# Feeding - how much, how often?



## Kezzab (13 Mar 2017)

I cant decide if this is a simple question or not...

I have 20 pearl danios, 6 dwarf cichlids, 2 corys and 2 otos.

It's quite hard to judge how much to feed, especially because the danios are so quick that the cichlids struggle to get a look in.

I fed a cube of frozen bloodworm today and it all got eaten in a few mins. Should that be a daily amount, or what?

I know the general rules, but just twitching about over or under feeding.

what's your rules of thumb?


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## papa_c (13 Mar 2017)

My recent experience on exactly the same issue but different fish was upping the feeding coincided with a BBA outbreak. You could try two different types of food in smaller quantities to see if this changes the feeding habits, or split the blood worm cube and feed in different places it may help.


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## Kezzab (13 Mar 2017)

mmm, little bit of BBA here too... Will try as you suggest.


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## dean (14 Mar 2017)

Easy thing to remember as a rough guide 
The stomach of the fish is about the same size as its eye so small fish don't really need much at all 
I feed little and often with a variety of foods 
I give them what they can eat within 2 minutes 
( sit in front on the tank adding little bits at at time) 
This gives you chance to view the fish and see that they are all eating and healthy 

If you have say pearl danios and some corydoras then slow adding food will enable the danios to fill up and then then the food you add will go down to the corydoras again keep slowly adding little bits 

This way there's no uneaten food laying around the aquarium 

I also turn off my filters at feeding time 
This gives me more control over where it goes 

To put it into perspective 
If you were to eat a small plate meal 
How often would you need one to be happy and remain active and healthy  3 or 4 a day 
Same goes for fish 




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## mike L (7 Apr 2017)

dean said:


> I feed little and often with a variety of foods...



Yup, this is my approach....including blood-worm for 3 Siamese algae eaters who need a bit of protein in their diet lest they home in on other fish for a loving 'suck' as they mature!! I'll also drop food onto mid-level moss branches which encourages mid tank swimmers to forage within their 'happy' zone. Some black neons come to the surface, some don't...some cardinals forage the substrate....and my one red platy will stay close to my cory....knowing that he will dig and agitate food up into the water flow....so she's always the first on the scene, like a canny seagull perched on a trawler's mast...LOL...

I think observing a community of fish feeding and foraging  is soooo educational whenever time allows for it.

Lots of small meals....and never in excess....and you can't go far wrong IMHO..


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## zozo (7 Apr 2017)

Froozen live food should be supplementary feeding, no need for it to be the main diet. In nature it also aint, insect larvae are most cases seasonal, for the rest of the year the have crustaceans and whatever edible they can scavange from what falls into the water.

Look at the fishes mouth, if it points to the surface, danios (superior-B) they are evolved to scavange mainly from the surface. In nature flying insect, pollen or whatever edible lands on the water and lives in the roots of floating vegitation.   If it is a straight mouth, chiclids (terminal - A) or catfish (inferior - C) they are evoled to eat mid level or from the substrate. The last 2 you rarely see near the surface.

So if you have a combination of these types of fish, you can choose best from a variety (mix) of food that floats, sinks slowely and sinks fast. Than all get their fair share.. Fish can be very good conditioned with feeding, so after a while when they know how it works, the danios will stay close to the surface picking off what floats and what sinks is for the rest.

I for exaple solved it with Sera vipa chip, which is a fast sinker and a spirulina tab, which is a slow sinker.. I put a few taps in a little mortar and crush them together till it looks like a powder. The the tina vipa parts immediately sink, the spirulina partialy floats partialy and sinks slowly and since it is powdered there is enough for all.. No change for one fish taking off with a chunck half it's own size. This way it is very easy to controll how much you feed even several times a day if you like in smaller portions. Feeding complete tabs oftenly is to much. Than additionaly a few times a week froozen food and you have a perfect diet with all deversity needed.


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## dean (7 Apr 2017)

To get your fish in the best possible condition (therefore colour) you do need to feed live food either shop bought or home raised, this combined with a big water change of cooler water will stimulate most species to spawn 


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## sciencefiction (7 Apr 2017)

zozo said:


> Look at the fishes mouth, if it points to the surface, danios (superior-B) they are evolved to scavange mainly from the surface. In nature flying insect, pollen or whatever edible lands on the water and lives in the roots of floating vegitation.  If it is a straight mouth, chiclids (terminal - A) or catfish (inferior - C) they are evoled to eat mid level or from the substrate. The last 2 you rarely see near the surface.



