Hi!
My question today is about feeding my new Chinese Algae Eater.
When we set up our 55 gallon tank about a month ago, I knew the foyer was probably not the ideal spot, as there is a large palladium window just above the front door. The foyer sees a few hours of direct morning light and then the sun moves over top of the house. Unfortunately, this is the only place that a tank this large would fit. So, I resigned myself to extra cleaning and water changes.
After about a month, there are still no visible signs of algae in the tank, but I decided to go ahead and get a bottom feeder anyway to stay ahead of the game. I just figured I would have to supplement his/her diet with wafers for a while.
Imagine my surprise, after bringing home my new Chinese Algae Eater yesterday, to discover what ABSOLUTE PIGS my Plattys are!!! After giving them their normal dose of flakes and a couple of brine shrimp for a treat, I decided to drop in an algae wafer for 'Lollipop' (what we lovingly named our new sucker fish ). Immediately, the Plattys were all over the wafer! My normally docile fish had suddenly turned into ravenous piglets! And for the first time since I got them, I started to see aggressive behavior from my plattys. They were pushing and shoving, and nipping, and chasing eachother away. It was crazy! They didn't stop until the wafer was entirely consumed and their bellies were all swollen from over-eating.
Today, when I tried to feed Lollipop again, the same thing happened! So, I'm left with a lot of questions and concerns:
1. How to I feed Lollipop without my Plattys eating all her food?
2. Am I not feeding my Plattys enough food, if they are still hungry when I put the algae wafer in the tank? Maybe I should feed them more?
3. How can I make sure that my Plattys don't over eat? (Feeding them first doesn't seem to help, just makes things worse because they eat all their food plus Lollipop's food too).
Thanks for any advice!
My question today is about feeding my new Chinese Algae Eater.
When we set up our 55 gallon tank about a month ago, I knew the foyer was probably not the ideal spot, as there is a large palladium window just above the front door. The foyer sees a few hours of direct morning light and then the sun moves over top of the house. Unfortunately, this is the only place that a tank this large would fit. So, I resigned myself to extra cleaning and water changes.
After about a month, there are still no visible signs of algae in the tank, but I decided to go ahead and get a bottom feeder anyway to stay ahead of the game. I just figured I would have to supplement his/her diet with wafers for a while.
Imagine my surprise, after bringing home my new Chinese Algae Eater yesterday, to discover what ABSOLUTE PIGS my Plattys are!!! After giving them their normal dose of flakes and a couple of brine shrimp for a treat, I decided to drop in an algae wafer for 'Lollipop' (what we lovingly named our new sucker fish ). Immediately, the Plattys were all over the wafer! My normally docile fish had suddenly turned into ravenous piglets! And for the first time since I got them, I started to see aggressive behavior from my plattys. They were pushing and shoving, and nipping, and chasing eachother away. It was crazy! They didn't stop until the wafer was entirely consumed and their bellies were all swollen from over-eating.
Today, when I tried to feed Lollipop again, the same thing happened! So, I'm left with a lot of questions and concerns:
1. How to I feed Lollipop without my Plattys eating all her food?
2. Am I not feeding my Plattys enough food, if they are still hungry when I put the algae wafer in the tank? Maybe I should feed them more?
3. How can I make sure that my Plattys don't over eat? (Feeding them first doesn't seem to help, just makes things worse because they eat all their food plus Lollipop's food too).
Thanks for any advice!