Aggression During Feeding Times

[pirategrl]

I just added German gold rams to my tank the other day... everyone gets along great until it's time to eat.  I am feeding a variety of blood worms, mini pellets and flakes for the general fish and then sinking pellets for my corydoras.  The rams will eat the flakes or whatever and once everything is gone they will start hoarding all the pellets from the corys.  Is there anything I can do to help prevent the aggression?  So far no one has gotten hurt, the rams are litterally ramming the corys with their heads out of the way.  Right now the rams are just babies but if this continues I am worried they will start hurting the corys.

 

[snazy]

For that same reason I feed the corys and generally all my fish, mini sinking wafers, different kinds to suit each diet. The size allows the corys to eat them in one go once they get to them.  Otherwise they get bullied and can't munch long enough over a bigger wafer before the hungry guys come along. I feed very little in flakes and similar food because what the "top eaters" do, is eat their share from the surface and then rush the bottom to eat the bottom feeder's food.  So in reality they get double the feed.
As long as your "food bullies" are willing to eat from the bottom, there's no need to put extra for them at the top to be honest, or just very little to distract them for a bit if possible. I even sqeeze the blood worms and everything at the bottom.

 

[pirategrl]

I will have to see if I can find the mini ones.  I just bought the ones that the fish store recommended.  I hope that works.  Thanks!


will the cory's eat the mini pellets?  They fall to the bottom, but is that sufficient?  The wafers I got specified that they were for corydoras and other bottom feeders where the pellets just say they are for tropical fish.

 

[snazy]

Check out the New life spectrum pellets. They've got different sizes in mm, different diets(different fish) or community formula, Hikari has the mini ones too for bottom feeders.
Just do a bit of reasearch what type of food the rest of your fish require and combine both worlds together. Most fish require variable diets so all is appreciated.
 
Try feeding just the sinking mini wafers and put them straight under water so they fall immediately. Obviously since these wafers are small, you have to put a bit more so it's enough for all fish. Then normally there's no "bunching up" because there isn't a big piece of food all fish try to bite at the same time. While they fall down, the top eaters catch quite a lot, then they go along the bottom searching for more the same way as the bottom feeders, with that difference they don't "argue" over the same wafer at the same time because it's gobbled up immediately and they don't bully and stress each other in the process.

 

[RCA]

I sometimes tend to break up the pellets for the bottom feeders so that I can distribute them, or put less in if the larger pellet is not needed.
 
I recently came across a food that all of my fish seem to love.  It is a moist food, therefore for my Bettas it is already pre-soaked in a way, also you can make bigger "lumps" of food out of it by rolling the smaller pellets together for the bottom feeders, which I do not always do, as they love the smaller size too, more info HERE.
 
The advantage of the above food is that the pellets either float for the Bettas, sink for other fish to grab on the way down, or get to the bottom where the Corys etc gobble it up.  I have been very impressed with it and would definitely buy it again.  Not sure if you can get something similar in the States?
 
The only fish I seem to have aggression from at feeding time is a Hillstream loach, he literally head buts the Corys and chases the Loaches.  I was advised to get another Hillstream loach so I got one of a different sex, as then apparently they should chase each other!  The new one is no bother, but the bigger one has not changed his behaviour, I think he is just a little "nuts".  Luckily the aquarium has lots of hiding places for the other fish to get away if need be.  I have also found that in not always placing the food in the same place, such as with the sinking pellets, it keeps him pre-occupied as the food appears in different places.

 

[the_lock_man]

Sera do some granule food, the same formulation as their flakes, but these sink, so that the cories can get them quickly. Works nicely for everyone in the tank.

 

[DyArianna]

I also have some food agression in my Molly tank. I have one gal, a marbled lyretail, that thinks all the food in the tank is hers. I do have tropical granules that I was only feeding once in a while....but they all enjoy them. I might try these instead of flakes for a bit to see if there are any changes. I do not have the issue of cories or bottom feeders not getting enough to eat but will see if this helps my case too!

 

[snazy]

The New Era catfish pellets
 

I sometimes tend to break up the pellets for the bottom feeders so that I can distribute them, or put less in if the larger pellet is not needed.
 
I recently came across a food that all of my fish seem to love.  It is a moist food, therefore for my Bettas it is already pre-soaked in a way, also you can make bigger "lumps" of food out of it by rolling the smaller pellets together for the bottom feeders, which I do not always do, as they love the smaller size too, more info HERE.
 
The advantage of the above food is that the pellets either float for the Bettas, sink for other fish to grab on the way down, or get to the bottom where the Corys etc gobble it up.  I have been very impressed with it and would definitely buy it again.  Not sure if you can get something similar in the States?
 
The only fish I seem to have aggression from at feeding time is a Hillstream loach, he literally head buts the Corys and chases the Loaches.  I was advised to get another Hillstream loach so I got one of a different sex, as then apparently they should chase each other!  The new one is no bother, but the bigger one has not changed his behaviour, I think he is just a little "nuts".  Luckily the aquarium has lots of hiding places for the other fish to get away if need be.  I have also found that in not always placing the food in the same place, such as with the sinking pellets, it keeps him pre-occupied as the food appears in different places.

 
The New Era catfish pellets have similar properties and seem to be recommended close to "natural" food. My betta loves them too Well, all fish eat them as usual but they can be made into bigger or smaller sizes.

 

[pirategrl]

That moist food sounds interesting.  I will have to do some research and see if I can get it here.  Thanks so much for all the opinions and advice!