Food Amount

[brian1]

Hi, I read lots of conflicting reports on how much flake to feed and how often, I am earring on less, rather than more, having said that I have lost one albino Cory catfish and today looks like another, is on it's way out..........am I starving them

 

[fluttermoth]

It's very unlikely to be lack of food. Is your tank cycled, and have you tested the water?

You want to feed as much as they can finish in about three to five minutes, once a day.

 

[brian1]

Thanks fluttermoth,yes I am fully cycled,just had another look and it's swimming round again, panic over.......thanks you so much for the food advice...

 

[Akasha72]

I've always fed my fish twice a day - they have their breakfast of flake and cory pellets/granuals and around 4pm-ish they get something more nutritious like frozen bloodworm or dried tubiflex blocks. I also have frozen Daphnia but the cories arn't so keen on that.

I try to vary it as I think it's better for their health and their colouration.

My Dad also has tropical fish and has done for years and years. He feeds 3 times a day and also varies it for the same reasons.

I think the feeding routine it will vary from fish keeper to fish keeper and only the individual can make the decision if their fish are getting enough to eat.

I know when mine are hungry as they start ripping up the plants and eating them. I'd rather feed them than leave them to destroy the tank

 

[MBOU]

Fish are far better being underfed than over fed. How much you feed is going to vary a lot depending on how good your filtration is!

If I dont know much about peoples stocking, my advise at work is to feed once a day and "assume your fish's stomach is about the size of one of its eyes". This is talking about tetras etc... it at least makes people think more about just how much food they are chucking into their tank.

The more you can feed without causing problems, the better really but more feeding = more cleaning + more water changes.

I always fed my fish once a day, i would create my own mix of flake and micro pellets and give a small feed and let all the fish fill themselves up. Then I would do a frozen food feed (10-15 minutes later) and then when that was all cleaned up, i would chuck in the algae wafers or novotabs for cories etc.

If at any point they dont eat all the food, they dont get the next stage/s of food. Anything that got left over (very rarely!) i netted out... and i did 50% waterchanges with gravel cleans every week.

 

[Bugdozer]

I don't have to worry about food going nasty on the floor of the tank - if any particle makes it past the roaming tetras (unlikely!) then the shrimps are right on it.

 

[brian1]

Thanks guy's for your feed back, will get some blood worms and cory pellets,see how it goes...........

 

[Akasha72]

I don't have to worry about food going nasty on the floor of the tank - if any particle makes it past the roaming tetras (unlikely!) then the shrimps are right on it.

Same with my trumpet snails aswell

 

[tomtomtom1230]

If it helps, I feel my fish decent amounts of food once every other day (to make sure their digestive system has enough time to recover). Decent sizes being making sure the fish get about the amount of food you could cram in to twice the size of their eye. No more, no less. I've never had an issue and all my fish are relatively plump and healthy - all except the injury my Gourami has inflicted upon it's self. That's in a different thread though.

Once a week the fish will get a treat. either Daphnia, Bloodworm or Tubifex worm.