Stupid Newby Question About Feeding My Baby Mollies And Bncf

[bensfirstfish]

Hope someone can help/reassure. My new 125l tank is fully (fishless) cycled and ready for our first fish (readings of 0, 0, 0 after 24 hours at 4ppm ammonia) so after much umming and erring and many changes to our stocking plan, me and my wee boy ventured to the LFS and came home with 4 dalmatian mollies and one bristlenose catfish.
 
They settled almost immediately and the mollies especially are very curious and confident and came straight over to nibble on my son's fingers - much to his delight! My concern is that they seem hungry (and have already learned to congregate in the corner where we put food in even after just 2 days) but they don't seem to be able to find the food before it gets washed away by the current. The filter is on the lowest setting, but it is still strong enough to carry floating flakes away before the fish have had their fill. I tried turning the filter off completely for the couple of minutes that they were eating, but most of the flakes still just sank to the bottom despite frenzied activity by the little mollies. I tried to retrieve the wastebits but the water is starting to cloud cos of the waste food.
 
The mollies are happy to eat from our hands (cooked broccoli stalks seem to be a strong favourite!) but flake food disintegrates too quickly to feed like that. What should we do?
 
The other prob is our little bristle nose. He runs away as soon as I go anywhere near and hasn't touched the sinking algae flake or piece of cucumber we gave him, so I fished (sorry!) the bits out again. He has been having a field day munching algae off all the plants and bog wood, so maybe he just isn't hungry?
 
Any suggestions, particularly about how to fed our hungry mollies, gratefuly received.
 
Thanks
 
 
 
 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

BN are primarily nocturnal, and a bit skittish.  They require some sort of wood in the tank (aids their digestion) and also like a cave, or similar for shelter during the day.  Mine has dug its own burrow under a large piece of mopani in my tank.  Feeding the algae wafer at night would be far more effective for the BN.
 
 
The mollies will ALWAYS beg for food - most fish do.  So, don't worry about that behavior.  Mollies are also very curious fish.  Flake food is actually very concentrated, so they don't need a ton of it to be fed.  You are going to want to feed LESS food than you think they need.  Their stomachs are actually quite small - roughly the size of their eyes.  So, a mouthful of flake food is actually far more than you think it is.  They also will graze for algae from time to time, so don't be overly concerned about the food they get.  4 mollies should only be fed about 4-8 flakes, once or twice a day.  

 

[bodge99]

Hello,

I feed my mollies on

http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260602578788

http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260618672350

Defrosted frozen peas (split), Sliced cucumber (halved) and cooked broccoli.

For a treat, I give them frozen bloodworms, frozen daphnia and live Grindal worms.

I'd also get some plants into the tank.. Mollies love eating algae off of the leaves etc.

BTW, If you want to know the secret to breeding mollies...

It's this: Add warm water and stir!

By this I mean you will soon have fry if you have at least 1 male and 1 female.

For me, this part is the most interesting.. I find it fascinating watching them grow and develop their own characters...

Also, there is no such thing as a silly question whilst learning.. better to ask and avoid mistakes. There is a wealth of information available from members of this forum.

Good luck with your fish.

Bodge99.