Just Curious...

[MtbGirl]

My son's fish still gather at the front of the tank in the mornings, waiting to eat... but after my son drops the food in there, the fish all seem to wait for the flakes to drop, rather than swim up to the top to get them.

It used to be a feeding frenzy, any idea why the fish are all of a sudden acting so casual about food?? They all seem to appear healthy, I'm just curious about their change in behavior.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah there should be a bit of a frenzy for food, if not then it could be one of a few things

1) they're being overfed, they'll still carry on eating even if they're full but they won't be in such a fuss over it. Give them a few starve day's, then try feeding smaller amounts than before and see if the normal behaviour resumes.

2) they could be lethargic due to poor water quality or a disease. test your water and let us know what your stats are. have a really good watch of the tank and see if anyone is showing signs of disease at all

3) there could be some bullying behaviour going on, have a look and see if anyone has torn or nipped fins, has loss of colour, if anyone's chasing the other's round the tank etc. If you have a bully then you may have a problem.

 

[Qays]

OR they could be bored of the food your giving them

 

[MtbGirl]

Thanks, Wiggle... I'll definitely take thost steps you recommended...

Otherwise they don't seem lethargic, they seem to go about their daily activities. I see some chase each other around the tank, but it doesn't appear to be bullying. As far as color I think everyone looks fine, but I'm going to take a closer look... especially at the fins.

Some of the fish do dart up towards the top, usually the Glowlights, but they only do it a couple of times and then stop.

I'll take the water to the LFS tonight, we just changed it on Sunday evening but it can't hurt to check the stats.

If all seems well then we'll try starving them for a few days... I'll have to explain to my son that it's for the good of the fish to do this.






Now... if they're bored, I don't know what I can do... unless we alternate the flaked food with the dried bloodworms.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

oh yeah forgot about variety in they're diet.

I've a community tank with similar sized fish to yours and they get a mix of

tetra min, tetra pro, tetra pro colour, aquarium flake, tetra prima (a slow sinking granular food), tetra delicia (blood worms in jelly), frozen food like bloodworms, brine shrimp, catfish pellets, live food and peas

yeah it never hurts to check your water stats, even if you just did a water change there could be a problem with the filter that you wouldn't know about.

if your stats are fine then have a look what other food's they have ast the lfs, starve for a few days then start feeding again with smaller amounts and more variety.

 

[MtbGirl]

Thanks, I'll keep those feeding options in mind... Who knew fish could be so fussy!!

I examined all of the fish, no signs of nipped fins and no loss of color. Last night we explained to my son why we couldn't feed them for a couple of days, he understood.

This morning they gathered at the front of the tank and didn't seem to mind when we didn't feed them. They just went about their usual business. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to get to the LFS last night, hopefully I can go tonight or tomorrow night. I'll ask them about other varieties of food.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

they'll be absolutely fine for a few days without food, we give ours a starve day virtually every week, it's good for them

 

[MtbGirl]

Well we tried giving them just a little bit of bloodworms this morning, they were definitely more active. When we dropped a few algae wafer bits into the water they started picking at those too!!

Seems like it was a case of overfeeding, we'll feed them a little less each day and try to give them some variety in their food as well.

Thanks for your help, everyone, I'm glad I mentioned it before it was too late!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no worries, glad you seem to have it cracked.

 

[MtbGirl]

Well we bought some Tetra "Crisps" over the weekend, the fish seem to love them!! So we'll start alternating between teh crisps and the flakes every few days, to give them a little variety and keep them interested.

An interesting note, when we cleaned out the tank this weekend my husband remarked on how there wasn't any food in the filter. He said the last time he swooshed it in the water, a lot of food came out. Yeah, we were definitely giving them too much.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

oh yeah they love the tetra pro crisps, especially the energy crisps, i sometimes feed my betta on just them, sit there picking them out of the packet... how sad is that?!

it's very easy to overfeed sure we've all done it at some point, least you've spotted it and sorted it so that's all that matters

how are you getting on with herbie?

 

[MtbGirl]

So far so good with Herbie... he doesn't seem to bother the other fish at all. He's made one of the ornaments his home, whenever we clean out the tank and I replace it, he goes inside and digs the gravel out so he can scoot in there. At night that's where he sleeps.

The only times we've seen him "shoo" other fish away is once in a while when they go after his algae wafers.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

good, glad he's not causing too much trouble as yet!