Are My Fish Getting Starved

[neo83]

Hello everyone

My tank stocking is in my signature and this thought about how much i'm feeding has always bothered me. I feed once a day, everyday when i get back from work at 6 in the evening. All fish are ready at the mid to top levels begging for food. I'm sure all fish do this. But, i have since noticed that even my dwarf cichlids are eating from the surface by which i mean as soon i put the food in, it's just a feeding frenzy and lots of splashing noise. I don't even get time (a bit of an exaggeration) to put in some sinking granules for the ram and apisto. I mean i suppose you get what i mean. I crush up some flakes or spirulina veggie flakes based on the day and offer that first. When the harlequins, platies, guppies and even the pearl gourami is attending to the surface, i tend to drop the sinking granules (tetra prima granules) uncrushed so that the ram and apisto pair can eat those. But, unfortunately it's not exactly working like that. The cichlids seem to be more than willing to come to the surface and feed, more often the apisto than the bolivian ram.

I'm attaching the daily feeding amount in the image below. (The amount can be slightly more than showed below)

Could you advice if the feeding amount is OK or if i need to change anything please?

Thanks

 

[ZoddyZod]

what's the total stocking of the tank?

Most of my fish have learnt that the best way to get fed is to come to the top when I open the lid, this included the 2 Bolivan Rams I had. There is always a mass panic as they dart around grabbing each piece they see.....dont think there is anything strange about your fishes behaviour

 

[FishFanatic13]

yer my fish do that all the time

 

[neo83]

what's the total stocking of the tank?

1 Bolivian Ram, 1 Pearl Gourami, 2 Apistogramma Macmasteri, 10 Harlequin Rasbora, 3 Platy, 4 Guppy, 5 Amano Shrimp

Most of my fish have learnt that the best way to get fed is to come to the top when I open the lid, this included the 2 Bolivan Rams I had. There is always a mass panic as they dart around grabbing each piece they see.....dont think there is anything strange about your fishes behaviour

Ah, so it's not really abnormal for the cichlids to feed at the surface then. Also, is the feed quantity OK?

Thanks

 

[ZoddyZod]

what's the total stocking of the tank?

1 Bolivian Ram, 1 Pearl Gourami, 2 Apistogramma Macmasteri, 10 Harlequin Rasbora, 3 Platy, 4 Guppy, 5 Amano Shrimp

Most of my fish have learnt that the best way to get fed is to come to the top when I open the lid, this included the 2 Bolivan Rams I had. There is always a mass panic as they dart around grabbing each piece they see.....dont think there is anything strange about your fishes behaviour

Ah, so it's not really abnormal for the cichlids to feed at the surface then. Also, is the feed quantity OK?

Thanks

in the wild it's probably very abnormal for them to try and eat from the surface, but as most are now tank bred or have spent months in fish shops, they will quickly adapt as they do have a fair amount of intelligence.

In terms of the amout of food.....it's difficult to say whether it's enough or not. It's not an exact science. I would keep a close eye on all your fish to see if they are nice and plump without any abnoramlly thin bellies. That is the best way of knowing if your fish are getting enough food.

 

[neo83]

In terms of the amout of food.....it's difficult to say whether it's enough or not. It's not an exact science. I would keep a close eye on all your fish to see if they are nice and plump without any abnoramlly thin bellies. That is the best way of knowing if your fish are getting enough food.

Thanks ZZ. All fish seem healthy and nice at the moment. As always i'll keep monitoring them and try and be less paranoid. BTW, nice dwarf flag cichlid you got there, don't have any room left in mine

 

[Littlemonkey]

Lights on at night is mummy is going to feed us time. There will allways be the odd bit of flake that makes it down for hovering up later by bottom dwellers and snails. Thinking about it I only have to be near the tank for them to think they are going to be fed. It's better not to overfeed. As Zoddy said totally normal fish behaviour.