Fish food problem!!

[ncstater1919]

I have 3 platies and i bought 2 differant fish foods dependeding on what they like, well i have tetra color tropical flakes and nutrafin max complete pellet food but they wotn eat either one of them, the flake food they eat and then spi into a million peices and the pellets they suck on and then sipt it out, all of the pellets then get stuck up in my filter and i cant get it out what food should i get? or what should i do, oh and also when i give th fish the flakes i crush it up to make smaller flakes

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The spitting and eating thing is normal, livebearers like many other fish can't chew on things so spitting food out helps to break it up for digestion for them. Never fed tetra flakes to platys but if its specfically designed for tetras it won't be ideal platy food anyways as platys are livebearers and tetras belong to a completely diffirent fish family/species. Never heard of nutrafin so couldn't help you there.
Livebearers will eat any old standard fish flakes but for a realy healthy diet you should feed them meals of frozen(but thawed out) krill/bloodworms/daphinia/tubifex which you should be able to obtain at your lfs- they also come in freezedried form as well. These sorts of freezedried/frozen foods are high in protein and too much protein can give them constipation and bad water quality in your tank if you are not careful and they are much more nutritious than normal flake foods so less is needed to give them a satisfactory meal. You should at least a 30% water change with dechlorinator once a week in a matured tank with no water quality issues, 40% is advised though as a minimum if you are feeding high protein food to your fish.
If your tank is fairly newly set up, you realy need to read up on new tank sydrome/cycling tanks if you don't know about it already in the pinned articles in the beginners section- everyone has to learn these things at some point and the sooner you do the less likely you are to lose fish through ammonia and nitrites and similar things.

How many male and female platys do you have and how many gallons does the tank hold- do you have any other fish with them?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Are these tetraflakes as in flakes designed specifically for tetras, or is Tetra the brand name (as in TetraTabiMin, the catfish tablets, or Tetraminwhatever, the fry food)? Check the container, if it says suitable for all fish, your livebearers will be fine with it.

I have never seen flakes specifically designed for tetras, though that may just because my lfs are on the small side.

Spitting out, as Tokis says, is a part of their natural way of eating. If you look carefully, they will often then eat a smaller portion of what they spat out. My month old babies haven't quite mastered this spitting out technique yet, so often end up swimming around with a great big parasol of fish flake draped around their head.

Frozen bloodworms, daphnia etc make a very good supplement; you can also get jellied stuff which can be kept at room temperature (TetraDelica, again Tetra is the brand name).

They also like a bit of veg in their diet- try frozen peas, lightly boiled, skinned and crushed; also spinach, chard etc.

 

[ncstater1919]

well i have a 10 gallon and i had 2 females but one died today she was pregnant i am pretty sure and then i have a male but he just gos up and down the tank wall, then i have a albino catfish which is my favorite, i bought some bloodworms today but the last female puts it in her mouth then spits it out!!! the flake food is called tetra color and says on the case food for tropical fish the bloodworns are by tetra and are feeze dried, it says on the container great for bettas so i mayhave gotten the wrong kind, im taking my dog back to the pet store today because they are having a dog wash for the red cross and so i may ask the person working in the fish section what to do, to tell you the truth i dont like platies very much, guppies are cool but breed way to much, i no i could jsut get males and that would eliminate the problem but what other fish would you recommend, by the way thanks for all the help



EDIT: i kinda want some fish that arnt agressive but eat and are mildly entergetic but not to entergetic but not i guess lazy liek the platies lol waht im trying to say is a fish that is interesting and i good starting fis hthat doesnt need specific needs, i kinda want a tropical fish so not goldfish, i have a load of them in my pond outside

 

[dwarfgourami]

Don't get any new fish until you have established why your female died. Check water stats- ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph- and post the results.

well i have a 10 gallon and i had 2 females but one died today she was pregnant i am pretty sure and then i have a male but he just gos up and down the tank wall, then i have a albino catfish which is my favorite, i bought some bloodworms today but the last female puts it in her mouth then spits it out!!! the flake food is called tetra color and says on the case food for tropical fish the bloodworns are by tetra and are feeze dried, it says on the container great for bettas so i mayhave gotten the wrong kind, im taking my dog back to the pet store today because they are having a dog wash for the red cross and so i may ask the person working in the fish section what to do, to tell you the truth i dont like platies very much, guppies are cool but breed way to much, i no i could jsut get males and that would eliminate the problem but what other fish would you recommend, by the way thanks for all the help



EDIT: i kinda want some fish that arnt agressive but eat and are mildly entergetic but not to entergetic but not i guess lazy liek the platies lol waht im trying to say is a fish that is interesting and i good starting fis hthat doesnt need specific needs, i kinda want a tropical fish so not goldfish, i have a load of them in my pond outside

[snapback]901952[/snapback]​

 

[ncstater1919]

i didi check my water and everything was normal , the ammonia was a little high but i expect that fro ma dead fish, after the fish died i did a 25% water change and im sure soon everything will be fine, when i bought the two female platies, i let them sit in the bag for 20 mintues to get adjusted to the water temp. then i put them in and tehy imendently suck to the bottem of the tank and just sort of hovered there, the female that is still alive eventully was swiming normal but the other female stayed at the bottem, i thougth this was because she was pregenant and the weight was holding her down because she ate bits and pieces but also spit it out. So what shouldi do now?

 

[ncstater1919]

is there anyone else that can help me?

