Fish food

[GSO1]

Good morning, I'm new here and hope you can help me. I have a 20 gallon tank I have skirts and tetras. I purchased their food TetraMin Tropical Flakes. When I put the flakes in the tank the fish only eat a small portion the rest ends up on the bottom of the tank. It appears they will only eat a certain type of the flakes. The rest they swin right past. What is the best food for these guys. I hate wasting the food. Is there a better food out there? Thanks

 

[squirley]

Hey, I also have alot of flakes that fall to the gravel and i hope that they feed the snails when they slide around at night. whenever i put food in it goes all over the place from the water currents. i clean up some of it and getting it all is just not realistic. I hope cleaning some is helpful for water quality anyhow heh.

 

[BanjoFish]

It takes practice to get the portion size correct.

I only started with fish in January.

 

[emeraldking32 83]

Welcome to the forum to start with...
In general, they should eat it all but I do think it's more of the correct portion of food you give them.

 

[Innesfan51 13]

Welcome to our think tank!

Not quite sure what fish you mean by 'skirts and tetras' but a little bit of flake goes a long way. Try smaller portions. I feed frozen foods--baby brine shrimp, cyclops, daphnia etc--to my tetras (mostly Nannostomus and Cardinals) and Rasboras, who have similar feeding habits and needs. Most pet stores have a selection of frozen foods these days. I also feed bug bites (tiny pellets) and some flake. The food that makes it to the bottom is taken care of by 'corys'. Do you have any bottom feeders in there? I also siphon-vacuum the gravel once a week during water changes.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I like the pellets more than the flakes. I've heard the flakes can foul water more easily, but I have proven that you can foul water with enough of any kind of food . The hardest thing for me to do has been to learn to feed them less. I feed my fish only on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday now. I try to be reasonable with the amounts I feed. I have been overfeeding for years- it has taken that long for me to finally learn to back off. I feed frozen food only on Sundays- the rest of the days I mix it up between pellets, some flake-type but not exactly flake, freeze dried tubifex worms, and baby brine shrimp that I hatch and freeze in little vials.

I think you could feed the fish the same thing every single day if it's a good brand of food. I think something that is 45% protein or better with some kind of fish product high on the list of ingredients is good for most fish, but other guys in here probably have better info.

Anyway, the key is not overfeeding- it's so easy to do because they always want it and it's fun to watch.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford52 167]

@GSO1 if portion control is an issue then maybe try feeding every other day or every third day. Your fish will always "act" hungry. In the wild they are constantly hunting for food. They never know when their next meal will come. In captivity it's different. We feed them an abundance of very nutritious food. So it's really ok to not feed them every day. That will decrease the amount of wasted, rotting food. That excess rotting food can quickly become a problem and cause deteriorating water condi which may have a negative impact on your fish.
I heard long long ago early in my fish keeping that a fishes stomach is about as big as it's eye. So think about that when it comes to feeding time.

 

[10 Tanks]

Good morning, I'm new here and hope you can help me. I have a 20 gallon tank I have skirts and tetras. I purchased their food TetraMin Tropical Flakes. When I put the flakes in the tank the fish only eat a small portion the rest ends up on the bottom of the tank. It appears they will only eat a certain type of the flakes. The rest they swin right past. What is the best food for these guys. I hate wasting the food. Is there a better food out there? Thanks

Hello. Try Optimum's New Life Spectrum Flakes. They float longer, giving your top feeders a chance to get their share. My minnows really go after this food. It's complete. I don't feed anything else.

10

 

[Fishmanic52 168]

When I feed my omega one flakes, I put a pinch onto the surface of the tank and then push some of them down with my fingers. Some of the flakes will now sink quickly and some will float for awhile and then sink slowly. That way my midlevel and lower level fish all get some food.

 

[plebian]

The hardest thing for me to do has been to learn to feed them less.

It's strange to me how often I hear warnings about overfeeding. I generally feed my fish 3 times a day, pellets not flakes. The latter do foul the water far more than pellets.

My discus pair are nearly insatiable, as are my blue neons. My Bettas eat until their satisfied, which is fairly quickly. Whatever is left, which is very little, gets cleaned up by my L134. I actually worry about the L134 not getting enough, so I drop in an algae wafer every now and then.

I have never had an issue with "foul water". It's certainly not impossible to overfeed, but it seems to me you really have to go overboard.

As for the OP's question about food type, fish can be picky. I've tried most of the major brands out there and my fish seem to prefer Tetra Bits Complete, Hikari Vibra Bites, and a Tetra Bits knock-off that's locally produced (and cheaper). They have not taken to any other Hikari product, most other Tetra products, Ocean Nutrition, NLS, or Bug Bites. Though as stated, I stay away from flake food. My fish have even been picky about some brands of freeze-dried worms.

Experiment until you find what they like, as long as it's a balanced food. Live and frozen foods lack many essential nutrients, so those should not be relied on.