am i starving my fish?

[agrasyuk]

hi , i understand the question sounds idiotic, and 'biggest beginner mistake is overfeeding" , but i just can't get it. they say everything that is uneated in 5 minutes is extra, i seen how much previous owner fed them, food is tropical and plankton flakes. its 8 days after setup.

largish pile that i spread gets immediately devoured by the 3 swordfish and Gourami that are always near the top and flock over as i open the lid. i barely see the 4 tetras eat , but i guess they getting some food since its been 8 days and they still not starved to death. since the substrate is new and there is not much waste i bought some sinking pellets specifically for the Cori, but the poor guy can't seem to do anything with them as they are to hard (i guess they will soften at some point.) once done on top the swordfishes and the gourami get to the bottom looking for those pellets as well. now that all the food is gone i see them "licking" the leaves clean... yesterday as i was handling plants one of the little orange buggers tried to nible on my finger!

no casualties yet, but am i not feeding them enough?

i use test strips to gage water quality. ammonia is either at 0 or within safe margin, nitrite is 0 (no discoloration at all), nitrate is also deep in safe levels. if that matters at all

what do you guys think?

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

I don't really get your stocking list, can you please list it?
For my 4 red eye tetras, 2 guppies, 2 zebra danios, I feed a pinch of food every night+ 10 pellets for 4 kuhlis, 1 peppered Cory, and 1 Raphael catfish
It may sound like too little , but I think it's perfect, and whatever the bottoms don't finish the top fish come to finish up the left overs, I actually prefer them to eat sinking food, but everyone gets their share

 

[agrasyuk]

3 swordfish, 1 blue gourami, 4 tetras not sure what kind, 1 small cori. Sounds like plenty of food for them then)

 

[liberator123]

I think fish always search for food... just part of what they do... its like corys, they always dig around looking. I remember my betta was a gluten. I feed my fish 1nce a day... maybe 2 times if i feel like treating em. although, for my corys I only put a sinking pellet every 2-3 days because they also eat the left overs that my other fish didn't get to eat (they find em really fast).

 

[Mebbid]

If this tank is cycled then it should he okay to increase feedings a little if your fish don't seem to be getting food.

Just keep an eye on your nitrates and keep them below 40ppm.

 

[Cactuspixie]

3 swordfish, 1 blue gourami, 4 tetras not sure what kind, 1 small cori. Sounds like plenty of food for them then)

You have room for a few more cories- the more the merrier

 

[agrasyuk]

Thanks guys!

Cactuspixe, absolutely. He is most fun fish and my son's favorite. We will be getting him some company for sure in a week or two. I just want to get more confidence, make sure that everything is stable and that no one dies.

 

[agrasyuk]

Hmm a followup. After a month I did not suffer any fish losses so I must be feeding enough. Water tests fine too so I must be not grossly overfeeding . all fish seems in right shape.

Aside of the fat tetra! What the?! Read article on feeding and desided to follow advice and have once a week no food day. Swordfishes still gobble the bulk of the food, but I just don't get why this one tetra is so bloated up. No unusual behaviour, she just sits under her favorite leaf most of the time. Any idea?

 

[Caliban07]

Hi. My swordtails and rasbora get most of the food first. I guess the fish can see bits of food we can't even if it's microscopic bits. I was worried that my gouramis we're not getting enough so I bought pellets. But the clever male sword started to do exactly what yours did and scour the bottom for them.

So I started feeding twice a day and adding pellets but the more and more food I was adding was increasing my nitrates and had to do a quick water change.

Now I feed once a day just flakes. I figured my gouramis will have to be bolder in order to survive. One of them has so far.

As for the corys. Do you have and ornament that the corys go inside that no other fish do? You could place a pellets in the ornament and the will find it eventually and keep feeding the same spot they will always go back the expecting food.

 

[Krissycakes]

Hmm a followup. After a month I did not suffer any fish losses so I must be feeding enough. Water tests fine too so I must be not grossly overfeeding . all fish seems in right shape.

Aside of the fat-*** tetra! What the?! Read article on feeding and desided to follow advice and have once a week no food day. Swordfishes still gobble the bulk of the food, but I just don't get why this one tetra is so bloated up. No unusual behaviour, she just sits under her favorite leaf most of the time. Any idea?

hmmm, wonder if your fish is pregnant!

 

[agrasyuk]

Caliban, when it comes to food those swordfishes are everywhere, top bottom, inside the decor. One of them is even nips at my hand when I work on plants) I do drop sinking pellets immediately as I give flakes on the other end. So corys have some lead time on that.

hmmm, wonder if your fish is pregnant!

I really hope this is the case, otherwise it seems really bad. AFAIK tetras are not livebearing and there is no mate in tank so I don't see how its possible. Unless different species of tetras intermix...
Need to read up on that I guess

 

[Krissycakes]

=( I am not sure that is the case then. Hope your fish is okay. Never really had any time to diagnose and treat my fish that were sick=(

But my budget is tight, and I don't have much people here willing to lend meds.

 

[agrasyuk]

Week later and still alive. I usually do only one "diet" no food day, this week skipped two. Still the tetra got even more round. Almost like constipation. She didn't loose her appetite though and eats OK,behaviour wise I didn't notice any difference. Almost expect to find a floater every day as I come from work.

On another note we added a bristlenose pleco on Friday. Started scrubbing on glass and leaves right away. First waffer was gobbled by those ever hungry sword fishes, after reading up I started dropping food after dark. I do see string of poo attached to him so I guess he is eating after all. Zucchini however he didn't touch...

 

[Caliban07]

Yes I was going to say feed at night. That's what I have started doing and my corys are still alive so they must be eating. However if they are still hunting at night they must be using lots of energy. Having said that. Their stomachs are only as big as their eyes so can't take much to fill up.

 

[agrasyuk]

i think this poor thing is coming to its last moments, it is obviously not feeling well , breathing heavily sitting on the bottom or dragging itself around... i think i'm going to give it couple hours and then pull the plug on it tonight

 

[Krissycakes]

=( Can fish get tumors?

 

[agrasyuk]

fish definitely can get tumors (as any other living organisms )
link...

 

[Krissycakes]

fish definitely can get tumors (as any other living organisms )
link...

That is crazy. =( I think its okay to euthanize your fish then. =( Sorry about your fish. Hoped it would get better.

 

[Rivers2k]

Sounds like she has some eggs to drop. Tetras don't get pregnant they lay eggs on a flat surface if you have male they might get fertilized. If not they will just get eaten.

Fish can get egg bound. With larger fish people use Epsom salts to help with this don't know if it has ever worked on a tetra. By the looks of things it may be to late anyway.

 

[Fishperson]

I don't think you should euthanize it yet, for at least it could be eggs. Until you KNOW that the fish is really in pain you shouldn't really euthanize. Also, as long as the fish aren't bloated (I mean all/most of them, not just 1) or have caved in stomachs, then you are feeding fine.

As far as looking for food goes, I think it's just an instinct. In nature they have to eat whatever they can; they never know when their next meal will come.