How much to feed tropical fish?

bloodmage3

Hi this is my post and I've got 1 small tropical fish (I don't know what variety) and five baby tropical fish right now. I'm just starting to maintain the fish tank after some time of neglect and I want to know how frequently and how much of fish flakes to feed.
Thanks to any advice!

chimera779

just put in a small pinch and observe how quickly they eat and how much. that'll decide if you need to put in a little more but id say twice a day is fine if there just tropical freshwater fish correct?

bloodmage3

Yeah, just tropical fish. I fed them a little pinch but I only have one adult fish, the rest of them are tiny baby fish so I'm not sure if they eat the flakes too. I've crunched the flakes to small pieces too. Also, how long does it take for the baby fish to mature? Cuz right now they are extremely small - like a big as a regular fish flake O:

Byron

Fry (baby fish) need feeding more often to develop properly. Adult (mature) fish can do well on one small feeding a day, and even missing a day or two each week can't hurt healthy fish. But not fry.

I'm assumiong these are livebearers, the fry are at the surface? They will eat flake food, but grind it up with your fingers so it is very fine. And not much, just a tiny bit, so what they don't eat won't pollute the tank.

bloodmage3

Okay thank you! Also, my water temperature is around 22degrees celsius or 76F and I notice that the adult fish is constantly hovering around the heater. Is my temperature too low?

Byron

Well, that we certainly cannot answer unless you tell us the fish species. Some prefer warmer temperatures (80F and above), some are healthier at lower temperatures (low to mid 70's, not below) and many are fine at "normal" community temperature of 77-78F. Give us the fish species and we'll soon know.

On another note, the fish may be unwell or stressed; fish frequently hover around the heater in such cases, both for protection and I suspect the added warmth makes them feel better.

Calmwaters

Could you post a picture of your fish that way we can tell you what kind you have? Or at least maybe describe what it looks like. We really need to know in order to help you with the right info.