What to feed my Murray Cod?

[anthacdc]

Im getting a few Murray Cod, and i was wondering what i should feed them there about 5-7cm long, would worms be ok? and aslo how much and when?

Cheers Anthony.

[SMCK001]

i feed my natives one pellets either sinking or floating ones watever is easier. i find the sinking ones cheaper and if they dont eat them u can easily scoop them up off the top. i use a general goldfish one and they seem to do fine. i also sometimes give them frozen blood worm, or brime shrimp. u can also feed them small feeder fish as a treat or things like mosquito larvae which i get from our pond. they will pretty much eat anything but its a good idea to get them onto pellets as soon as u get them as these are the cheapest and easiest to feed them in the long run.

[anthacdc]

Thanks for that,
what about worms, as i have a whole worm farm?

[SMCK001]

worms are ok but i wouldnt use it as a main food source as they need a balanced diet. so every so often would be good. i would feed them mostly pellets

[anthacdc]

what else could i feed Murray Cod, as they dont want to eat the pellets?

[wombat1100]

you really need to persist with the pellets if you can, otherwise the alternative of live fish and the like will be very expensive when they get bigger

[SMCK001]

keep feeding him a few pellets each day until he eats them, this may take a week, also take out any uneaten pellets so it doesnt pollute ur water. if he hasnt eaten after a week try somethin else like frozen blood worm for a day then go back to pellets. this may work.

[cichlidboy]

pellets as a staple definitely.
my barra wouldn't take pellets for anything.
but he was hand fed guppies and platies.
i shoved a few pellets into the larger platies and sooner or later he recognised the smell and starte don the pellets.
make sure they actually fit his mouth.

[jwolf]

ey i just got a lil murray cod its about 60mm just wondering wats the best way to make it grow fast? ive had it for only bout 3 weeks so dont know much abot them either? any tips or anything would be great thanks

[xDCxSMOKE]

murray cods grow pretty slow no where near as fast as a barra for the simple reason that they live for so long 40+ years if fed right and water is kept good but they will grow to over 6ft and weigh 120 kg also depends on stress

in the 3 months ive owned my murray cod he has grown roughly 2 to 3 inch's he will eat some blood worm and brine but not much at all
ive noticed he likes the chase m,ore then anything and stalking prey
he seems to love feeder fish and crayfish just makes a bloody mess

as for the 60mm cod try very small crushed pellets or flakes pretty much anything small enough to get in his mouth

be warned ones you get them on live fish it is very very very hard to ween them off
but slowly geting there
as for the barra yeah good luck ive tryed everything saggested he would rather starve and die b4 eating a pellat

[AidanJ]

my cod use to love the frozen blood worms he would come up to the top and try and suck down the still frozen blocks!! which wouldnt fit in his mouth
but now his a live food man feeder fish, glass shrimp, goldfish and yabbies well he smashes the yabbies untill there dead and leaves them!
try going down to your local creek and having a scoop around with a net but just check your regulations to make sure your not taking or doing anything illegal

[AidanJ]

murray cods grow pretty slow no where near as fast as a barra for the simple reason that they live for so long 40+ years if fed right and water is kept good but they will grow to over 6ft and weigh 120 kg also depends on stress



i agree ive read so much on here and other sites that some murray cod are growing such and such in so many months and i think to my self jeez my poor little bloke must be a slow grower prepared to other murrays
my boy is approx 27cm and thats taken him approx a year i got him when he was only a fingerling

[xDCxSMOKE]

i dont want mine to grow fast yet lol im yet to build him his 8ft by 4ft by 4ft custom tank my other option is a pond but stufff that i keep my fish to view them and bond with them if i was ever to pond him i might as well not have him at all and just walk down to a river and say oh thats my murray cod somehwere in here ........ never happening that fish be in a tank till the day he rests

[wombat1100]

From what i understand, if you don't heat the water in the cods tank it will lower the growth rate.

[xDCxSMOKE]

From what i understand, if you don't heat the water in the cods tank it will lower the growth rate.

wombat is right as well they say when juvenile bump water heat up around 24c and that will speed up the growth rate

and also i dont mean starve the poor thing to slow growth down just monitor there daily intake more closely by having certain feed times

mine atm just eats when he wants = the benefits of live food
i drop around 200 to 300 feeder fish in his tank and never let the supply run out
that way ive noticed he dont over eat cuase he knows tehres more when he is ready

feed times work with pallets and so on but id saggest not doing feed times with live food or they just seem to eat them selves stupid becuase there waiting all day for you to drop fish in the tank and go crazy becuase theres food and a fun game of chase

thats just my experiance with them some ppl might think diffrant
i dont just feed him live food every 2 to 3 days ill drop 3 cubes of blood worm and brine in feeds the feeder fish and him he just dont eat much of anything else but live food and pretty much hates brine shrimp finds the cubes boring i think

i run no heater in my tanks as cod and barra dont mind low temps witch makes it great on power bill as well

running 5 tanks is hard enough work with out the wife screaming at me about the bill so anything i can do with out is a help