Seeking Feeding Advice

[ozgirl_bkk]

Hello,

I am a new fish owner, and looking for advice on feeding.I have a ten gallon tank with 6 neon tetras, 2 albino corys, 1 chinese hillsteam loach (AKA stingray pleco/butterfly loach) and one dwarf puffer.

The gentleman at the local fish store (I live in Bangkok) said I should feed one Hikari sinking wafer for the catfish/loach, bloodworms for the puffer and flakes for the neons in the morning AND at night, (ie 2 wafers, 2 rounds of bloodworm and flakes every day). Does that sound like too much food...or am I being too conservative?

Thanks for your help!

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Don't hold me to it but I thought dwarf puffers when they get a bit older become quite nasty towards other fish. They'll need snails too to wear down their beak.

Corys need to be kept in bigger groups than 2.

If you want to feed twice a day you can; if you want to feed once a day that is fine too. I feed my goldfish twice a day and my other fish once a day; see how quickly they eat the food and how quickly your water starts to turn bad; it if happens too quick then you are over feeding.

Personally I think I'd feed once a day since you would be putting flakes, bloodworms and wafers in.

 

[reignofcheese]

The way I do it is I use flakes and bloodworms and brine shrimp for my upper water dwellers. I don't have a science to it, I just mix it up how I feel and they get some of all of it. I feed twice per day when my fish are newer and younger, but I don't let them bloat themselves with food at the feeding - I watch them and when they've all had at least a bite or two I'll stop feeding. Letting the fish stuff themselves to the gills all the time just leads to fat fish and a dirtier aquarium. Once my fish grow up though, I start feeding just once per day, and not even every day. My 8 year old cichlid (average lifespan 10) gets fed just 3 times per week these days.

My bottom dwellers get fed once, after dark, when the other fish are inactive. I do this because in order to ensure they got enough food during the day feeding I would have to feed the rest of the fish much more than I like to. They get sinking pellets or brine shrimp/blood worms, and it's really a judgement call as to how much - but about 2 or 3 small pellets or a few blood worms each for the little guys.

I have not kept dwarf puffers, but from everything I've read it sounds like he's going to cause trouble in your tank - they are not community fish.

The corydora cats are indeed grouping fish and quite social. In order to get the best thriving and behaviour out of them, it's good to keep as many as we can fit, in your case you can do 4 or so.