Feeding Practices

[dazbud]

Hi all,

I've read so many different articles on feeding, ie amounts, frequency etc and am a bit confused. Being fairly new (3 months since set up), I'm unsure whether I'm over-feeding or under feeding. I trialed a few different feeding plans while the tank was cycling and lost a few fish. So not sure whether this was indeed because of the water stats or because of my feeding.

I'm trying to vary the food between flake, dried worms, frozen lavae and algae pellets.

Currently I'm feeding once a day and have 16 small fish (4 tiger barbs, 2 baloon mollys, 2 platys, 3 dwarf gourami and 5 neon tetra)

I had read that you should feed as much as they can eat in either 2 or 5 mins, but also read that you should only feed 1 flake per fish. In my tank, 16 flakes is eaten up in a few seconds as opposed to minutes and therefore I'm wondering whether this is enough? Also the Dwarf Gouramis rarely seem to get anything, so am thinking of increasing this amount.

During cycling, I was feeding every other day. However, some fish died, so I don't know whether this was enough.

Obviously the food manufacturers recommend 2 to 3 feeds per day, and I wondered if anyone had experience of feeding this often? I'm concerned this might produce too much waste.

 

[kylealastairlove]

dont worry too much, when i first started i was feeding twice a day with massive amounts of flake, now i feed once a day a tiny litle pinch that i crush in to little pieces (because i have small fish) as for varying your food, thats a great way to keep the fish happy and healthy
i think if im right dwarf gourami's arent very good at competing for food either
and dont listen to the manufacturers, just do what suits you hope this helped!

 

[Hermithall]

I also feed only once per day, sparingly. I read somewhere a fish's stomach is about the size of it's eye as a general guide.

 

[FishBlast]

I sometimes feed once, sometimes twice a day.
It seems like with flakes my catfish gets bloated because he sometimes eats 2 flakes, with bloodworms he seems to be better. I try to vary between those 2, haven't tried algae wafers yet.
My swordtails seem to eat whatever regardless.

Usually, I give 1 pinch of bloodworm to the catfish from my hand and then spread a few more for the swordtails.
With flakes I give one directly to the catfish and then I crush and scatter 2-3 more on the surface so that the swordtails get to eat too.

I don't know about the stomach the size of an eye thing, but makes me wonder if that works for fish with huge eyes that are disproportionate to their body, or with catfish too.
As for eating within seconds or minutes, again you can have a piggy fish that eats everything within seconds and you'd end up overfeeding it. This is what confuses me. I just go by the way my fish are acting, as at some point they seem no longer desperate to get food and just end up grazing on the floor once all the food is gone from the tank.

 

[`Peter]

Twice per day usually since I'm busy but on weekends I sometimes do 3 times and whenever I want to make sure hey are healthy. I do both flakes and bloodworms each day and feed as much as the fish can eat in about 2 minutes. Usually about 3 pinches.

 

[fluttermoth]

I feed once a day. On five days of the week I feed flake; enough so it's more or less all gone in two or three minutes. I don't mind if a few flakes land on the floor, as I have either catfish, loaches, shrimps or snails in all my tanks and the other fish will pick at it later anyway. Two or three days a week I drop in a few catfish pellets or algae wafers at the same time.

On saturdays they get frozen (defrosted though!) bloodworm and brine shrimp; again as much as they can eat in two or three minutes with just a little left over and the plecs get a piece of fruit or veg that is left in till the next day, and sundays they don't get fed at all.

I fed my fish as soon as I switch the lights on, which is early evening/teatime-ish; it helps to get your fish tame if you give them some sort of signal that they're about to be fed, and it helps them be less scared of the lights and people, IME.

Oh, and in the summer they get mosquito larvae that my kids catch in the water butt; they don't get fed the next day either, if they're lucky enough to get them; I rotate which tank gets them.

 

[FishBlast]

It's still confusing how many flakes to give, as enough for them to eat in 2-3 minutes would mean a lot of flakes. And just 2 flakes already bloat my catfish even though they are somewhat soaked.

Also, it says they contain sugar. Could that be the problem here?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yeah, that's probably true, and different for smaller tanks with less fish; mine are all big and fully stocked.

 

[Sammyb]

I feed every two days, there really is no need to feed twice daily thats just nuts

 

[FishBlast]

Yeah, that's probably true, and different for smaller tanks with less fish; mine are all big and fully stocked.

So should I reduce the flake dose even more? Or are they not too good for catfish?
They cause constipation and bloating in the Hoplo. His rear end seems to get fatter during the days I feed the flakes and he struggles to poop. Then the days I feed the bloodworms, the swelling disappears.

Note: I do not feed flakes twice a day, only bloodworms on the days I feed them.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

That's strange because I was under the impression that bloodworm can block them up, doh!

 

[Cazgar]

I feed mine once a day except on Sunday.
I alternate between flake food, pellets & live food.
I feed wafers for the bottom dwellers & some veg

 

[FishBlast]

That's strange because I was under the impression that bloodworm can block them up, doh!

In his case it seems to have a weird effect of giving him gas but not blocking him.
I've fed flakes for 3 days and every time the same effect: catfish struggling to poop, looks like his hind side is inflated (the part near the tail and a bit of the tail too) and this keeps up until he expels a round pink ball.
On the days I give bloodworms he just does his usual black balls, although when I began the bloodworm pack, he used to float at the surface and throw gas a lot.

Maybe I should find a balance between these meals or something, or maybe he's eating too much flake.

 

[ParadiseGuerrero]

if he's gettign constipated then try feeding him some peas... even if it's not that then all my fish love to get the occasional pea anyway- they usually get 1 per 2 or 3 ruby barbs. Just get a few frozen peas, take their shells of then defrost and squish them in the tank.

 

[FishBlast]

if he's gettign constipated then try feeding him some peas... even if it's not that then all my fish love to get the occasional pea anyway- they usually get 1 per 2 or 3 ruby barbs. Just get a few frozen peas, take their shells of then defrost and squish them in the tank.

That's another problem: none of my fish like peas. I tried, only one swordtail ate a bit and ignored the rest. She also made a weird face after eating it. -.-
And I don't know if Hoplos like green foods but mine doesn't like peas, that's for sure, he filtered them out and went on sniffing through the sand for something else. -.-