Couple Fish Questions

[Hamsnacks]

1. I sometimes catch my fish doing a quick scratch up against a rock or piece of driftwood, just wondering when would it become concerning that it may be a parasite? Been noticing for almost 2 months now, not always the same fish but not every fish either, just a few.
If it were a parasite would you see scratching often every day or here and there?
Could it be a territorial thing?
I did battle ich a few months ago and I believe I was successful as all the white spots disappeared and no fish have shown any signs of ich since.
If I want to be safe, should I just monitor until I see any evidence of a parasite, or should I increase the temp or use medications?

2. Will be removing some community fish and looking at maybe getting some rams. I have been looking at the German Blue Ram and the Bolivian Red Ram. I was thinking of having 2 of each, hopefully, try to get a male and female. From your experiences would that work fine, its a 120 Gallon, 6ft long, with plenty of plants, wood, and rocks. Will they keep to themselves and be comfortable with just 1 other member of the same species?

Thanks

 

[Hamsnacks]

Also might as well ask a third question:

3) Am I maybe underfeeding? I have let's say a rough estimate of 60 fish, which consist mostly of tetras and barbs, with a mix of corys and some cuckoo catfish. I usually feed every second day, with a mix of flakes and sinking pellets and then some days, brine shrimp and bloodworms. I know its better to underfeed than overfeed but I keep reading how people feed 2-3 times a day, I know it must be in smaller quantities but should I be doing it every day due to the amount of fish?

 

[Colin_T]

Fish sometimes get an itch but if they are rubbing on objects every day, then it is probably a protozoan infection or poor water quality. Check the water quality and clean the glass, gravel & filter and do a big water change. Post a picture and short 20 second video of the fish rubbing and we will try to see if there is anything on them.

You can also check the fish yourself. Look for cream, white or grey patches on their bodies and fins, there might be red edging around the patches too. These patches would indicate Costia, Chilodonella or Trichodina.

Look for white spots on the body or fins (Ichthyophthirius/ whitespot you know about).

Shine a torch on the fish after the lights are turned off and see if any of them have a gold sheen to their body. If they do then they have Velvet (Oodinium).

There shouldn't be any protozoan parasites left in the tank if you successfully treated it for whitespot because all external protozoan infections that affect fish are treated the same way and would have died when you treated the whitespot. However, if you have introduced new fish since treating for whitespot, you might have introduced new parasites

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Either keep German Blue Rams or the Bolivians but not both. Buy 3 or 4 prs and put them in the tank to pair off. When you get 2 nice prs, remove the others and leave 2 prs in the tank. Try to have caves, plants and wood at each end and in the middle of the tank so each pr can have an end to live at.

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The instructions on most packets of fish food say to feed fish 2-3 times per day. This encourages people to use more food and buy more food. It is also based around people (humans) eating 3 meals a day so they think fish should eat 3 meals a day too.

People and most other terrestrial animals eat regularly to maintain body temperature. Whereas, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water and this means any food they eat is used for growth and movement. They don't have to eat to keep warm. This means they don't have to eat as often as mammals and birds and fish can go for days, weeks or even months without food.

Fish and most animals are opportunistic feeders and will take food whenever they find it. In the wild, fish might go for long periods without food then they have a sudden influx of food. They gorge themselves when food is available and starve when it isn't.

I suggest feeding baby fish 3-5 times (or more often) per day so they can grow faster and don't die from starvation. Baby fish have tiny bodies with very little mass and no fat reserves to fall back on. They have small stomachs and digest the food they eat within a few hours. Feeding them frequently throughout the day stops them starving to death while they grow and build up some size.

Adult fish that you want to use for breeding should also be fed 3-5 times per day for several weeks before they are bred. This allows the fish to build up some body fat and develop good quality healthy gametes (eggs & sperm), which usually produces bigger healthy young and quite often, more young.

For adult fish that are just hanging out in their tank, feeding them once a day or once every couple of days is fine and they will not starve. Obviously starving a fish isn't necessarily good for its long term health but regular feedings once a day or once every second day is fine.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

Also might as well ask a third question:

3) Am I maybe underfeeding? I have let's say a rough estimate of 60 fish, which consist mostly of tetras and barbs, with a mix of corys and some cuckoo catfish. I usually feed every second day, with a mix of flakes and sinking pellets and then some days, brine shrimp and bloodworms. I know its better to underfeed than overfeed but I keep reading how people feed 2-3 times a day, I know it must be in smaller quantities but should I be doing it every day due to the amount of fish?

Most people regularly overfeed, Fish used in Aquaculture to achieve high growth rates are fed between 2% and 4% body weight per day. For a fish which is just being kept in your aquarium you do not need to feed that amount. I see people in the hobby feeding their fish more than workers on a fish farm... not good!
I feed about 2% body weight every 2 days for my fish.

(Shameless plug) If you want to know more about nutrition and feeding in fish, I wrote a thread about it

http://www.fishforums.net/threads/feeding-and-nutrition-in-fish.450390/