Feeding

[mak]

Hi, what does everyone feed their Platy and Neon Tetras and how much? I feed mine on flaked aquarium food once a day. The books say feed as much as they will eat in 2 mins but a lot of the food sinks to the bottom so you can't really see how much they eat.

 

[b3cca]

I don't have tetras or Platties but :  -
 
With my filter running the food just sinks straight away so I just turn my filter off for the 5 mins or so when I feed my fish, that way the flakes or micro pellets I use stay on the surface and do not sink at all.
 
I have no bottom dwellers so have no need for food to sink, I simply sprinkle some flakes on the top watch them eat it for a few mins. when my fish have had enough they lose interest in any food left over then I simply net out any left over food from the surface and turn my filter back on.

 

[TallTree01]

My tetras are given tropical pellets, better than flake cos they don't have to gulp from the water surface and make their butts float.

 

[mak]

Will Platy eat tropical pellets? Do they sell it in normal pet shops?

 

[TallTree01]

When I kept swordtails they were eating them so platies should as well.
I just read the box and found out that they are in fact granules not pellets. I'll see if I can find the brand.

Here's a pic of tub:

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Not quite what you meant to post eh TT?

 

[TallTree01]

Nope. I fixed it now. That happened once before, mamashack thinks I got abducted by aliens.

 

[CoryLover95]

I feed Omega One tropical flakes to my Neons & Platys (have some other fish too) supplemented with Hikari micro pellets.  Sometimes I feed defrosted Freshwater Multipack from PetSmart (love it!).
It will help with the uneaten food if you buy some Mystery Snails, especially ones that fly, like in TT's signature.  Nah, just kidding....but Mystery Snails really do help eating uneaten food & sometimes poop, as well as some algae...and grow huge!

 

[TallTree01]

Filter feeders like freshwater clams are good. When I kept them they lived for a good 7 years and I only saw them out and about ~10 times. lol.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Nope. I fixed it now. That happened once before, mamashack thinks I got abducted by aliens.

 
That's a bit better!
 
Personally I use a mixture of JBL flakes, Tetra granules and frozen blood worms. My fish get fed once a day/every two days but when I've gone away for the weekend before they've not had any for 2-3 days and been fine.

 

[TallTree01]

I've started only feeding my fish once every 2 days cos it means there's more of a show when they eat. It's more of a feeding frenzy than just a feeding. It's even more of a frenzy when I give them stick on food. A ring of tetra. I left my tank without food for a week amd a 1/2 and and when I returned they were fine ( albeit a little hungry ).

 

[TheStretchedElf]

Hi, what does everyone feed their Platy and Neon Tetras and how much? I feed mine on flaked aquarium food once a day. The books say feed as much as they will eat in 2 mins but a lot of the food sinks to the bottom so you can't really see how much they eat.

I feed mine once a day on a staple of Tetra Pro Colour 'multi-crisps' with occasional dried bloodworm and tubifex for variety. Some of it sinks to the bottom but my tetra and platies have no issue with scooping it off the substrate and chowing down.