Do We, People In The Hobby, Remove Our Food Too Soon From The Tank?

[raptorrex]

as per the title.

baring in mind the quality of most aquarium filtration systems today. and assuming your tank is sufficiently filtered. is there really any need to remove thing like cucumber, courgettes, and the other veg treats we tend to give our fish, in such a short space of time? we often read that its best to remove them after 24 hours, some advise even shorter time. this is fine but not all stock likes its veg, totally, fresh. when feeding tomato its often over 24 hours before the fish even touch it, but it goes skin and all in three days. cucumber goes fast, but if left in for three or four days, you can see through the remaining skin.

 

[hollyp0p]

i was wondering this with things like pleco wafers.....says remove after 20mins in not eaten....yet my pleco takes AGES to find it, I end up just leaving it in til he eats it, which can be like 12 or more hours

 

[raptorrex]

i was wondering this with things like pleco wafers.....says remove after 20mins in not eaten....yet my pleco takes AGES to find it, I end up just leaving it in til he eats it, which can be like 12 or more hours

i must admit i was thinking of fresh, but you bring up a good point!

 

[OscarWilde]

as per the title.

baring in mind the quality of most aquarium filtration systems today. and assuming your tank is sufficiently filtered. is there really any need to remove thing like cucumber, courgettes, and the other veg treats we tend to give our fish, in such a short space of time? we often read that its best to remove them after 24 hours, some advise even shorter time. this is fine but not all stock likes its veg, totally, fresh. when feeding tomato its often over 24 hours before the fish even touch it, but it goes skin and all in three days. cucumber goes fast, but if left in for three or four days, you can see through the remaining skin.

I guess it depends on who's reading this. I would say that like the 1 inch 1 Gallon rules this is a fairly old fasioned guideline. If on the one hand you have a complete novice who is unlikely to do many water changes then I would say that the answer is no. On the other hand if you know what you are doing with regards to water parameters etc then I suppose in theory you could leave an bag of veg in there to rot (obviously making it nessecary for some extremely frequent water changes).

 

[hollyp0p]

i was wondering this with things like pleco wafers.....says remove after 20mins in not eaten....yet my pleco takes AGES to find it, I end up just leaving it in til he eats it, which can be like 12 or more hours

i must admit i was thinking of fresh, but you bring up a good point!

i suppose whether it's fresh or man made it depends how fast the food breaks down, flake for instance doesn't take long and if too much goes off can upset even the most stable tanks

 

[raptorrex]

I guess it depends on who's reading this. I would say that like the 1 inch 1 Gallon rules this is a fairly old fasioned guideline. If on the one hand you have a complete novice who is unlikely to do many water changes then I would say that the answer is no. On the other hand if you know what you are doing with regards to water parameters etc then I suppose in theory you could leave an bag of veg in there to rot (obviously making it nessecary for some extremely frequent water changes).

yep its the way i tend to look at it! but do our newbies, once they become more experienced, ever change the system they have always known? you make a very valid point though.

lets say that for the purposes of this thread, we all know how to maintain a tank, and just look at the effect these items could have on your tank, if left for longer than say three days.

i suppose whether it's fresh or man made it depends how fast the food breaks down, flake for instance doesn't take long and if too much goes off can upset even the most stable tanks

indeed so, it was the amount of flake that gets to the bottom of the tank that started me thinking of this.

 

[raptorrex]

I guess it depends on who's reading this. I would say that like the 1 inch 1 Gallon rules this is a fairly old fasioned guideline. If on the one hand you have a complete novice who is unlikely to do many water changes then I would say that the answer is no. On the other hand if you know what you are doing with regards to water parameters etc then I suppose in theory you could leave an bag of veg in there to rot (obviously making it nessecary for some extremely frequent water changes).

yep its the way i tend to look at it! but do our newbies, once they become more experienced, ever change the system they have always known? you make a very valid point though.

lets say that for the purposes of this thread, we all know how to maintain a tank, and just look at the effect these items could have on your tank, if left for longer than say three days.

i suppose whether it's fresh or man made it depends how fast the food breaks down, flake for instance doesn't take long and if too much goes off can upset even the most stable tanks

indeed so, it was the amount of flake that gets to the bottom of the tank that started me thinking of this. lets face it not many people do water changes and vac the gravel more than once a week. so the fast deteriorating flake gets left in the tank for 6 times as long than is often suggested for cucumber.

