Feeding - Pearl Danios seem to get all the food

[CoolHand]

Hi Everyone,

So I finally got a few fish yesterday after completing a fishless cycle of almost 9 weeks. Hooray! LOL Anyway - I've decided to take a somewhat conservative approach to this as I am new at this. I bought 8 pearl danios, 1 weather loach for the bottom, and 1 marbled Angel Fish. I've had them for almost 16 hours and have fed them twice so far. Once last night around 7, and once this morning around 7. I plan to continue this pattern as it will best fit our schedules. Is it an appropriate schedule?

I bought 2 types of food for the fish, Brine Shrimp Flakes Formula + Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp, and Blood Worms. Is this appropriate? I was a little concerned for the weather loach? Is there some sort of sinking pellet/food or something I should get him as he hovers around the bottom?

My biggest concern at the moment is for the Angel. During the first feeding I have put in 3-5 blood worms and 3 flakes crushed. The danios seem to devour it all in like a minute. During this time the Angel clued in to what was going on and came closer to the top but he seems intimidated a bit from the Danios. I put in 3 more crushed flakes and the danios started eating again. The Angel got 1 maybe 2 little bits but then the food was gone and about 2 minutes had passed. Similar experience for the second feeding but I don't think the Angel got any. Is this normal or is there something I should do? Also will the loach get anything from this?


We are not going away anywhere anytime soon our next few trips are for only 1 night so I think I could feed before I left and as soon as I got back? Is this a good plan? I bought these little 3 day fish feeders from Nutrafin, Is that what people use if they go way for a weekend?

Also now that I have just added the fish how often should I be checking the ammonia/nitrite levels?


Local fish store had no real advice to help me so anything I get here is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

CH...

 

[stingrays4]

Hi. Now to try answer some of your questions
The Angel will have a hard time feeding with fish like danios about as as you have found they are FAST greedy feeders,unlike the angel! you could try feeding at opposite ends of the tank to give the angel a chance Also drop a tiny bit of food in after lights out for the loach. Also i believe weather loaches prefer cooler water? You can get dedicated peelet food for bottom dwellers. Feeding twice daily is a good plan. I never actually test the water unless i feel something is amiss,but most fish keepers recommend testing weekly while the tank is still fairly new,then monthly after about three to four months old. Also when getting any more fish only get a few at a time and not as many as you did this time.

 

[CoolHand]

Thanks Stingrays4. Yeah, that will be a challenge for him I guess. Tonight however, he was so hungry he was a little more assertive and got 3-4 good sizes pieces in. That makes me feel a little better. I will get some of the drop pellet food tomorrow.

I set my tank at 76 degrees at the top so I think the loach should be fine. The articles I read mentioned 50-77 for a weather loach/

I check my tanks in a few days to see how my fishless cycling actually worked One of the main reasons I opted for that method was so I could add some fish a little faster. If the fish do well I will add a few more kinds. I don't have any snail or algae eater yet but I don't have any algae so I'll wait.


Does anyone else have any other inputs,thoughts,concerns, or observations?

Thanks

CH..

 

[CoolHand]

So the Angel seems to have livened up and he gets food now regularly. Maybe he just wasn't hungry enough. It is quite amazing when I turn the light on in the evening as they seem to know that is feeding time and all come to the top.

I find that the fish devour quite a bit of food in the 2 minutes they seem to keep looking. Does this mean they are still hungry? Should I be putting more food in?

Cheers,

CH...

 

[LyndaB]

Since you added so many fish at once, I would cut back on your feeding schedule. Even with my established tanks, I feed every other day. If you feed twice a day, because you have so many new fish, you might go into a mini-cycle as the beneficial bacteria tries to adjust to this new bioload.

As for how to be sure everybody gets food, in my 75, that's a problem. My blood parrots are real pigs and I was always concerned for my featherfin. So, I started taking 1/4 cup of tank water, mixing the food into it to let it absorb the moisture, then dumping the 1/4 cup back into the tank. Due to the amount of water in the cup, the food swirls everywhere and all of the fish get what they need.

What size tank is this? Weather loaches can reach 12 inches.

 

[CoolHand]

HAHA - that is the second comment about added so many fish. I didn't think it was that many. This is a learning venture for me and this site has been great! The tank is a 29 gallon but if I like this fish stuff I will upgrade one day. I know that the loach can get big and if he does get too big before I upgrade a may have to find a new home. A friend of mine has one in a 40g and he has grown to a little over 3" in the past 3 years so I'm not too worried.

Fish can really survive on every other day feeding? I've been monitoring the ammonia everyday so far and it is still 0. Should I be prepared with some cycle in case it needs a boost?

Cheers,

CH...

 

[LyndaB]

Fish could survive much longer without food, actually. People go on vacation, turn the lights off, and don't feed until they return a week later, and the fish are all happy and healthy.

It's much easier to overfeed than it is to underfeed.