Feeding

[barrydp]

I have 6 silver dollars, 3 Angels and a catfish. I feed them 2 blocks of Bloodworm and its gone in seconds, the fish dont seem to be hungry after this but i know they will eat if i throw something back in.? Is 2 blocks of frozen worms enough or should i be adding pellets and tablets aswell..? Once a week i throw in shelled peas and they scoff this also in no time....im worried that im either over feeding or not feeding them enough.All opinions welcome.

 

[CFC]

While frozen foods seem more nutritious most fish are actually better off with a staple flake and/or pellet food which is designed to give the right ammount of protein vitamins and roughage with frozen foods only being used once or twice a week as a treat.

 

[Bignose]

To further emphasize what CFC said, just like people, fish will do much better with a wide variety of food. Read the labels, and to get a variety of ingredients. A flake and pellet staple is good for everyday, then the high protein frozen foods once in a while, 1 or 2 times a week is probably best.

 

[Spank]

To further emphasize what CFC said, just like people, fish will do much better with a wide variety of food. Read the labels, and to get a variety of ingredients. A flake and pellet staple is good for everyday, then the high protein frozen foods once in a while, 1 or 2 times a week is probably best.

What if your fish don't accept flake?

I usually feed a block of frozen (switching between daphnia, artemia, bloodworm) with sinking pellets and flake. It all get's eaten but my Apisto's and festivum turn they're noses up at the processed stuff and wait for the frozen foods.

 

[Tolak]

To further emphasize what CFC said, just like people, fish will do much better with a wide variety of food. Read the labels, and to get a variety of ingredients. A flake and pellet staple is good for everyday, then the high protein frozen foods once in a while, 1 or 2 times a week is probably best.

What if your fish don't accept flake?

I usually feed a block of frozen (switching between daphnia, artemia, bloodworm) with sinking pellets and flake. It all get's eaten but my Apisto's and festivum turn they're noses up at the processed stuff and wait for the frozen foods.

Don't feed them for a few days, then introduce a little bit of the food they seem to ignore. If they are picky, wait a couple more days, then try again. As long as the fish are healthy adults they can go a couple of weeks without eating, especially if they have been conditioned on the foods you are feeding.

 

[CFC]

Its a rare fish that will refuse to eat when its hungry, in my experience of keeping some of the most difficult and picky fish there are to feed only 4 species have actually gone to the point where they would rather starve than eat non live foods and none of them are common aquarium fish.

In the event you do get a fish that wont eat dried foods you have to make a little more effort with the frozen foods. One of the biggest food sources for wild tropical fishes is shrimp, tropical waters are simply alive with them. Decent fish stores will have frozen Mysis and gamma shrimp in stock which work well for small to medium sized fish and for larger species cheap frozen prawns (market shrimp) are perfect. Cooked and de-shelled mussels are enjoyed by most fish, chop them finely (most stores will sell frozen cubed chopped mussel) for small/medium fish and feed them whole to large fish, but be sparing as it is a big polluter if left un eaten. Take a good delve into the fish stores freezer, a good store will have a large variety of frozen foods like tubifix, glass worm, black mosquito larvae and daphnia as well as bloodworm so buy a pack of each and ring the changes for the fish.

Adult brine shrimp has very little nutrional value so i wouldnt bother with it to be honest.