How Many Fish Can Live Food Feed

[LolaLouie]

You know those packets of live food you get from fish shop, they do blood worm, daphnia, brine shrimp etc. and they come in clear plastic tube sort of things with the name of the live food printed on the front in red. You have to cut the top off to get the food out. (maybe this is only in the uk).

Anyway just wondering (if anyone knows what i'm talking about ) how many fish they feed?

I give mine 1 packet as a feed but they don't seem to get much each but I don't want to overfeed.

My fish are listed in my sig. below, how many of those packets would you give per feed for all those fish?

Thanks

 

[Tolak]

What are the sizes of the packet, ounces, grams, ml, or whatever?

 

[LolaLouie]

100 ml... maybe it would have just been easier to say that in the 1st place

 

[Tolak]

Does that 100ml include the water they are in? I feed all my tanks with 100-150 ml of blackworms, but that is solid worms, very little water.

A good way to guesstimate is that a fish's stomach is about the size of its eye, give or take.

 

[LolaLouie]

That includes the water. It's really hard to work it out because there are so many fish and i have no idea exactly how many little worms or daphnia or whatever there are in a pack. Also because DG and Angels are on the top they generally get a good amount while Rams and kribs at the bottom barely get to eat.

With flake i have wafers for the corys, sinking pellets for the bottom cichlids and flake for the top and with live food i defrost some and leave some frozen so all levels get some but with live food i don't know what i can do or how much i can feed to make sure everyone gets enough.

Thanks for responding tolak!

 

[LolaLouie]

Oops it double posted!

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Gemma,

Just use the same rules as feeding anything else. I always say feed as much as the fish will consume in 2 minutes. If there is any food left after 2 minutes, you've fed too much. This can apply regardless of what the food is.

The stomach / eye thing which Tolak pointed out is another good guide.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Tolak]

For the bottom feeders you can feed half from the top, then suck up half with a clean turkey baster, and target feed the bottom fish, while the top feeders are eating.

 

[LolaLouie]

The problem with the 2 minute rule is my fish finish eating in under 30 seconds and i'm sure it's not because i'm underfeeding them. For example when i feed flakes i give 2 large pinches along with pellets and wafers for the bottom and all is gone (except the wafers) in 30 seconds and the wafers are gone within 10 minutes. if i used the 2 minute rule i'd have a tonne of exploding fish

Maybe i should feed 200mls of live food... this forum drums into your head not to overfeed so you get paranoid but since none of my fish are skinny or starving i think i'm doing ok and maybe while i think it's 1 measly flea/worm, maybe 1 measly flea to them is like 1 15 oz steak to us

 

[Inchworm]

Hi LolaLouie

If you want to make sure your bottom feeders get their share, take a bit in your hand, put your hand into the tank, and deposit some of the food at or near the bottom. That's how I get it down to my corys.