Hi guys,
Because of elevated Ammonia and Nirite levels I have started doing a PWC of about 40 – 50% every day and reducing how often I feed my fish (4 male Dwarf Gourami and 2 Upside Down Catfish – about 10" of fish in a 19g tank). I've been doing this for three days and it seems to be working so far but I feel bad about only feeding once a day and wondered how often everyone else feeds their fish?
I have some catfish food pellets for the catfish which I drop in before I go to bed as the catfish rarely come out from their little castle during the day and I wouldn't want the DG to eat the pellets (they've certainly tried!) or for them to get lost or buried and have the catfish go hungry. So, I usually end up feeding the DG their much-loved flaked food at the same time just so that the catfish pellets have a chance to sink to the bottom of the tank without the DG chasing after them.
I used to feed the DG flaked food two or three times a day and they always seemed keen to be fed and came to the surface whenever I opened the hatch in the lid. There was always a lot of poop that had to be hovered up during PWCs though and I guess this is what was causing the high Ammonia/ Nitrite levels. That or rotting food anyway; most likely both.
However, is feeding my DG once a day going to be enough for them? Or maybe it's too frequent and I should only feed every other day? I've rambled on for long enough about this now, I guess I just want some reassurance that my fish will be perfectly healthy and happy with being fed once a day...
Many thanks (as always!),
Dan
Because of elevated Ammonia and Nirite levels I have started doing a PWC of about 40 – 50% every day and reducing how often I feed my fish (4 male Dwarf Gourami and 2 Upside Down Catfish – about 10" of fish in a 19g tank). I've been doing this for three days and it seems to be working so far but I feel bad about only feeding once a day and wondered how often everyone else feeds their fish?
I have some catfish food pellets for the catfish which I drop in before I go to bed as the catfish rarely come out from their little castle during the day and I wouldn't want the DG to eat the pellets (they've certainly tried!) or for them to get lost or buried and have the catfish go hungry. So, I usually end up feeding the DG their much-loved flaked food at the same time just so that the catfish pellets have a chance to sink to the bottom of the tank without the DG chasing after them.
I used to feed the DG flaked food two or three times a day and they always seemed keen to be fed and came to the surface whenever I opened the hatch in the lid. There was always a lot of poop that had to be hovered up during PWCs though and I guess this is what was causing the high Ammonia/ Nitrite levels. That or rotting food anyway; most likely both.
However, is feeding my DG once a day going to be enough for them? Or maybe it's too frequent and I should only feed every other day? I've rambled on for long enough about this now, I guess I just want some reassurance that my fish will be perfectly healthy and happy with being fed once a day...
Many thanks (as always!),
Dan