Overweight harlequins

[Elisabeth83]

My new harlequins are so fast at eating the food I drop in the tank...so much so that the females dont look like typical harlequins but more like a platy LOL

The other fish in the tank are more shy and tend to eat the food when it gets to the bottom...is there a way I can feed the fish on the bottom without the harlequins from getting it??

I've tried dropping food behind the filter while the harlequins are at the other side of the tank, feeding them at the other side of the tank while I put food in at the other side but they are fast clever little things and buzz straight on over and get a double feeding

I'm worried about their health..I don't want overweight harlequins they are meant to look sleek

 

[Angry_Platy]

females dont look like typical harlequins but more like a platy LOL laugh.gif

Sorry, this made me laugh so loud that the BF had to come and investigate (he thought he was missing out on a joke)

Is there anywhere else you can move them?

In the meantime cut back your feeding by half. the other fish won't suffer and it will give the harleys a chance to look less like platies and more like harleys

I kinda like the idea of a platy with harley markings

 

[dwarfgourami]

I know what you mean.
One of my platys is just so much quicker on the uptake when it comes to food than the other that if they're at opposite ends of the tank and I drop two pieces of food right in front of their respective noses, she will have snaffled hers and shot straigth across the tank to get the other piece before her mate has even realised there is food around.
I feel a strong need to feed up female no 2 as she has lost weight due to bullying (bully now sent in exile), but I don't see how I can do it without making female no 1 grossly overweight. It's not that she is a bully and intimidates the other one, she is just so much quicker in her reactions. And the fatter she gets, the more impressively she propels herself through the tank, the thin one just gets washed away by her wake.

 

[Elisabeth83]

females dont look like typical harlequins but more like a platy LOL laugh.gif

Sorry, this made me laugh so loud that the BF had to come and investigate (he thought he was missing out on a joke)

Is there anywhere else you can move them?

In the meantime cut back your feeding by half. the other fish won't suffer and it will give the harleys a chance to look less like platies and more like harleys

I kinda like the idea of a platy with harley markings

haha it's so true though I think I'm the only person here who has overweight harlequins!!

Well I just bought a 10 gallon (see other post about my tanks) ) so I'm thinking of moving them and maybe the pair of Betta smaragdinas I got yesterday to it. They sure are little piggys though. I cant believe how much they can pack in!!