 

[WILDER]

I wouldn't leave veg in any longer than a day, it starts to rot and the fish eat it can cause bacterial infection.

 

[raptorrex]

I guess it depends on who's reading this. I would say that like the 1 inch 1 Gallon rules this is a fairly old fasioned guideline. If on the one hand you have a complete novice who is unlikely to do many water changes then I would say that the answer is no. On the other hand if you know what you are doing with regards to water parameters etc then I suppose in theory you could leave an bag of veg in there to rot (obviously making it nessecary for some extremely frequent water changes).

yep its the way i tend to look at it! but do our newbies, once they become more experienced, ever change the system they have always known? you make a very valid point though.

lets say that for the purposes of this thread, we all know how to maintain a tank, and just look at the effect these items could have on your tank, if left for longer than say three days.

'hollyp0p
suppose whether it's fresh or man made it depends how fast the food breaks down, flake for instance doesn't take long and if too much goes off can upset even the most stable tanks

indeed so, it was the amount of flake that gets to the bottom of the tank that started me thinking of this. lets face it not many people do water changes and vac the gravel more than once a week. so the fast deteriorating flake gets left in the tank for 6 times as long than is often suggested for cucumber.

I wouldn't leave veg in any longer than a day, it starts to rot and the fish eat it can cause bacterial infection.

fair point, but would veg really rot so much as to cause infection problems for fish, in 24 hours. and surly fish that don't eat rotting matter, wont eat it! those that do will finish it off before it becomes a problem!

 

[dwarfgourami]

I wouldn't leave veg in any longer than a day, it starts to rot and the fish eat it can cause bacterial infection.

IME courgettes and similar take much longer than 24 hours to rot.

 

[Darkstar]

I've never had a courgettte or cucumber last longer than about 10 hours, after that the whole thing has been stripped with just a thin membrane left.

However all this is dependant on tank size, filtration, tank inhabitants etc, so what might work for one could be disastrous for someone else.

 

[Eclecticoldsod]

Me too, Boboboy..! As a life-long fan of excessive filtration, and excessive water changes, I just lob grub into my admittedly over-stocked four-foot community tank – huge pinch of dry food for breakfast; live or frozen food for lunch; fresh or blanched veggie meal for supper...
My only problem is finding anything but cucumber skin to hoover out at water-changing time!
As well as the real bottom feeders: cats, snails, blue-clawed lobster/crayfish, most of my lot don't seem to mind popping down [slumming it] for a quick extra snack (only the most regal Angel fish won't go down on my substrate) so excess food has never been a problem for me...

“What 'excess food?' - we ain't bleedin'-well getting enough, as it is..!”

Sorry darlings, but as my dear old Gran used to say: “If you don't leave the table feeling a little bit hungry – you've had too far much to eat..!”

 

[MermaidMel]

This depends on so many factors, you wouldn't leave cucumber in a 10g filtered with a fluval 1 or UGF that has like, 2 snails in it or something. I have a 55 gallon, a tetratec 1200, a bunch of small plecs and have no problem leaving it with them for a couple of days whilst they eat the lot [bar the skin]

 

[raptorrex]

This depends on so many factors, you wouldn't leave cucumber in a 10g filtered with a fluval 1 or UGF that has like, 2 snails in it or something. I have a 55 gallon, a tetratec 1200, a bunch of small plecs and have no problem leaving it with them for a couple of days whilst they eat the lot [bar the skin]

yeh very good point, but would the amount of cucumber be far less in a 10g than a 55g? indeed would it not be, roughly, proportional to the filter size?

 

[tibby25731]

My 60litre has a pleco, 2 kribs, 3 neon tetras and 6 guppies. Oh, and a dwarf frog and a shrimp. I leave peas and cucumber overnihgt because they like to snack on it then they seem to lose interest.... I never have to remove flakes, the guppies finish most of it off at the surface, the tetras hang about underneath for the smaller bits. I put in bloodworm for my frog but have to distract the fish with some bloodworm of their own to make sure he gets some, and everything is eaten within 10 mins, the kribs go around the gravel searching out lone worms! Amd all the fish attack my plec tablets and cichlid pellets, whatever is left of the plec tablet tends to be hidden away by my plec for his own pleasure and disappears soon enough, so the only thing I ever remove is the remains of veg!