Hungry tetras won't eat from surface.

[strawtarget]

I have 11 neon tetras. If I put some flakes in the tank, they will chase after and eat the flakes that sink (before they hit the bottom). They sink pretty fast, though, so 90% of the food ends up on the bottom, uneaten. Not good.

So I got a feeder ring in an effort to slow the rate at which the flakes sink to the bottom. Well, the fish are obviously hungry because they still go after the sinking flakes, but they still won't eat any of the flakes floating in the ring. Even if everything in the room is very calm and the food has been floating there for a while. They're oblivious.

Is this just a takes-time-to-get-used-to-it kind of thing, or do I have particularly dumb tetras?

I guess I might try discontinuing use of the feeder ring and instead just turning off the filter pump at feeding time, but that'd be a pain in the butt on a long-term basis.

 

[rich311k]

Neons are mid level fish. They like to stay in the middle. I would imagine they are getting plenty to eat from just the amopunt they are picking off. Do not judge their hunger by the willingness to eat. Most fish will always eat if food is present.

 

[Jchillin]

That is so true. Most tetras like to chase after the food after it has become moistened and starts it's decent to the bottom. To judge how much they are actually eating, drop a pinch and watch the consumption rate. After two pinches, it should be over and done.

 

[newfound77951]

My Pristella tetras do the same thing. One will very occasionally take something from the surface but not consistently, and the rest of them don't follow. I think it is a predator-avoidance behavior; a fish that spends a lot of time at the surface is likely to become a snack for a bird.

 

[papa_bear_21]

our black skirt tetra's usually eat from about mid tank, but will fly to the top and snack a lot as well. Our tank goes against all norms of the aquarium world, being our nocturnal fish are out during the day, and the non active ones are very active...but thats all a different story...

I wouldnt worry about the tetras not eating off the surface, but I would feed less...

 

[strawtarget]

Thanks for the advice, y'all. I guess I'll just feed the flakes slowly and deliberately.

Interestingly enough, I've read that both tetras and cory cats like freeze-dried bloodworms as a treat. Since they float and never sink, though, I can't get any of my fish to eat them! Heh. Oh well.

 

[fishb0ne]

How long have you had them? My neons acted the same way when first introduced in the tank, now they'll eat anything from everything. They come to the surface to eat from the feeder ring and will munch on anything from the bottom as well. When I first got the dwarf gourami that I have now they turned back into "mid dwellers" for a while but after they got used to him a few days later, went back to eating anything off everything

 

[bra_van_drakh]

i've been in the same situation ~a month ago, but my little sis found out that they'll only eat if the flakes [i give them TetraMin] were small enough that they wont need to cut anymore[as the size of a grain of sand]. . .

besides that, i would sprinkle them over the filter flow so it will sink a bit faster. it will follow the water flow too, so it wont sink to the bottom. . ..all of my tetras[cardinal, pristella, & rummynose] will finish it all quite quick.. . and if it does sink to the bottom, i'll just leave it to my tiny shrimps to clean^^

 

[strawtarget]

update: they still won't eat from the feeder ring, but I tried putting a few flakes on the surface just outside of the ring and they went NUTS and all smacked at the surface for the food. But they just leave the food in the ring floating there. Stupid fish.

 

[fishb0ne]

I trained mine to know when I'm about to feed them. I did this by showing off the yellow flake container before I actually feed them. Now, whenever they see yellow, they gather around the feeding ring
What you might wanna do is place the flakes outside the ring, but close to it. They may not see the ring or may be intimidated by not knowing what it is.