Feeding Community Tanks, How Often And What When?

[wilchil64]

Just wanted to clarify something, as I keep reading different advice.

We have two community tanks, as listed in my sig.

I have just read yesterday that tetras should be fed 2 to 3 times a day and larger fish once a day, very large fish every second day.

I have been feeding all my fish once a day, alternating between flakes one day, then the next day maybe fresh daphnia or bloodworm, then frozen brine shrimp the following day, then the next day a mixture of flake and pellet, etc. When I remember I throw in some cooked skinned peas (how many should I add?) or a piece of cucumber.

The betta has 4 pellets of Hikari Betta Bio Gold once a day and if I am feeding the other live food I put in a few brine shrimp or whatever for him too.

Once a fortnight, I have a day when I don't feed them.

If we have just put a new fish in, we don't feed them on that day at all.

So how does that sound? Should I be feeding them more often? The guy at the LFS said that the leopard frog plec will pick up the bits of food that have fallen into the gravel etc at night when it's dark. He (the plec, not the guy at the LFS) doesn't come out until we turn all lights off in the room, so we never seem him eat. I put in an algae wafer most nights for him, but don't know if he is eating it or the barbs etc.

We tried putting fish in for him a few times, but it didn't get eaten and the next morning there was an oily film on top of the water and the barbs poo was white for a few days! Guess they'd been eating the fish .....!

Any comments appreciated.

 

[naomilovesherfish]

i feed my fish 3 times a day but in very small amounts as i have alot of fish they have a varied diet of flake,daphina,brineshrimp,tubifex,bloodworm and white shrimp. oh and algae wafer.

naomi
xxx

 

[wilchil64]

i feed my fish 3 times a day but in very small amounts as i have alot of fish they have a varied diet of flake,daphina,brineshrimp,tubifex,bloodworm and white shrimp. oh and algae wafer.

naomi
xxx

Is it better for the fish to be fed 3 times a day in very small amounts? How often should they have bloodworm? - think I read somewhere that they shouldn't have it too often?

 

[drobbyb]

While feeding your fish 3 times a day in small amounts can be good, it also makes it easier to overfeed (especially if you are already overfeeding a bit.) I find that a moderate feeding once a day and skip a day or 2 a week works well.

I really should learn to use the spellcheck.

 

[pippoodle]

i feed my fish every other day apart from the minnow fry in the baby nets they get fed 4 times a day also the hex tank with the baby corys in gets everyday and so does the aquaone with the pregnant limias (awaiting 1st fry) and baby corys in
livebearer fry (guppys and platys) are born in the tanks and just get fed with everyone else

when feeding the fish i feed my bottom feeders and shrimp first (making sure they will be enough for them) then i feed the others what they can eat in 2 mins and thats it

feeding the fish every other day makes sure you dont get overfed fish and also that you dont get waste food hanging around your tanks which can cause ammonia build up and infections

NEVER go by the instructions on fish food containers these are so you buy more

Sarah xx

as for live foods i feed blood worm once a week and daphnia or brine shrimp once a week , i also feed frozen foods when i cant get hold of the live foods

 

[joecoral]

On my community tank I feed flake or tetra prima daily mon-sat, and frozen bloodworm or brine shrimp a few times a week
sunday is water change day and i dont feed at all
occasionally (every few weeks) feed live daphnia too

 

[wilchil64]

i feed my fish every other day apart from the minnow fry in the baby nets they get fed 4 times a day also the hex tank with the baby corys in gets everyday and so does the aquaone with the pregnant limias (awaiting 1st fry) and baby corys in
livebearer fry (guppys and platys) are born in the tanks and just get fed with everyone else

when feeding the fish i feed my bottom feeders and shrimp first (making sure they will be enough for them) then i feed the others what they can eat in 2 mins and thats it

feeding the fish every other day makes sure you dont get overfed fish and also that you dont get waste food hanging around your tanks which can cause ammonia build up and infections

NEVER go by the instructions on fish food containers these are so you buy more

Sarah xx

as for live foods i feed blood worm once a week and daphnia or brine shrimp once a week , i also feed frozen foods when i cant get hold of the live foods

Wow, what a lot of fry! What do you do with them all, do you keep them or sell them?

What do you feed the bottom feeders and shrimp? I haven't been feeding the shrimp anything extra, just hoping they pick up the bits that fall to the bottom, we only have 2 amano shrimp in one of the community tanks and they are much bigger than when we got them, so must be eating something! otherwise we just have the 2 BN and the L134, I put algae wafers in for them when the lights go off at night, usually every second day.

Thanks for your help.

 

[saz326]

Well, I dont know about your community tank - but in my tank everyone eats all foods. e.g. If I put sinking pellets in for the Doras and bristlenose then the tetras pick at them and the dwarf cichlid takes a whole one in his mouth. If I then feed flakes, the tetras abandon the food on the bottom of the tank and head to the surface, but the Cichlid never eats his special cichlid foods unless all other foods have disappeared.

I often see the shrimps fighting over algae wafers - there are plenty to go around but they always want the same one!

Maybe I need to tell my fish what they are supposed to eat.

Is there a general all rounder food that people use to feed all of their fish at the same time?

 

[Craster]

I feed as follows:

Monday & Friday - frozen bloodworm, daphnia, or brine shrimp, and algae wafers.
Wednesday & Sunday - Hikari micro pellets, sinking cichlid tablets, and algae wafers.