Feeding

[purplekaz]

Just a general question really:

How much should I be feeding my fish?
(see signature for stocking)
I have a tub of Aquarian Tropical Flake, and a packet of Hikari Tropical Sinking Wafers.
Upto now I've been feeding twice a day, morning and evening, with a small pinch of flake and 2-3 wafers.

Also, the wafers seem a little big for my cories, so I've been breaking them up into small pieces.
Should I be doing this?
The packet says they are designed for cories etc. but they seem to have trouble eating them.
The cories are all over the wafers like a rash, so they must be nice, but the wafers seem to large to me.
Or is it because the cories are trying to eat before the wafers have softened enough?

Oh, another thing... The cories are zipping all over the tank like they own the place!
I was expecting them to hang around the bottom of the tank, but they explore every bit of it, and swim with the honey gouramis.
They also like playing with the bubbles, and dash up and down the whole height of the tank like they're doing relay.
Is it normal for them to be so active?
They're not gasping at the surface at all, and the temp is set at 26 degrees C.

The cherry barbs aren't shoaling at all, which I expected, but neither are the black neons.
They all seem happy enough, exploring and swimming around with the other fish, just don't shoal.
Is this normal or did I get the numbers wrong? There are 6 black neons in there.

(just in case these are need: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, pH about 7.2)

 

[LolaLouie]

Shoaling fish don't necessarily all shoal but they do like to be in groups and have the opportunity too. Out of all my shoaling fish I'd say the cherry barbs do shoal the least.

As for food really you should alternate foods and not just feed flake all the time. Just as an example my feeding schedule is smething like this:

Monday: Live bloodworm (rich and high in protein so once a week is more than enough)
Tuesday: Deshelled peas (after their rich Monday feed)
Wednesday: Flake and algae wafers for the Corys
Thursday: Frozen tubifex or similar
Friday: Flake and algae wafer for Corys
Saturday: Don't feed
Sunday: Small feed of dried food.

Everyone has a different way of feeding but it is definitely better to under feed a little than overfeed so i give once daily what they eat in 2 minutes and give the Corys 2 algae wafers between 7, this is a little too much for them but as all the other fish help them out they're usually gone within 20 minutes.

It is also very good to starve them 1 day a week as this aids digestion.

Also as long as your Corys look healthy it is a good sign that they are active. I find my corys some of the best fish in my tank to watch and if you have a nice sized group you will find they do a lot of dancing and interacting with eachother.

Oh and I wouldn't break up the wafers because they may get lost in your substrate and pollute your tank. The corys will eat them it just takes a bit of time for them to soften for the corys to suck up.

All your numbers are good, you sound like you're doing well so keep up the good work!

 

[purplekaz]

Thanks for your help
I've tried cooked deshelled peas (one of the honeys has poo hanging from him most of the time, so thought peas might help) all the fish, and shrimp, seem to love them!
I'll keep the wafers whole from now on then, they'll just have to be more patient!
Will take a look in the freezer next time I go to the LFS and see what they have, there's a good selection of frozen and dry food so will get a couple of things for them to try.

I'm so glad the cycling is done, watching fish and shrimp is so much more fun than bubbles in an empty tank, lol.