what to feed five banded barbs?

[James_in_MN]

Recently I've noticed that my five banded barbs don't come to the surface to eat much, no matter what I put in the tank. Fish flakes, freeze dried blood worms, or freeze dried brine shrimp; they never seem to go after any of it at the surface, only the stuff that falls that was pecked off the surface by something else.

They will, however, go after the shrimp pellets that I drop in for the shrimp, and even try the algae wafers I drop for the ottos/snail/shrimp.

Is there a sinking pellet that would actually be better to feed the barbs?

 

[Shetland James]

Anything that sinks is good for a mid-to-bottom feeder. Try things like peas. I do also think you can get bloodworm pellets? Failing that, I used to grab some flakes from the tub and plunge my arm into the tank while still holding them - it's a quick (if not wet) way of getting food down to them quicker.

Remember also that if they're bottom feeders or thereabouts they will wired to search for food anyway, so maybe your current strategy is ok.

 

[Jason7894561230]

Try live foods, like live bloodworms that move. That might entice them

 

[Shetland James]

I would agree with Jason on the live foods. My fish get very excited with live food, even for hours afterwards as they search around the bottom for little wiggly worms. I can totally see how if you were conditioning fish for breeding you'd feed them live food, it excites them so much.

 

[James_in_MN]

I'll have to check into what live foods are available here. I always thought about trying to keep some live fish food on hand, but haven't gone that far yet.

What about brine shrimp? I always see the brine shrimp eggs at the LFS and chain pet stores.

 

[BigJim]

I feed my fish flakes for the most part and I dump them in the filter flow so they're blown around the tank. That way everyone gets a shot at food.