Feeding, How Much And How Often!

[OverByFish]

Hello! This looks like an awesome forum, I can tell I am going to get some great advice and friends from here

 
A few weeks ago I bought an aquarium, it's a FishPod 120 (120 Ltr tank). In it, I have the following creatures:

• x5 Neon tetra
• x3 Harlequin
• x3 Rummy-nose tetra
• x1 Silver (Bala) shark
• x1 Siamese fighting fish
• x2 Crabs
• x3 Shrimp
• x1 Plecostomus

I have just purchased a Discus (you should be able to see him hiding in this log most of the time!), it's been in there for a couple of days. I've been feeding it once every day, with half of a frozen bloodworm cube. He does eat it, but sometimes has to frighten off the crabs first.
 
The reason I've only fed him once a day is this is what was recommended for the other fish, even once every two days. I feed them standard flakes.
 
Should I be feeding my Discus more? I don't want to overfeed him, but at the same time, he doesn't seem too bothered about the food if it's there..
 
Looking forward to the replies, and please be nice, I'm new to this game, and I feel I may have jumped in too deep

 
PS: Thanks to whoever approved me!

 

[baker360360]

Welcome......

Firstly as many will tell you your tanks overstocked ( we all done it) that discus will need 50g + to be happy when fully grown your tanks about 31g us, also fish require certain water conditions so researching what they need is a good way to get the best tank mates as some fish are more aggressive than others and some simply prefer different hardness of water ect. Also Bala sharks get big and I think should be keeped in groups,( my first tank was a 55l and I put one in) it didn't do well.

As I did you also will learn a lot on here, every one is really helpfull and don't always listen to the sales people at fish shops as some are simply just trying to sell by giving false info.

As for your question a little but often works or 2x daily. Fish need less food than you think. A good tell tale is uneaten food is a dead give away of over feeding.

 

[Ch4rlie]

to TFF!
 
As you may have guessed already, there are a couple of issues with your tank stocking I am afraid 

 
Bala Shark, Balantiocheilos melanopterus, does not belong in a 120 litre tank! They grow to 30 to 35cm in length. Also best in a group of 6 in a tank of at LEAST 450 litres, even bigger tank being better obviously.
 
Siamese Fighter are best on their own in a 10 gallon tank. They do not make a particularly good tank mate in a community tank. They will probably eat your shrimps! (depends what shrimps you have, Red Cherry Shrimps, probably yes, dinnertime, amano or bamboo shrimps, probably not)
 
Pleco - Hypostomus plecostomus, (you don't say which pleco you have, but assuming is common pleco) grows to 30cm plus, lives for at least 10 years, tank needs to be at least 250 litres for fully grown adult, probably better with 350 litres plus.
 
Tetras and Harlequins are schooling fish so 8 to 10 of each is better
(not sure how many you can have in your 120 litre, hopefully someone can elaborate on that)
 
Discus - as already mentioned, 55 Gallons (200 litres) is minimum considered and they need very good water parameters at all times, so lots of water changes basically.
 
Crabs - I don't know much about these, so cannot really comment!
 
By the way is your tank cycled? means is your filter able to cope with bio load of your tank stocking?
 
If not sure, have a read of this....
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/
 
Sorry is a bit of a negative post for you but much better you know now so you can try to re-home some of these before major problems arises.
 
And yes, this IS an awesome forum, and the guys here will give you good advice and help when you ask. 

 
 
 

 

[OverByFish]

I can see I am going to have problems with my current tank set up.. its just odd that no one at the shops mentioned this, I mentioned all the fish I had and the size, and they didn't mention anything. The size of the tank the Discus were in cannot have been much bigger than mine.. the fighting fish in both shops were in with other schools of fish..
 
It's rather frustrating that nothing in the books in the shops about the fish, and no advice would have given me the correct way to look after these fish, without me Googling it, and looking into it now.. The two shops I have used to stock my tank are Pets At Home and World of Water (Both UK), as far as I could tell, both good companies with a lot of customers.. if I can't get sound advice there, where is the best place for me to go to get advice, face to face? As far as I am aware, where I live (Rugby, UK) there are no aquarium/fish shops, besides a fishing tackle one
 
I'll have to speak to my girlfriend, we've become very attached to the current layout and amount of fish, complete with naming them.. and to the untrained eye everything seems fine. I've had a couple of neons die on me, but from what I can tell, this was from the stress of moving.
 
Both shops recommended 3 days before putting fish in.. nothing like the 5-6 weeks recommended, even for a fish-less cycle. I've added tapsafe, and filter start, but nothing along the lines of cycling. I do however change 20% of the water every 2 weeks, which I was told to do by both shops..
 
I'm hoping it isn't as bad as it seems, but we shall see.
 
The shark I have looks like this one: http/www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/caresheets/caresheet.php?caresheetID=89 so I am guessing it is the same one that Ch4lie mentioned, however the tank they were in at Pets At Home had about 5 in, and looked like a 30 ltr tank, if that! Also with other fish in too..
 
Look forward to your replies. Thanks so far for your help, it is just unfortunate that the literature available at pet shops I went to didn't mention anything about this..

 

[hobby5]

Welcome to the forums!
 
Typical beginner mistake. Fish keeping is not like collecting stamps

And I am really angry at the person who sold you a single discus into that kind of tank!
All problems have been mentioned, good luck fixing the them!
 
Edit: Fish are keept in shops only temporary and never in conditions optimal for permanent housing, so don't take it as an example.

