How much food to feed?

[kevfiz]

The guy at the fish shop told me to feed the fish every other day and I am just wondering how much I should feed the fish? I have 6 cardinals 4 red phantom 3 panda Corys 2 zebra 5 rummy nose 3 harlequin and 2 platy the tank is 70 ltr and has two pumps running. I have tetra prima and tetra mini food and also I have daphny and blood worm

 

[Byron]

The Tetra Prima I believe is pellets that sink slowly? What about the Tetra Mini?

Is the daphnia and bloodworms frozen, or dried, or freeze-dried?

 

[mikey11]

if it was me would feed the prima once a day, then one of the other foods once a day....so two feedings in total per day.....all food should be consumed in 2-3 mins

 

[kevfiz]

Yes the prima is pellets the mini is flakes, the daphina and bloodworm are frozen. The guy at the fish shop said feed once every other day

 

[mikey11]

sorry i wasnt reading properly.....i wouldn't even use or recommend the pellets for your fish

their main diet should be a good quality flake food....like this....

http://www.tetra-fish.com/products/nutrition/tetramin-tropical-flakes.aspx

feed that once or twice a day....everything else is optional and should be used very sparingly....maybe substitute one of the flake feeding twice a week with your frozen foods

 

[Byron]

First off, frequency. Once a day is fine if you do not overfeed. Every other day is fine. I feed daily, early in the day, omitting the water change day (never feed before tank maintenance) and one other day. I do however feed the "treats" being frozen daphnia and frozen bloodworms, an hour or so after the water changes are completed. Bloodworms should not be fed more often than once a week, and any frozen food should bee considered "treats" rather than basic. There is more all-round nutrition in good quality prepared foods [I'll come back to this below].

With your fish species, you need sinking foods and floating foods. Floating can be flake or a pellet that sinks very slowly. Sinking foods need to get to the substrate fairly quickly as upper level fish can often snatch them up. So feed both types, one upper and one sinking, together; this usually allows for thee sinking food to get to the substrate for the cories.

Now, to the foods mentioned. Once your present Tetra foods are gone, I would recommend other brands. I (and many others here) suggest Omega One and New Life Spectrum. Both of these do not contain the "garbage fillers" that Tetra foods have, such as those wheat meals and starches such listed in the ingredients. Now, these are certainly not going to kill your fish this week, but long-term they are not the best ingredients and fish health can be affected.

For the cories, sinking foods I use are Omega One shrimp pellets, Omega One Veggie Rounds, and Nutrafin's tabs (these have earthworm, and some of the fillers, but only once a week is not as big a deal as daily). I alternate these, so each day for three days there is a different food, then they repeat. With two days off, it is providing a good balanced and nutritional diet.

For the upper fish, I use Omega One Veggie flakes (their Kelp flakes are much the same), New Life Spectrum basic freshwater flake with garlic, and Nutrafin's Bug Bites which are tiny insects. These alternate same as the sinking foods.

Feed minimally; all the upper food should be gone in less than a minute, or you are probably feeding too much. Sinking solid foods will take longer to eat as the cories munch away, easily 2-3 hours. For three cories, 2-3 of the shrimp pellets and one tab or disk of the foods I mentioned are sufficient at a feeding. Fry need more frequent feedings to properly develop, but not mature fish.

 

[kevfiz]

Ok thats great i will have to order that. Why would the guy in an aqurium shop tell me every other day? It seems to be a very good shop

 

[Byron]

Ok thats great i will have to order that. Why would the guy in an aqurium shop tell me every other day? It seems to be a very good shop

As I said in my post above, once a day is fine, every other day is fine. And yes, based solely on this answer, your fish store seems better than many. Most will say what is on the package labels, to feed several times a day. Fry need this, but mature fish do not.

One average sized flake has sufficient nutrition for one day for a small tetra. Fish do not need much, and by nature they will eat if food is in front of them, because their instinct is to do this in their habitats; they may not see food for days so they eat what they find. But with prepared foods, this can very quickly cause serious health issues.

 

[AbbeysDad]

their main diet should be a good quality flake food....like this....
http://www.tetra-fish.com/products/nutrition/tetramin-tropical-flakes.aspx
feed that once or twice a day....everything else is optional and should be used very sparingly....maybe substitute one of the flake feeding twice a week with your frozen foods

Tetramin Tropical Flakes Ingredients:
Fish Meal, Dried Yeast, Ground Brown Rice, Shrimp Meal, Wheat Gluten, Feeding Oat Meal, Fish Oil, Potato Protein, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil, Algae Meal, Sorbitol, Lecithin, Monobasic Calcium Phosphate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Yeast Extract, Inositol, Niacin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate ...

I don't consider any fish food with the main ingredient of fish meal to be high quality!!!
Unfortunately, most fish meal is low quality (ground heads, scales, bones) - cannery byproducts of parts of fish that can't be used for any other purpose, let alone human consumption. It's ground, dried, loaded with preservative, and sits in a warehouse for extended periods before ordered by a fish food manufacturer. As a dry powder, (rather than a wet protein) it requires copious amounts of (grain) starch as binder/filler (notice the rice, wheat gluten, and oat meal).
Fish don't handle grains well so this means a lot more fish waste as it just passes through!

