How Much Food Do I Feed My Fish?

[Kailebw]

Oh dear holy #92### in heaven I am breaking down here and I feel bad for taking my fish with me. I have 4 fish all together (1 Dwarf Gourami and 3 glofish) and I have nooooo idea how much to feed them. Back when it was just my gourami and 1 glofish I accidently poured in about half of the food that came with the beginners kit. I thought it would just dissolved or they would eat it but noooooooooooooo no no no no noooo don't ever think that. Now they have cotton mouth. (Link to post about it)
Anyway I have this cup of flakes for tropical fish but they were too big for my glofish so I threw in some spikes from a leather jacket and shook it up until there were like sand. Kinda. A little bigger. So how many pinches should I give my dwarf gourami and my 3 glofish?

 

[fluttermoth]

If you work with the knowledge that a fish's stomach is roughly the size of it's eye, then that'll give you a guide as to how much to feed.

Flake can easily be crushed up with your figers; take a little pinch of food between your thumb and forefinger, and rub it over the tank so a little goes in. Don't rub too hard, you don't want the food to disappear into dust!

Feed once a day and your fish should be fine.

 

[afremont]

Oh dear holy #92### in heaven I am breaking down here and I feel bad for taking my fish with me. I have 4 fish all together (1 Dwarf Gourami and 3 glofish) and I have nooooo idea how much to feed them. Back when it was just my gourami and 1 glofish I accidently poured in about half of the food that came with the beginners kit. I thought it would just dissolved or they would eat it but noooooooooooooo no no no no noooo don't ever think that. Now they have cotton mouth. (Link to post about it)
Anyway I have this cup of flakes for tropical fish but they were too big for my glofish so I threw in some spikes from a leather jacket and shook it up until there were like sand. Kinda. A little bigger. So how many pinches should I give my dwarf gourami and my 3 glofish?

Change 50% of your water. The food will create a huge ammonia spike in the tank so you need to change the water to get it out. If you don't have a test kit for ammonia and nitrites, then get one right away. It's a necessity since you can't tell anything about the water from looking at it. That's pretty crowded, but glofish are small so with water changes and a good filter you can probably work it, but the gourami would like allot more room to move around.

Fish stomachs are about the size of their eyes. They don't need much to eat, but will happily stuff themselves to the point of being sick. Mammals (like us) use the majority of the food we consume to sustain our body heat. Fish get all the heat they are ever going to have from the water. They only need food to move, heal and grow. One flake per fish is plenty. The gourami can eat a little more. Whatever they can eat in about 30 seconds is enough.

 

[This Old Spouse]

What size is your tank?
Actually, I'd change more like 85% of the water. Take out enough water so the fish just have enough left to swim upright. Hopefully you have a gravel vac so you can suck up any leftover food from the bottom.

"One flake per fish" doesn't make much sense as flakes come in all sorts of sizes. In this case, just tiny pinch twice a day is plenty. You'll think you're not feeding enough but you honestly are.

 

[Kailebw]

What size is your tank?
Actually, I'd change more like 85% of the water. Take out enough water so the fish just have enough left to swim upright. Hopefully you have a gravel vac so you can suck up any leftover food from the bottom.

"One flake per fish" doesn't make much sense as flakes come in all sorts of sizes. In this case, just tiny pinch twice a day is plenty. You'll think you're not feeding enough but you honestly are.

I have a 5 gallon tank.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Yikes. Well, my advice still holds. You just have to be extra careful. How are things now?

 

[Kailebw]

Yikes. Well, my advice still holds. You just have to be extra careful. How are things now?

turrible. Just turrible.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'm so sorry. Are the fish still alive?