How Much Food Do My Fish Need ?

[deejeant]

Hello all,
I have only been keeping fish for 1 week and am getting confused on how much food my fish require. I have 4 platies and they are about 2 to 2.5 cm big. I am feeding them Tetra Pro Colour ( multi crisp ) and each crisp is about 5 mm in diameter. Should I also put crisps in whole and how often?
  Any advise would be gratefully recieved.
                                 Regards

 

[Mikey1]

are you sure that measurment is correct?
 
a 5mm crisp/pellet is far too big for your fish,
 
i would highly recommend changing to a good quality flake food like tetra min, or omega one,
 
your fish should be consuming all of the food within 2-3 mins,
 
if there is still food in the tank after this time frame, you are feeding them too much

 

[PrairieSunflower]

People usually say feed them as much as they can eat in a few minutes.  I've used that food before for guppies, I usually gave them 2-3 flakes each... platies are generally bigger and eat more.
 
You said that you've only had fish for a week.  Did you cycle your tank before adding your fish?  Just checking in case you didn't we can help you head off troubles.

 

[attibones]

After about three minutes, remove any excess food. It's easier to give flake food because you can crush the flakes to appropriate size. Essentially, you should be feeding in quantities no larger than one eye per fish. I feed flakes twice a week, a small pinch, and half an algae wafer for my catfish. I also feed zucchini or cucumber twice a week (depending on what I have available) to help with any constipation and to be sure that all my plant eaters are getting plenty of plant matter. Once a week I feed frozen brine shrimp (about 1/3 of a cube), and once a week the same amount of beef heart. My fish fast on Saturdays, and occasionally I will omit the flakes.

I believe for your fish, you could feed some brine shrimp once a week, cucumber twice a week, and good quality flake twice a week. Your fish will then have two fasting days. Hope that helps.

 

[Mikey1]

After about three minutes, remove any excess food.

 
this is good advice, however, its much easier to just feed your fish the proper amount/not overfeed
 
this way no removal is nessessary,
 
put food in at small amounts, if all the food is gone in 30 seconds or a min, then you can give them a bit more,
 
its alot easier to add more food in small amounts, then it is to scoop excess food out of the tank

 

[deejeant]

Yes I cycled the tank and everything looks good. It was just the amount of food is my concern. Ive been giving them 2 each once a day . I crumble some is that right?

People usually say feed them as much as they can eat in a few minutes.  I've used that food before for guppies, I usually gave them 2-3 flakes each... platies are generally bigger and eat more.
 
You said that you've only had fish for a week.  Did you cycle your tank before adding your fish?  Just checking in case you didn't we can help you head off troubles.

 

[deejeant]

Yes I just measured one but they just crumble when they put into the tank. They eat it all in about 2 mins

are you sure that measurment is correct?
 
a 5mm crisp/pellet is far too big for your fish,
 
i would highly recommend changing to a good quality flake food like tetra min, or omega one,
 
your fish should be consuming all of the food within 2-3 mins,
 
if there is still food in the tank after this time frame, you are feeding them too much

 

[CoryLover95]

I usually do 2-3 minutes with small groups of fish (only one or two types) and 3-5 minutes with a large community tank, because of the different eating speeds of different fish.  It's not really a question of amount, more the time that it takes to eat.