How much food for my tank?

Neffiethenewguy15

Currently i have:
1 Royal Pleco
1 Blue Ram
1 Red Tail Shark
1 Elephant nose
2 crown rubies
2 neon red guramies
2 pearl guramies
2 roseline sharks
2 gold rams

i have been feeding them approx. 5 shrimp pellots, pinch of flake, and 1 algae wafer. Tonite i put in a cube of blood worms. Do u think this is to much?? or to little?? or just enough??

Lupin

Hi Neffie.

You just make sure all fish are getting their fair share.:)

mHeinitz57

a lot of it depends on how clean you keep the tank too. The danger of overfeeding fish is not really that the fish will eat so much that they explode, but rather that excess food can foul a tank rather quickly. If you are very rigorous about cleaning the tank and you have good filtration, you can overfeed a little. My suggestion would be to sit there for about 3-5 minutes or so and continue putting food in little by little. Eventually, you'll notice that the fish become less interested or that they can't really hold the food in anymore. Also make sure that all of your fish are getting their chance to eat. Once you do this, you will have a pretty good idea of how much they will eat. I like to break my feeding up into 2 times a day just so i'm not stuffing them to the max everytime

MattD

And it's also a good idea to try and have different types of food not only for variety, but to suit everyone's particular needs.

For example, my betta gets bloodworms fed to him exclusively because they float (sometimes he earns this treat when it's not eating time when he swims right up to my face and hovers there). My bottom dwellers get fed sinking meat crumbles and algae wafers and flakes. My ghost shrimp enjoy tearing apart freeze-dried shrimp, since no one else really has the teeth for it in my tank. The shrimp just let it soak in their hands until it's soft enough to begin tearing apart.

This way I KNOW they're all getting fed their own share because if that particular food disappears, there's only one suspect who could have eaten it.

Although that's not to say these guys will only eat that one type, it just forms their main diet. And like others have said, you should always observe to make sure everyone is getting their share. If they don't come out and all the food disappears, drop in some more so they can get it when you leave the room or when the other fish are done eating. You also do need to remember though, there's only so much we can do to make sure they're eating. We provide, it's up to them to do the rest. I haven't once witnessed my Vampire Shrimp eat anything (yes he fans the air but how much nourishment he's getting is beyond me), but he's still alive after like 4 months. :)

Good luck!

mHeinitz57

awesome point...a variety of food will also help bring out the colors in your fish. San Fransisco Bay Co puts out a freshwater multipack of frozen foods that is really awesome. I use those as well as a good flake food and sinking pellets and algea wafers. Feel free to get creative. At my work (the fish store) I thaw out frozen peas, take off the outer skins and chop up the hearts. I feed those to a lot of the fish, mainly with goldfish and oscars.

MattD

I got some questions actually about that Mike H. How exactly do you go about feeding fish human foods? For peas, you cook them as normal? Lettuce you just clean it? Do I need to remove anything from these kinds of veggies in particular? What other veggies could I drop in as a treat for my fish?

Thanks!

mHeinitz57

the pees I just thawed out. Try not to use canned peas as they tend to have a lot of salt in them for preservation. The peas serve as a great source of fiber and a natural laxative. Sometimes swim bladder infections (especially among round-bodied goldfish) are due to food blockages in the esophagus or intestines. Thats why I give them to the goldfish mainly, to make sure they have free flowing digestive tracts. With oscars it tends to bring out there color a lot but I don't know the science behind that. Lettuces can be used, just wash those. I have a frozen "veggie" mix that I use and it has spinach in it, so I imagine that is good as well. Often times we give our cichlids and algea eaters slices of cucumber or zuchini. Every now and then we even throw orange slices in with the koi and goldfish...they love it! With any kind of food though, especially oranges, keep in mind that pH and water quality can be affected by the mess that gets left. If you are doing something like oranges at home, do it before doing a water change so you can clean it up right away. You can also go to your local fish store or better yet, an asian market, and get sheets of seaweed. It is the same kind used in making sushi rolls but fish love it. We used to give it to our tangs all the time. Aside from vegetation, I used to feed my dinosaur bichir unseasoned, precooked cocktail shrimp. They are pretty much the same as krill, except for $3 you get a huge bag of them. JUst chop them up to the desired size and its a great source of protein.

MattD

Excellent, I need to hook my Betta some peas because I think he's a little backed up if you know what I mean. I just hope he eats it because he seems to be picky with his food.

Thanks for the help, I'll definitely need to try to get them some cucumber and lettuce soon. I hope they go for it, it would be a shame for them to limit themselves to their freeze-dried diets. :/

mHeinitz57

I've also heard epsom salts in the water actually help to clear blockages as well. It is often used for dropsy which is a buildup of fluids within the organs due to bacterial infection but i've also heard it serves as a natural laxative as well. If you really think there is some type of backup in your betta's digestive tract, that may be a different alternative. I'm not sure about the dosage though but you could probably research it.

fish_4_all

I feed them what I think they will eat and if I see too much mulm and gunk when I gravel vac I cut down the amount. This seems to change throught the year as the temperature increase and decrease so this is also a good indicator as to how much you need to feed.