Flake Food- Too Large?

[CBTF]

Ok.. when my new platies eat, they grab the flakes, realize they're too big and then spit them out. They do this the whole feeding time. Is this cause for concern? Are they biting off tiny chunks that I dont see?

 

[rEvolution27]

Ok.. when my new platies eat, they grab the flakes, realize they're too big and then spit them out. They do this the whole feeding time. Is this cause for concern? Are they biting off tiny chunks that I dont see?

i've seen my fish do this before at different times. I don't think it's a problem. try crushing them... but i think it's more likely your food is stale.

 

[fishfishfish]

just crush it

 

[yvez9]

fish usually spit out food they don't like

if they're new, it is perfectly normal for them to spit it out for now. after a few days, they'll acept them as they'll be hungry enough

it is also possible they're biting off small chunks. try crushing into finer flakes

 

[love_fish]

Fish spit out food to make it smaller from my experience.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree with love_fish, most fish dont have teeth and they cant chew either, so when they bite off more they can chew so to speak, they spit it out and try eating it again until its small enough- plenty of livebearers do this from my experience.
Just crush the flakes up a bit more finely, they wont have any problem eating the flakes even if its really finely crushed .

 

[AdrianB]

I always crush the food up for them. I have some quite small fish and when I feed frozen worms I try to cut them up as they end up sticking out of there mouths as they are too big.

My fish seem to like the red flakes more than any of the others and ofter spit out food.

 

[jolaf]

I agree with you Tokis. My fish always take a bite apit it out and then go back for the rest. I think it is a small thing I was putting a bit of the large flakes in and making sure to grab soem smaller also as I have big and small fish they seem to be thriving.

I agree with love_fish, most fish dont have teeth and they cant chew either, so when they bite off more they can chew so to speak, they spit it out and try eating it again until its small enough- plenty of livebearers do this from my experience.
Just crush the flakes up a bit more finely, they wont have any problem eating the flakes even if its really finely crushed .

 

[Bignose]

I agree with love_fish, most fish don't have teeth and they cant chew either

Tokis, this isn't true at all. In fact, when you consider the very, very wide variety of creatures that are called 'fish' there are very few similarities between all of them. One is that all fish, in one way or another, have teeth. Certainly, not all teeth are obvious as the piranha's for example, but all fish have teeth in some form or another. A lot of the cyprinids have teeth on throats called pharynegal teeth used for shredding. Suckermouthed fish have only these teeth. Some catfish have cardiform teeth which is a roughened patch at the front of the mouth. There is also vomerine teeth that are tiny patched on the roof of some species' mouth. But, all fish will have teeth of some form.

But I agree with all the other advice, I usually just grind the flakes up for the smaller fish anyway. There is one concern if the fish are being super-territorial sometimes fish will shred up food they aren't eating just so that the other fish won't get any (it becomes too small for competitors to notice). But have only heard of this observed with some of the larger cichlids.

 

[jolaf]

Honest mistake dont be so hard on Tokis I agree iwth you that some fish do become territorial over food and shred it up . my silver tipped shark does that swims his pattern and grabs as much of the big flakes as he can then resumes bottom feeding while the others are going .what happened to the food

I agree with love_fish, most fish don't have teeth and they cant chew either

Tokis, this isn't true at all. In fact, when you consider the very, very wide variety of creatures that are called 'fish' there are very few similarities between all of them. One is that all fish, in one way or another, have teeth. Certainly, not all teeth are obvious as the piranha's for example, but all fish have teeth in some form or another. A lot of the cyprinids have teeth on throats called pharynegal teeth used for shredding. Suckermouthed fish have only these teeth. Some catfish have cardiform teeth which is a roughened patch at the front of the mouth. There is also vomerine teeth that are tiny patched on the roof of some species' mouth. But, all fish will have teeth of some form.

But I agree with all the other advice, I usually just grind the flakes up for the smaller fish anyway. There is one concern if the fish are being super-territorial sometimes fish will shred up food they aren't eating just so that the other fish won't get any (it becomes too small for competitors to notice). But have only heard of this observed with some of the larger cichlids.

 

[FroggFrogg]

In fact fish spit out feed because there are first getting a feel for the texture of the food.

 

[jolaf]

That makes snese also. They do that to other things floating in the tank so why not food right

In fact fish spit out feed because there are first getting a feel for the texture of the food.

 

[CBTF]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Ive ground them up a little bit smaller and that seemed to help. Still some spitting going on but no complaints from me (or the cories on the bottom, haha). They seem to be settling in a bit better. Didn't eat so much today but at least they arent just making a mess.

Ps, food isn't stale

Just opened yesterday.

As far as them trying to feel other things in the tank too, amen. Today I watched my platy swim around with a cat hair in her mouth for an hour before I realized it was a big problem. I had to net her and gently grab her face, hoping the cat hair would come out. It did, and boy was it long. Hopefully pulling it out did no damage. She seems pretty active so I think it's all good.

 

[moon]

My fish seem to like the red flakes more than any of the others and ofter spit out food.

My Swordtails & Neons have a penchant for the red flakes too!

 

[CBTF]

my fish ignore red flakes, leaving them for the bottom feeders.