The high quality fish foods have a main ingredient of whole fish!
I feed mostly Omega One Tropical Flakes with some New Life Spectrum tossed in.
Omega One Ingredients:
Whole Salmon, Halibut, Black Cod, Whole Herring , Whole Shrimp, Whole Krill, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Fresh Kelp, Lecithin, Astaxanthin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Phosphate (Source Of Vitamin C), Natural And Artificial Colors, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin,

(Note: I have no affiliation with any fish food manufacturer.)

To the question of feeding, it really varies. If they were in the wild, fish would be hunting for food most of the daylight hours, but success rates would vary.

In general I'd say to feed once or twice a day in small amounts. But there are exceptions...
My 60g has turned into a grow out tank for dozens of growing fry (I became an 'accidental breeder!). I have two Eheim Everyday Feeders setup and feed the fish small amounts roughly every 2 hours during the day!

 

[mikey11]

Ok thats great i will have to order that. Why would the guy in an aqurium shop tell me every other day? It seems to be a very good shop

most shops will always say to feed less.....thats because most beginners tend to over feed/ put far too much food in....i find less food more frequently is best for smaller fish like yours

 

[mikey11]

Tetramin Tropical Flakes Ingredients:
Fish Meal, Dried Yeast, Ground Brown Rice, Shrimp Meal, Wheat Gluten, Feeding Oat Meal, Fish Oil, Potato Protein, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil, Algae Meal, Sorbitol, Lecithin, Monobasic Calcium Phosphate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Yeast Extract, Inositol, Niacin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate ...

I don't consider any fish food with the main ingredient of fish meal to be high quality!!!
Unfortunately, most fish meal is low quality (ground heads, scales, bones) - cannery byproducts of parts of fish that can't be used for any other purpose, let alone human consumption. It's ground, dried, loaded with preservative, and sits in a warehouse for extended periods before ordered by a fish food manufacturer. As a dry powder, (rather than a wet protein) it requires copious amounts of (grain) starch as binder/filler (notice the rice, wheat gluten, and oat meal).
Fish don't handle grains well so this means a lot more fish waste as it just passes through!

The high quality fish foods have a main ingredient of whole fish!
I feed mostly Omega One Tropical Flakes with some New Life Spectrum tossed in.
Omega One Ingredients:
Whole Salmon, Halibut, Black Cod, Whole Herring , Whole Shrimp, Whole Krill, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Fresh Kelp, Lecithin, Astaxanthin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Phosphate (Source Of Vitamin C), Natural And Artificial Colors, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin,

(Note: I have no affiliation with any fish food manufacturer.)

To the question of feeding, it really varies. If they were in the wild, fish would be hunting for food most of the daylight hours, but success rates would vary.

In general I'd say to feed once or twice a day in small amounts. But there are exceptions...
My 60g has turned into a grow out tank for dozens of growing fry (I became an 'accidental breeder!). I have two Eheim Everyday Feeders setup and feed the fish small amounts roughly every 2 hours during the day!

i have bred and raised literally 10's of thousands of fish in my time......i have used both tetramin and omega one....in my opinion they are pretty much equal in quality....i never noticed any difference in raising my fish while feeding one or the other

 

[kevfiz]

Ok so out of all the foods reccomended above could yous tell me one good upper food to buy and one good sinking food

 

[Byron]

Ok so out of all the foods reccomended above could yous tell me one good upper food to buy and one good sinking food

A variety is advisable. Fish can take more to some foods than others. Nutritionally, those I have recommended (and AbbeysDad too) are worth it. But as I mentioned two flake and one "bug bite" I would say the New Life Spectrum flake may be the best if you only get one. The bug bites are well appreciated by fish. And the Veggie Flake (Omega One) does get more "veggie" into the fish which is important for intestinal health.

Same holds for the sinking. Fish I believe will be better with variety. Buy small packages, as fish food does deteriorate once opened to the air. Some of us freeze it.

 

[AbbeysDad]

i have bred and raised literally 10's of thousands of fish in my time......i have used both tetramin and omega one....in my opinion they are pretty much equal in quality....i never noticed any difference in raising my fish while feeding one or the other

Many years ago in another forum, a member questioned fish foods that were made from fish meal. I thought 'what's wrong with fish meal?'. Then I did the research and learned how really bad (poor quality) fish meal really is!
So I sought out high quality foods made with whole fresh fish and less grain. Now prior to switching, my fish often had trails of poo from their rear ends. After switching to the high quality food this stopped! Fish can't process grain, so it passes right through and excess waste just makes for a dirtier tank with higher nitrates.
So here again, each to his/her own!

 

[kevfiz]

Ok so new life spectrum flake omega one veggie flake and bug bites and alternate each day?