A Couple Of Questions About Feeding

[Mola Mola]

Hi,
I've read the information in the beginner's section, and also taken a bit of advice from my lsf, plus read the instructions on the food carton (AquaCare Tropical Flakes).

I have 5 mollies and 8 platies, and the guy in the lsf said just to give them 6-8 flakes each day. The food carton says to feed them as much as they can eat in two minutes.

However, I have a couple of questions, that I am hoping you can help me with.

Firstly, what exactly are the dangers of overfeeding? I understand that food left behind will decay and create ammonia, but is there also a danger of the fish eating too much, and causing harm to themselves?

Secondly, if I have fed them a certain amount (be it the 6-8 flakes, or what they can eat in 2 minutes, or some other measurement), should I still keep feeding them, if they seem keen to eat extra food. Often I will feed them, but then add a bit more, and they go crazy to get at the new food, as if they are starving.

I suppose that if the answer to the first question is that they actually can overeat, that would suggest just sticking to the set amount and not giving more, even if they seem keen to take it.

Just don't want to starve them! Also the mollies seem very assertive at feeding time, and I don't want the platies to suffer, if it turns out that the mollies are taking the lion's share.

Any help would be very appreciated.

 

[moochy13]

my fish wont eat more than they want, if i put too much in it will just sit in the tank. i try and feed just before the lights go off as anything that gets left on the bottom, when my cats come out at night they might hoover it up. anything left in the morning gets hoovered out. theres not usually much though.

 

[Mola Mola]

my fish wont eat more than they want, if i put too much in it will just sit in the tank. i try and feed just before the lights go off as anything that gets left on the bottom, when my cats come out at night they might hoover it up. anything left in the morning gets hoovered out. theres not usually much though.

Thanks. It doesn't seem to matter how much I give them, they will eat it. Even if some of the flakes are missed and sink to the bottom, the fish will quickly find them and eat them.

I'd just like to know whether some fish can over-eat.

 

[Tizer]

you will soon see them get fat if you over feed.

 

[Mola Mola]

you will soon see them get fat if you over feed.

OK, so they can over-eat. Thanks Tizer.

I wonder if fish can start to look like their owners. If so, I better put them on a strict diet now!

 

[Rickzayne]

a pinch of flakes a day will be fine

 

[fluttermoth]

What you must remember is that fish don't have any mechanism to tell them they're full like mammals do, so if the food is there, they will carry on eating.

The excess food is excreted without being digested, so it will cause pollution in exactly the same way as uneaten food will.

 

[moochy13]

one sign of overfeeding is pest snails.

 

[Rickzayne]

I have 5 xD

but I'm letting them live for now xD

 

[moochy13]

haha if you think you got 5 you have at least 20.

 

[Blubble37]

well i know i have over 500 in my tank - not including the eggs.

 

[Mola Mola]

What you must remember is that fish don't have any mechanism to tell them they're full like mammals do, so if the food is there, they will carry on eating.

The excess food is excreted without being digested, so it will cause pollution in exactly the same way as uneaten food will.

Thanks fluttermouth. That makes it crystal clear. Much appreciated.