I Don't Want To Over Feed...

[willowstwin]

Ok, so overfeeding = BAD! But... I have a VERY greedy gourami. I sprinkle the flakes one the water, and he zooms around and hoovers up the food before the tetra know there's even food there... so I sprinkle on another pinch, thinking he'll have had his fill (I'm sure I read somewhere that a fishes stomach is only as big as its eye) but no, he hoovers it all up again. So, 2 days, 2 morning feeds, twice my tetras havent had anything...

What can I do? because even if a flake sinks, he nudges them all out of the way to get it so I don't even think sinking pellets will work. I'm also worried about the algae wafers for my shrimp (arriving on tuesday)... what if he munches those too and the shrimp starve! Big fat greedy Jagger (named so because he has the biggest lips I've ever seen on a gourami)!!

 

[Tizer]

feed at night after lights out, a good number of fish tend to sleep when its dark.

 

[Athena]

Hmmm...yes, difficult situation when you have a greedy guzzler lol

What about mixing the flakes with a small amount of the tank water (in a little cup or empty flake pot) then pour half of it on one side of the tank and the other half on the other side of the tank. It should be quite difficult for the gourami to be on both sides of the tank at once and hopefully this will give your other fish a chance to feed.

Athena

 

[Louiseness]

Maybe try a small sinking food? He might find it more difficult to eat ALL the sinking bits at once, particularly if you add them to two seperate areas of the tank as has been suggested.

My dwarf gourami likes to munch the algae wafers, but I wouldn't worry about it as they're quite hard to start off with so it takes him AGES! You could always break them in half so he has one bit and the shrimp have the other.

 

[willowstwin]

good idea athena. He really is a greedy little thing. He's quite funny though, he'll eat all the food and then swim to the right side of the tank and "kiss" his reflection haha I'll try the mixing the food with water thing.

 

[Harlequins]

My dwarf gouramis are a terror at feeding time,always the first there and will go down to the sand and turn sideways to get the cory granules

So favourite trick now is too feed the granules which he will chase,but has he's use to the turkey baster going into the tank with his favourite bloodworm(which he'll eat before it has chance to come out the end)i use this just after to intice him back up where i'll slowly squirt out some presoaked food which he'll readily take,then usually the corys would have munched most of the granules by then

Method in my madness

 

[willowstwin]

ahhh a turkey baster... I guess a pipette would work also... might have to train him to eat from a pipette hehe