I don't find this to hold true in a fish tank, at least not to a great extent.  Perhaps it does in nature. For example, I normally feed only sinking food but for the last few months I've been also feeding flakes at the same time because I was not sure my new fry sized fish at the time would be able to swallow the smallest of pellets I had. Today, just a few moments ago I threw some flakes as a snack, specifically for my harlequin rasboras as they're are way smaller than the rest of the fish. What happened is that the entire bunch of fish in my tank ate them quite happily from the surface. This includes the bottom feeding clown loaches, SAEs, also the denison barbs. Only the pleco didn't come up 

I also kept platies for ages. If you look at their mouth, they are certainly designed to feed from the surface. They like spending time gulping surface scam too. But when I feed my tank with my usual sinking pellets, they're alongside the corydoras at the bottom eating as greedily..Give fish food, they'll learn to eat it from anywhere...eventually..Mine also totally ignored the flakes at first because I had never fed floating food before...Now they know better 

Back on the topic, when you try to feed a community of fish with different feeding abilities, there will always be some pigs and some that don't get that much. In my experience, feeding small pellets and spreading them out when feeding(sinking them) works better because the fish must chase them down...If the fish are strictly surface feeders, sink some slow sinking food for the others first to distract them going down chasing, then drop floating food, etc.. Lots of surface and mid feeders will quite happily keep searching the bottom for food....Feed in small sized food, not one large pellet that only the boldest get to. If you just throw the food at the surface, making to float for a good while, not all fish will compete, not just because they're not surface feeders but because some fish are naturally afraid to swim near the surface in fear of predation of some sort, or because they're not comfortable in the environment, bright lights, too much open space, etc..

And even when you feed bloodworms, try to drop some near the bottom as well as let some slowly sink, rather than just dumping the cube from above,  for the fastest to get to at the surface. 

As for how much to feed, in my personal experience I would not feed an entire cube of frozen blood worms a day to the type and amount of fish you've got. When I kept my clown loaches and a big bunch of other fish in a 5f tank, I fed the lot 3 cubes on a Saturday...You've got a fraction of the amount of fish and one cube once or twice a week is plenty much for high protein food. The rest of the time try feeding good quality dry food, as low on protein as you can get which is normally around 35%,  Good quality dry food should be the main diet as is the only food that will give a complete round of necessary vitamins and minerals. You do not need live food for great colours. You need high quality dry food. Try new life spectrum for example.  Live food is too much risk disease wise and I do not bother for that same reason, unless you grow it yourself and it has no access to the outside to get contaminated with pathogenic germs.   Someone mentioned feeding in small amounts often which is really great but when there's competition, as its been my case, its often better to feed enough the times you feed to make sure all fish get to some of the food each time, unless you learn their habits and target each type of fish at different times.

Its very hard to say when one is overfeeding. That depends on your size of tank, filtration, level of stocking, maintenance habits, etc..I do feed my fish once a day, now twice because my tank can handle it. I am not one that thinks fish live healthily when half starved because the water quality is better. Feed enough but do the corresponding amount of water changes, have larger tanks with fewer fish, etc..

A lot of fish diseases are either a result of bad water quality or malnutrition. This is specifically the case for larger fish because people do not feed them enough for them to get all they need, or do not feed them the right types of food, low quality cheap food, too high protein food, or food full of wheat and starches, on which they do grow big but not healthy or colourful.  Fish fed on life food/fresh food only in fact are the most common suffers. These foods should only be supplemental to keep the fish happy and occupied. They do not represent the best diet, no matter how natural to us it sounds. Our fish do not have thousands of litres of water and kilometres of territory to vary their food. What you give is what you get.  

I think I can go on...


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## sciencefiction (7 Apr 2017)

And some on feeding fish from this link below. I also forgot to say...its important to keep all the fish food in the freezer, even dry food. Take out just enough to last a few weeks. 

link: http://www.petmd.com/fish/conditions/digestive/c_fi_Nutritional_Disorders

*Nutritional Disorders*


Many fishes suffer from nutritional disorders because of a poor diet. Nutritional disorders are the most common reason for sickness and death in aquarium, tank or fishpond fishes.