 

[yvez9]

ammonia shouldn't spike with one dead fish... how high was it? what about nitrite?

and when you bought the fish, you just let them float in the bag then dropped them in the tank? you need to adapt your fish to your new water by adding tank water to their bag slowly until the bag is filled with mainly tank water

 

[Annastasia]

and when you bought the fish, you just let them float in the bag then dropped them in the tank? you need to adapt your fish to your new water by adding tank water to their bag slowly until the bag is filled with mainly tank water

[snapback]904490[/snapback]​

I totally agree with yvez, that's the first thing that came to my mind.

And for other foods, as you said, try crushing it up smaller. Also, have you tried freeze-dried, Frozen, or Live foods? Do you have any idea what the LFS fed them?

 

[ncstater1919]

Wow i was looking at them before going to bed the other night and the female platy that seemed to be a pretty good eater was floating on it side, i didnt o waht to do then all of a sudden she proped back up and was acting fine, the next day thou she was dead. im not sure waht they fed them at the fish store, i ahve always put them from the bag to the tank i guess that was my fault. i have had the fish for about a week so i dont think it was the tank water. ammonia is .5 to 1 nitrate is 40 waht is alkanitliy? well its 120 and ph is 7.0. are these water stats bad? also waht fish to u recommend that i should get that are hardy and liek to eat and can be in small schools?

 

[Annastasia]

You shouldn't have ammonia. You'll need to do a water change, or changes until it's down to zero. Also, what are your nitrItes?

Also, I'd recommend, before you get new fish, try to figure out why your ammonia is high. How often do you do water changes, and how much? What fish do you have, and what size tank? Just the Platy in the 10?

And if you want a small Schooling fish for a 10...that's kinda hard, as usually I would give Schooling fish more room. I guess you could do some small Rasbora, or Tetra. Or maybe you could consider a Gourami? Possibly 3 - 4 Cories? Not all of them though, of course.

 

[ncstater1919]

oh of course, i jsut have the 10 gallon and i also ahve a 5 gallon incase mabye one is injured or whatever i guess liek a quarrintine tank. i only have a platy and a albino catfish, i really wanted silver dollers but do they need to be in schools? or will 1 or 2 be ok?also are they aggresive? and i no that they can get pretty big, but i jsut think they are awesome. i would like a bigger tank but i am not ready to pay for all of the stuff that will cost for a new tank.i jsut want to keep it as a hobbie and not a full on project ( as i have other animals and a huge pond to keep clean!) I have tried tetras once and they seemed to die in the first few days, gourmais are cool but cant u only put 1 or 2 in that size tank. plus i have my catfish and surviving platie(which doesnt look so good) is there a hardier fish that eats fairly well and isnt so aggresive that i cant put other community fish with it and a fish that is good for a 10 gallon. (i no im asking for way to much but i dotn want to do the wrong thing and make life miserable for the fish). thanks for all your help and respond ASAP

 

[Annastasia]

The reason the Tetras probably died is from being acclimated wrong, as they are usually fairly hardy fish. Silver Dollars get too big. No chance there. Yes, you can only keep one or two Gouramis, but they are a nice centerpiece fish. What I would do, if your tank was mine, was get a couple more Platies (Maybe all males if you don't want babies, though they can get aggressive) because they don't like to be alone, add a few Cories onto your one, since they are schooling fish, and then get a Dwarf Gourami. All those fish are hardy, so if you acclimate them correctly, and keep up with the water changes, you should be fine. That's just my thoughts though.

Another possibility is trying a small school of Tetras. Though whatever you do, add at least 2 more Cories. Your one guy won't be happy alone, they need schools.

 

[ncstater1919]

Thanks, well this is really bad my filter has stopped working, i have tried a million tiem to fix it , made sure there wasnt any grave lor anything stuck in there and i dont no what to do. Not to offend anyone but i hate platies but thats jsut my opinion. how much to dwarf gourmais cost? jsut and estimate is fine. i saw some regular gourmais in the pet store today i think they were called lavender gourmais for 4.99 . is that a good price? i think cories are a good idea! but will it fight with my albino catfish? i dont think its called that... let me look it up. Pink Aeneus Corydoras, haha i think i have a cory! or at least a type of a cory! oh and about the neon thing, i was a beginner and didnt really know what i was doing so i onl bought 2 neon tatras and after i let it sit in the tank i put them in and one jsut sank to the bottem of the tank (i had a 5 gallon then) and buried itself under the gravel. i kept thinking that it commited suicide? has that ever happend to you? anyway i really like the white clouds or mabye guppies. i dont think that i could get guppies because they reporduce so quickly but i think white clouds would be cool or ummm i think is it cardinal tetras? well if you could stilol help me out thatd be great thanks alot!!

 

[Annastasia]

If you hate Platies, then why did you get a few in the first place?

Anyway, how much Dwarf Gouramis cost depend on where you are. About $5 around here. However, if your filter broke, you need to fix that before you can even consider getting other fish.

You should get more Albino Cories, to go with your one guy. He'll be happier. Also, WCMM are subtropical fish, and need lower temperatures, so I won't put them in a tropical community unless you plan to make the temperature low. Though they are very active fish, so a 10 may be a little small. Cardinals could be okay, as could Neons. I generally like to keep schooling fish in a little bigger or a tank, since they are happies in 10+, but maybe I just spoil my fish.

You'll have to look around, and sort out some possible combinations of what you want (Making sure they are compatible, and have the same requirements), then maybe post in Chit Chat, or wherever and ask opinions. Also, as a note, you can keep just Male Guppies so you don't have fry, however you need at least 5 to spread out aggression. There are tons of topics on that, though, if you look around.

Edit: As a note, if I don't reply much in the next few days, it's because we are going down to Virginia a lot to see my Grandmother who is in the hospital. So that's the reason if I don't reply quickly.