 

[baker360360]

I can see I am going to have problems with my current tank set up.. its just odd that no one at the shops mentioned this, I mentioned all the fish I had and the size, and they didn't mention anything. The size of the tank the Discus were in cannot have been much bigger than mine.. the fighting fish in both shops were in with other schools of fish..
 
It's rather frustrating that nothing in the books in the shops about the fish, and no advice would have given me the correct way to look after these fish, without me Googling it, and looking into it now.. The two shops I have used to stock my tank are Pets At Home and World of Water (Both UK), as far as I could tell, both good companies with a lot of customers.. if I can't get sound advice there, where is the best place for me to go to get advice, face to face? As far as I am aware, where I live (Rugby, UK) there are no aquarium/fish shops, besides a fishing tackle one
 
I'll have to speak to my girlfriend, we've become very attached to the current layout and amount of fish, complete with naming them.. and to the untrained eye everything seems fine. I've had a couple of neons die on me, but from what I can tell, this was from the stress of moving.
 
Both shops recommended 3 days before putting fish in.. nothing like the 5-6 weeks recommended, even for a fish-less cycle. I've added tapsafe, and filter start, but nothing along the lines of cycling. I do however change 20% of the water every 2 weeks, which I was told to do by both shops..
 
I'm hoping it isn't as bad as it seems, but we shall see.
 
The shark I have looks like this one: http/www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/caresheets/caresheet.php?caresheetID=89 so I am guessing it is the same one that Ch4lie mentioned, however the tank they were in at Pets At Home had about 5 in, and looked like a 30 ltr tank, if that! Also with other fish in too..
 
Look forward to your replies. Thanks so far for your help, it is just unfortunate that the literature available at pet shops I went to didn't mention anything about this..

As I said fish shops may lie to sell.
If your tanks not cycled you might need to go from 20% fortnightly to 25-40% daily. You want to get a test kit for ammonia nitrite and nitrate.

 

[OverByFish]

As I said fish shops may lie to sell.
If your tanks not cycled you might need to go from 20% fortnightly to 25-40% daily. You want to get a test kit for ammonia nitrite and nitrate.
 

 
I've had water checks done by the shops, they've come back fine, but I'll get a testing kit tomorrow and see how it all is. Thank you all for your help on this

 

[baker360360]

As I said fish shops may lie to sell.
If your tanks not cycled you might need to go from 20% fortnightly to 25-40% daily. You want to get a test kit for ammonia nitrite and nitrate.

 
I've had water checks done by the shops, they've come back fine, but I'll get a testing kit tomorrow and see how it all is. Thank you all for your help on this

The water is new so ammonia won't show yet but with all them fish it won't be long. But don't panic if you get stuck ask on here and you'll get the help you need. I over stocked my first tank big time and didn't cycle and with the help of the guys on here I didn't lose a single fish. good luck

Also test kits are expensive so shop about I found wilkinsons to be the cheapest

 

[Ch4rlie]

The water is new so ammonia won't show yet but with all them fish it won't be long. But don't panic if you get stuck ask on here and you'll get the help you need. I over stocked my first tank big time and didn't cycle and with the help of the guys on here I didn't lose a single fish.

good luck

Also test kits are expensive so shop about I found wilkinsons to be the cheapest
 

 
Sorry, but he will definitely have ammonia in the tank even though the tank/water is new. Fish breath and poop ammonia pretty much constantly, the pleco is pretty much the largest ammonia producers in that tank!
 
But you are correct in saying do not panic yet, fish can withstand a small amount of ammonia and nitrite but only for a short term really.
 
Afraid there is no easy way out of this, you basically have 2 choices,
 
1 - You CAN do a fish in cycle, there is a link to that somewhere on how best to do fish in cycles but I can't find it at the moment, hopefully someone will give that link for you soon. Lots of water changes and testing daily though.
 
2 - re-home ALL your fish and start over doing a fishless cycle, this may be the easiest way actually as there is basically much less water changes and much less stress for you AND the fish. If you make any mistakes during a fish less cycle, the good news is there won't be any fish that will be harmed.
 
Test Kits - have had a quick look at Wilkinson website, all I can find is Test Strip Kits - IMO these are notoriously unreliable, inaccurate.
 
You will be much better of starting with an API Freshwater Master Test Kit like this one...
 
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/API-Freshwater-Master-test-kit-/281147427212?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item4175b1498c
 
 
 API FW Test are liquid test kits, more reliable and accurate as long as directions are followed!
 
Online is cheaper obviously but P@H do sell these as well but more expensive at usually around £30 to £35.
Maidenhead Aquatics also sell these at the moment at about £25 there is a Maidenhead Aquatics in Coventry or in Harlestone Heath if you can get there!
 
If you do use LFS testing facility, be sure to ask for specific numbers, don't accept the usual "its fine" response!
 
Am sure there are other LFS nearby in your area, just takes a bit of digging on internet to find them!
 
Unfortunately, LFS do tell a porky pie every now and again about fish stocking, tank sizes, cycling etc basically they want to sell you things! Not all of them or all staff are bad mind you, there are one or two decent ones/staffs but the best thing to do is to research first and foremost, also asking on this forum is pretty good too before buying anything.
 
Things WILL get better and as soon as you learn a thing or two, you will enjoy keeping your fish and in the knowledge you are caring for them the best way possible. I started off pretty much the same as you, I was clueless!