*Reasons and Prevention *
1. Nutritional imbalance in commercial food: Fishes can be either plant eaters (herbivores), meat eaters (carnivores), or both (omnivores). And although commercial food is available for fishes, a nutritional disorder can still occur because each species of fish has a different nutritional requirement, which is not always fulfilled by the commercial food. Therefore, fishes will need more than one type of commercial food to meet their dietary requirement.



2. Incorrectly stored food: Improperly stored food is another reason fishes acquire nutritional disorders. Dry food should be stored in a cool, dry place and replaced after two months.



3. Vitamin deficiency: Nutritional disorders in fishes can also be due to a vitamin deficiency. Vitamin C or ascorbic acid deficiency leads to Broken back disease – where the backbone of the affected fishes get bent (deformed). Vitamin B-complex (thiamin, biotin, niacin, and pyridoxine) deficiency can cause brain, spinal cord and nerve disorders in fishes. Unfortunately, vitamin deficiency is diagnosed only after the fish’s death. Therefore, it is important you give your fish a vitamin-rich diet.



4. Infected live food: Food that is alive and infected with bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites can lead cause problem in your fishes. To prevent such infectious diseases, buy live food only from reputable sources.



5. Feed toxicity: Nutritional disorders caused by toxins found in food occurs frequently in aquarium fishes. The most common of these is the aflatoxin produced by the growth of the mold, Aspergillus flavus, in the stored food. Aflatoxin causes tumors and is fatal in fishes. Store your fish food hygienically and replace it every two months, or when there appears to be mold in it.


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## zozo (8 Apr 2017)

sciencefiction said:


> I don't find this to hold true in a fish tank, at least not to a great extent. Perhaps it does in nature.


That's correct even in nature it doesn't..  Even if superior mouth fish stay in the upper region of the water they all are also (micro) predators and also scavange in the vegitation for pickings on and under the leaves this also occurs at deeper levels in carpet plants. Obviously they go where the food is, if they have no choice even from the substrate.. I also see my rasboras go after a sinking pellet and snack it off the bottom if it is determined to get it. But the majority go for the easy pickings which stay floating.. Most of our fish tanks are maximum 50 cm high, compaired to nature this is still pretty shallow and mid level in the tank is still pretty close to the surface and could be considered upper region. This i experience with that school of Rasbora maculatus i have, during the day time they are all over the tank, at  dusk and night they are in the roots of the floating vegitation. The rasbora kobutai is constantly mid level, but also constantly racing towards and picking possible food from the surface, it's not gulping but it looks like that.

Anyway just saying use this natural fish feature whit using different types of food to give all a equal share. See how it works and addapt to that, go with your best experiences.. Whit the majority of fabricated food lika flakes and pellets, you still feed generaly the same, it is all for the basic part composed from fish meal with additions..


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## dean (8 Apr 2017)

The key to getting feeding right is 
•Vary the food with each feed
•use both dried and live foods 
•Watch the fish feed - 
don't just dump it in and walk away  get in a comfortable position so you can see them feed add little bits of feed at a time, until they have all eaten and are looking full ish and none grab the food as soon as it hits the water use this method a few times a day and you won't go wrong, 



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## castle (8 Apr 2017)

I feed a pinch of pellets every other day, on a friday they get some bugs from outside; and on a tuesday they get 1/2 a cube of bloodworm. Plus, whatever hey find in the tank.

Fish look good to me


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## castle (12 Apr 2017)

I bought 8 Farlowella which have been placed into a 150L tank for the time being whilst my next project (1.5L x 0.4H x 0.6W) is cycling. I suspect August time I'll move 'em across. It has taken me 6 days to get them to feed... 

Cucumber - rejected.
Peppers - rejected
Lettuce - rejected
(started to worry)
peas - rejected
blood worms - rejected
Hikari algae pellets - weyy, we have a winner. Problem - oto's like 'em too.

Now feeding a algae pellet a day to keep Farlowella's 'happy'.


(just in case anyone wonders, they're Farlowella Vittata - and I only bought them as I have fancied some for a while, there has been 8 sat in my local Maidenheads for a while; to they had started to loose condition, so I just thought I'd take give 'em a go).


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