Feeding dilemma

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Anna94

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Mar 27, 2016
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I'm starting to feel bad that I'm feeding my fish once every other day. I feel like I'm starving them. But I only feed once every other day cuz I don't want there to be a lot of rotting food at the bottom and develop ammonia problems. Is once every other day ok for feeding or should I bump it up to once a day every day?
 
Kind of depends on the situation.

If your tank is cycled you should not worry about normal feeding. But you do not need to over feed either.

What fish do you have,
with what size filter
and size tank?

Are they babies or sub adult or adult?

What kind of food(s) do you feed them?
 
It's a 20 gallon long. I have an AquaClear 50 and a newly installed sponge filter. I have 4 lemon tetras, 6 cardinal tetras, 2 platys, 2 Celebes rainbows, a horseface loach and an oto. I feed them Omega One Super Color Flakes and Omega One Frozen Bloodworms, but only once a week as a treat.
 
So try this, use the pinch of food you usually feed and divide it in two and feed a little every day. Chances are that these little guys are still young and would benefit from regular good nutrition, if they were in the wild they could scout around for food any time they got hungry, but since they are in a fish tank they need to wait for you to give them food.

It is hard to be sure about not feeding enough or too much. Except you can test the water to make sure there isn't too much ammonia, and then also watch for the food that isn't eaten.

For example if you add one pinch of food all at once, some of the food will get hit by the water current and sink faster than the fish can zoom around and eat it. So it might end up laying around.

If you add a flake or 2 to get their attention, and then they know you are there to feed them, they will come over to see what is going on because of the smell of the food.

Then when you have their attention, start by adding a little on each side of the tank and let them eat it, then a little more, let them eat it, and so on until they aren't too interested. If they let food hit the bottom they may full. You would only be feeding them for a couple or 3 minutes though.

But for your bottom feeder, try the Hikari Sinking Wafers for botton feeders and add one (or a half of one) to an area which he normally hangs out in. The other fish might want to get down there and try eating that too. Just make sure he gets some food to eat. I bet they all love the Blood Worms!

You can always plan the pwc to be awhile after the fish get fed (especially Blood worms though they probably eat those right up!)
 
If you need to remove uneaten food, you can use a tiny net or even just the gravel vacuum you would use for water changes. You won't remove much water. Then you know next time to feed less.
 
Overfeeding is when food is left over in tank. You can stay near the tank and put little food and when they eat it u can add little more and so on but make sure if u have a shy fish than u must make sure she is not left without food. Thats why I am not in support of adding a pinch of food to tank. The quickers can eat and the lazy will remain without touching the food. Just put food and see they eat it all
 
Overfeeding is when food is left over in tank. You can stay near the tank and put little food and when they eat it u can add little more and so on but make sure if u have a shy fish than u must make sure she is not left without food. Thats why I am not in support of adding a pinch of food to tank. The quickers can eat and the lazy will remain without touching the food. Just put food and see they eat it all
I actuall leave food for a couple of hours. I know that conventional wisdom says not to, but with the diva dwarf gourami, snails, and now loaches, there are very different eating paces.
 
Yes I am also not following the conventional approach. Its even mention on the food to feed which can be consumed in three minutes or so but I believe its u r under feeding ur fish. Your fish is ur pet. Feed it good. Just make sure food is not wasted.
 
I would feed less more often

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