How To Not Overfeed Fish When Adf Are Present

[metulburr]

I have a 30 gallon tank with multiple fish and 4 African dwarf frogs. When i feed them, i notice the majority of the food gets eaten by the fish. The only time i can get food to the ADF are by the fish stop eating, and they only stop eating when they over eat. 
 
Is there a trick to feeding ADF with fish in the process? I seen online someone talking about a feeding section but they did not describe it. Someone also said to feed them with long tongs. Ive tried using barbecue tongs, but the boodwarms just separate from that because its not precise in grabbing small things like boodwarms. 
Some of the ADF know when feeding time is, and they search out for food. They know that it collects behind the filters too. Those ones seem fine, but the others seem to not be knowing of feeding time and miss out on food. 
 
I know i am overfeeding the fish WAY too much trying to get food to the ADF. 
 
I dont want to separate the frogs into a different tank. I would much rather find a solution to assuring the ADF get fed and the fish dont over feed. 
 
 

 

[Baccus]

Rather than tongs, you could try some long tweezers/ forceps, these have the added advantage of coming to more of a point and being more directional and maneuverable when attempting to feed the frogs. You should be able to pick some up online, or in a decent petshop, they sometimes have them for feeding lizards etc or for taking care of plants in aquascaping.
Generally because of the issue with fish eating the bulk of the food, it is better to not keep frogs and fish together.
 
You might be able to train/ condition the frogs to come to a set area of the tank for feeding. This might be done with the help of a light such as a torch when the tank lights are otherwise out. When the frogs happen to bumble into the stream of light be ready to drop some food in front of them. Its conditioning training, eventually the frogs should associate the light and one certain spot as a place to get food. The added advantage of attempting such training when the tank lights are otherwise out is that hopefully the fish are asleep and wont be diving into steal the food.

 

[metulburr]

The tweezer idea is great. I did not know they even made aquarium tweezer that long. I just order a couple different ones online. 
 
I think with the long tweezers, i will have the ability to maneuver the bloodworms to where i want them at the bottom of the tank. The frogs hang out in a hollow tree trunk and the fish never go in it. There is a small pocket of air trapped within the tree trunk. I think i can get bloodworms to stay in there with the long tweezers. 
 
If that fails, i can at least use the tweezers to put the bloodworms in front of their face. 
 
Thanks for the idea.

 

[Baccus]

Glad I could help, let us know how the new feeding equipment goes.

 

[Frank77]

What I do, to deliver food to a specific place, is use my syphon tube, the actual "vacuum" part that goes in the water, not the smaller hose coming from it.
 
It only works if it is long enough hit the bottom, and still have some above the water line. Put the end of the tube just above where you want the food to go, and drop it in, if it is sinkable food. It will end up just where you want it.
 
In my case, it is to put an algae wafer in the same spot every day for my plecos.

 

[metulburr]

That is a good idea too. 
 
However my siphon does not reach the bottom. Its one of those, ill get it when i get it type things. But when i do, i definitely ry this technique too. Thanks.
 
@Frank77 Sure will

 

[Frank77]

I got this kit, comes with some different tips, and has an extension. Good for those with deep tanks.