't tell Ram that I think I saw him feed his giant petros 1mm

[myjohnson]

It's fine if it's Petros only and of relatively the same size.

But I've seen smaller Petros and tropheus get the better of bigger Petros chasing those 1mm pellets down.

I suppose if you dumping a hand full in the tank it doesn't matter as much.

[SunnyHouTX]

Not sure if OP is keeping his petros with trophs though.

[eklikewhoa]

assuming from the sig?