One fish eating more than the others

[freshy]

Hi,

I have questions about the fishies eating habits.

I've just finished my cycle and received a guppy and a diamond tetra as an "opening present". After reading in these boards (and getting some info at lfs)than tetras can feel lonely if not kept ina a group I added two more to keep him company and they seemed to cheer him up a bit.
The thing is that now, after 3 days, I've noticed than one of the "new" tetras and the guppy go for the flakes voraciously as soon as they hit the water, while the other two stay shyly swiming and only pick the some of the few pieces of flakes that go to the bottom.

Is there something I should do to get the food a little bit more evenly distributed? Should I even DO anything at all, or is it better to leave things as they are?
Tonight I even noticed that my "munching" tetra has a bigger belly than the other two!

 

[fishaholic]

Just don't do anything for a couple of days (2-3), but if this continues, then u might need to seperate them for feeding but i think it would stop.

 

[raindream]

I have 6 tetra and mine have done the same thing, as far as I can tell the dominant male will eat first, the smaller males and the females get to eat last lol...I wouldn't think it is much to worry about as long as they are eating.

 

[bubbs]

i've got five black widow tetras, had them about 6 months and one of them has almost doubled in size the others are still small.

The fat one always gets food first and goes for the biggest flakes. Kids call him 'fatty'

seems to be a common thing with tetras?

 

[bluefire]

i wouldn't really worry about it, as long as they are all getting food and are healthy.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Don't worry about it. My skirts and danios were the same way. Some of them "risk" going to the surface to snatch up flakes, but most of them just wait for the flakes to sink.

Just as long as they are getting food, it is ok. If the problem persists, fish can easily be trained to look for food leaving turkey basters. Whenever my fish happen to see the baster (occasional occurrence) they go crazy.

Are you varying the diet, by the way? They would probably appreciate some live and/or frozen foods as well.

 

[freshy]

Thanks for the answers guys!

Varying their diet? Wow, I didn't know ) I've had these folks for a week now. How often should I change the kind of food I give them?

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You give them treats every other day. Or you could give flakes at one meal and shirmp at another. The next day flakes one meal, blood worms another.

Lots of foods to choose from, too.

Raw slivers of fish, beef heart (small amounts), fruitflies, dried tubifex worms, dried krill, frozen bloodworms, and frozen brine shrimp to name the most common ones.

The fish will go absolutely crazy for the last two! Enjoy feeding them.