a feeding problem

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dax29

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Nov 30, 2004
Messages
660
Location
Tifton Ga
This is a new problem, maybe, that I didn't think I'd run into. When I feed my fish in the tank that has dwarf rainbows, angelfish, cories, and Bolivian rams, everyone gets (takes) a shot at the food except the big angel. The smaller angel gets a good share of food. The big angel just sits there and only tries to eat what gets really close. I've tried like 4 different foods that have different sinking qualities, including freeze dried bloodworms and the big angel just doesn't get in a hurry to eat. All the rainbowfish eat most of the food before it gets halfway to the bottom. That's why I put in some sinking pellets for the bottom feeders. I've got some crumbles that sink slowly but the texture is still hard and when a fish grabs it they spit it out, then pull it in, then spit it out until it falls away from them or gets soft enough to eat. I've even allowed the crumbles to get soft in a cup, then put them in but the big angel just seems apathetic unless one gets really close. Then it'll grab one. I think I'm overfeeding just to get the big angel to take a bite.

Has anyone else had this problem and figured a way to deal with it?
 
yea one of my barras missus out when fatguts oscar eats everything...
once a week or so bazz has a hissy fit and takes food out of ozzies mouth...
he eats when hes hungry so it works out...
 
Angel fish are usually pigs when they eat..
have you tried frozen bloodworms.. if that doesnt get a angel fish excited about eating I dont know what will?
 
I'll see if I can get some frozen bloodworms from my lfs. Getting them past the dwarf rainbowfish will be the trick. Thanks.
 
I have no idea if this will help but this is what I do to make sure my ADF's get their fair share of food. I take a turkey baster, put frozen bloodworms in a bowl with some water, suck them up and place the blood worms right in front of the ADF's. I do feed the rest of the fish some bloodworms right before so that they are slightly distracted. It seems to work fairly well.
 
Angels are spoiled and greedy. What they want is for you to basically "hand feed" them. I noticed that after I had my angels for a few weeks that they no longer chased after floating food.

You may as well try it...they will eat out of your hand...trust me.
 
Well I got the big guy to eat some. I provided a "target rich environment" for which several chances at food became available. I just put a lot of flakes in the tank at different times and at different places. The dwarf rainbowfish, whose speed and tenacity at picking off food is rivaled only by my congo tetras in a different tank, were overwhelmed at the sheer amount of food being offered and missed a few larger flakes that seem to be the only thing that catches the big angel's eye. I watched the big angelfish eat at least 4 or 5 flakes. I normally don't put that many flakes in the tank but I figured what the upper level fish didn't get the Bolivian rams and cories would clean up. I normally put some sinking pellets in for the bottom guys but I didn't this time. They were picking up what was left over. I think the big angel only wants what is big and easy to get at so I just put enough in that some big flakes went close enough to pamper it.
 
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