Dinner Time!

thisguyek · Jul 8, 2011

Im beginning to build my stock numbers up. I'm used to only having less than 10 fish or so, so it was easy for me to see who was eating and how much. Now that there are more, its difficult to keep an eye on who is eating and whos not getting enough.

How do those of you out there with large quantities of fish go about feeding? ive been feeding twice a day, and putting a little bit in and then coming back in 5 min and putting a little more in... should that suffice?

Caprichoso · Jul 8, 2011

How many fish do you have now? If you had 10 and now you have 20, multiply what you feed by 2. A bit of estimating comes in with it but generally, all food should be consumed in 2-3 mins max. This wouldn't necessarily be the case with sinking pellets as they may take longer to devour. The pellet type food you have to check back on to make sure it's getting eaten. Bit of caution with the sinking pellet if you put it in and then turn the lights off as you wouldn't know if it's too much food or not.

Hope that helps you

thisguyek · Jul 8, 2011

thats about what i do. I'm mainly concerned that everyone is getting a close to equal share of food. I'll throw a sinking algae wafer in after dark for my pleco, which it usually finds quite quickly.

Caprichoso · Jul 9, 2011

Probably not everyone is getting an equal amount but that's very normal. Some fish are bullies and hog all the food to themselves, lol..I have had to take a couple of fish out and put them in my other tank so that they could thrive a bit better and get more food. I transfer them back once they grow up big and strong and then they get on fine with the "bullies". I can guarantee that your fish are getting enough food all in all....I think that we tend to over feed sometimes if anything because fish always seem to be hungry. I'm sure you'll get the routine down and that all your fish will do well! A high quality food will also ensure that even if the fish get only a small amount of food that it will provide them with the nutrition they need to do well.

thisguyek · Jul 10, 2011

Yeah, i believe youre right! what can I look for in a food that makes it a 'higher quality'?

minnnt · Jul 10, 2011

You need to source some Tetra Prima and TetraMin flakes. They're arguably the best food around and is a very high end product. Something that is high in protein will also help

Try chucking some frozen (thawed out!) live food cubes in too. 2 or 3 a week will help no end!

thisguyek · Jul 10, 2011

minnnt said:
You need to source some Tetra Prima and TetraMin flakes. They're arguably the best food around and is a very high end product. Something that is high in protein will also help

Try chucking some frozen (thawed out!) live food cubes in too. 2 or 3 a week will help no end!

Yeah, I give them a combo of tetramin flakes and tetramin crisps. ive also been throwing in one cube of frozen blood worms a week, but that was before my new addition. I'm sure ill up the ante a bit now!

well it sounds like all i have to do is up the feeding just a bit. thanks for the replies!