Feeding My New Pets - Help Please!

[iankent]

My aquariums been up and running for about a week now (it was just under a week ago I got the fish, and it turns out the tank had fully cycled even though my nitrites hadnt dropped back to 0 before the water change - now getting stable readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 10 nitrate)

in the tank I have 6 corydoras, 1 siamese fighter, 12 neon tetra, 10 glowlight tetra and 3 aquatic dwarf frogs

i've been feeding them on flakes, catfish pellets and frozen brine shrimp - i've been trying not to feed them too much (at the moment just one lump of the brine shrimp a day, which stays in the tank for around 3 minutes before its all gone and a couple of flakes/pellets every other day for variety), but is this enough or is it too much? i've no idea how to tell whether i've given them enough!! any advice?

many thanks

 

[OldMan47]

I know you are doing the best that you know how but you are going about it backwards. The flake should be the daily food with some frozen brine shrimp, thawed out in tank water, every few days as a treat. The flakes are the basic healthy diet for the fish while the brine shrimp are a low nutrient treat. If you are willing to spend the time and effort, you can feed a balanced diet without relying on the flake but its not an easy thing to do right. Another good food for the cories is algae wafers. Again it should be used as a treat for them since they are primarily algae and have almost no fat content and are low in protein. I am not sure what catfish pellets are but if they are made for things like plecostomus, they are likely about the same as algae wafers. The cories will enjoy the brine shrimp as much as anybody else if they get a chance at them. One of the cubes of brine shrimp is probably enough for the whole tank full of fish for a day when that is what you are feeding.

 

[iankent]

ahh that makes more sense!! have been meaning to research and write out a proper feeding schedule for them but have been so busy the last few days! will be doing it tonight though!

at least I know the frogs are getting food - most people seem to be concerned they dont get the food before the fish, but I've seen the frogs kick fish away from their food once or twice! (hopefully it doesnt hurt the fish!)

the girl at the LFS said I shouldnt need to feed them more than once every two days, but then she insisted fishless cycling was a bad idea as it hurt the fish. clearly 'fishless' doesnt make it obvious enough! what would you recommend?

thanks

 

[OldMan47]

I feed almost every day but I don't get too upset if I miss a day. Its definitely better to feed a little too little than a little too much. The problem with too much is that the extra food will ruin the water quality while a slightly light feeding will cause no real harm. A common approach is to feed only what you think the fish need each day and then have one day a week that you intentionally don't feed. The only time I worry about feeding every day is when I am trying to get my fry to grow bigger, fry need to be fed several times per day but very small amounts each time to make them grow faster.

 

[LosC519]

You have nice tatse, I like your fish stock. Any pics?

 

[iankent]

thanks for the advice - I think im getting it a bit more right now than I was!!

LosC - i've got photos, but haven't got around to uploading them yet - my aquarium page (see banner in sig.) will have more photos as I add them!
edit - LosC - have a look at my website now: http/myaqua.stormail.co.uk/aquariums/7/ - I've uploaded quite a few photos of the fish and frogs to my gallery!

 

[dem0nz]

hey kind off topic but i was just wondering how your siamese fighter gets along with all the others?
i have heard that suitable tankmates are hard to find for them.
i am trying to find some mid/top level fish to go with my fighter

 

[waterdrop]

Hey Ian,

Been meaning to say.. glad you made the transition out of cycling and into successful fish keeping! Congrats!

To quote your opening paragraph:
"My aquariums been up and running for about a week now (it was just under a week ago I got the fish, and it turns out the tank had fully cycled even though my nitrites hadnt dropped back to 0 before the water change - now getting stable readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 10 nitrate)"

Thanks for throwing in that comment about the water chemistry just prior to stocking fish. I think there may be a subset of people out there with their nitrites not quite seeming to process fast enough who will relish hearing that once the fish were introduced, the filter did indeed settle in and perform properly.

Had to laugh at your description of the young lady at the LFS who felt that "fishless" cycling would hurt the "fish!" That's a great one! And it must really ring true as your newly introduced fish dart happily about their new tank exploring and eating hungrily, right?

Glad oldman47 is getting you sorted out on feeding - sounds great!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[iankent]

Hey Ian,

Been meaning to say.. glad you made the transition out of cycling and into successful fish keeping! Congrats!

To quote your opening paragraph:
"My aquariums been up and running for about a week now (it was just under a week ago I got the fish, and it turns out the tank had fully cycled even though my nitrites hadnt dropped back to 0 before the water change - now getting stable readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 10 nitrate)"

Thanks for throwing in that comment about the water chemistry just prior to stocking fish. I think there may be a subset of people out there with their nitrites not quite seeming to process fast enough who will relish hearing that once the fish were introduced, the filter did indeed settle in and perform properly.

Had to laugh at your description of the young lady at the LFS who felt that "fishless" cycling would hurt the "fish!" That's a great one! And it must really ring true as your newly introduced fish dart happily about their new tank exploring and eating hungrily, right?

Glad oldman47 is getting you sorted out on feeding - sounds great!

~~waterdrop~~

thanks waterdrop all seems to be going well, although there's been the loss of a frog and a cory, neither due to cycling issues thankfully, but it was a shame to lose them. The fish are hyperactive all the time - and the betta is just starting to get some confidence!! for the first week he spent most of his time avoiding the other fish except at feeding time - now he joins in the corys in their constant hunt for food - there's some pics of them all on my website if you click my signature pic (except the glowlights - need to get some photos of them)

the lady at LFS started to make me angry lol - she just didnt seem to understand how fishless cycling didnt harm the fish, so I gave up trying to explain in the end!

only problem I have with the fishless cycling is that we're essentially building up enough bacteria to handle an insane amount of nitrite while building up the bacteria for the ammonia - with some maths it would be possible to work out "when" the tank was cycled without waiting for the nitrite drop! though of course, as I read somewhere (wish I could remember where!), water changing during a cycle will help clear out the high levels of nitrites, making it easier to identify the end of the cycle