Fish Feeind

[x2percentmilk]

This will be my third day running my first aquairum, its just a small 10 gallon one. I have 2 different mollies in it, and a red platy...
i noticed that when i feed them (flakes), the white molly eats all of it...before the other fish even realize food is there. and when they do realize it, they dont seem to get to go to the surface, they only catch the few flakes that fall (if any)
i bought small "micro wafers" to see if theyed like it, and ive only tried it once, but they didnt seem ineterested. the platy took a few attempts at one but kept spitting it out.

any advice? since its a new tank and i didnt set it up 100% correctly.. (wait for the cycle) im more worried about over feeding them, but im also worried about 2 of them dyeing of starvation.

any advice? thanks

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hi and welcome to the forum .

The spitting out food thing is just many types of fishes way of breaking down food into easier to swallow peices, since fish like mollys can chew and don't have teeth. Try breaking the food into smaller morsels and see how they like it then .

Water quality problems can put fish off their food though, have you tested the tank for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph recently? If so, what sort of results did you get? While the tank is cycling with fish, you will need to test the water on a regular basis to keep an eye on the cycle's progress.

I would not worry yourself though too much about the fish starving, although its good to feed fish like mollys a couple of small meals a day, you can do far more damage to the fish by over-feeding it than not feeding the fish at all for a few days- fish like mollys can actually go up to two weeks without food absolutely fine if they are in good health/condition and this is done only as a one-off thing.
Fish in the wild do not get a constant or consistant supply of food, some days they may get a lot to eat throughout the day, while other times they may not get anything to eat for days on end. Small fish like mollys tend to benefet from having small but regular meals, with a day every fortnight or so when they get hardly anything to eat at all- this is good because fish flakes and other dried foods can be difficult for fish to digest easily, and by making sure you don't over-feed the fish too much in a day or in general, you will help prevent your fish getting digestion problems like constipation (which can be lethal in fish) .

 

[Luketendo]

I'd say drop a little in for the White Molly, while the other Molly and the Red Platy realise it's feeding time, then release the rest when all the fish are there, or use frozen blood worm, defrost it in hot water and spread it out, all of my fish notice it as it sinks and even the bottom dwellers get some.