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Feeding Tetramin flakes/any flakes

C

curefan

Member
Joined
11 Feb 2009
Messages
167
Location
Ireland
Hi....
When I feed flakes, the flakes just float on the surface even with a spray bar and fish seem too lazy/afraid to go up for them. I usually have to swirl my hand around water surface to get them to sink and then the fish feed.

This is a pain as I have to remove a perspex cover to do this (it prevents evaporation). I have a small gap for feeding but its useless as the fish wont come up to the food!

Is this the same for others....do you have to sink the flakes yourself???

Bit of a silly question, but it annoys me!

Thanks, Dave.
 
depends on the fish. I keep various micro fish and some require the flake to be crushed into fine pieces which will sink. i always turn my filter off during feeding. About 2 minutes before i feed. The fish then know what is about to happen and get kind of frenzy ish.
 
I currently keep CPD's and they never to go the surface. All flake food should eventually sink, I just crush mine up and sprinkle it around the outflow.
 
With my spray bar it instantly pushes the flakes underwater. My golden tetras will feed from the surface but the Cardinals take the flakes when they start sinking.

Mike
 
My Cardinals take the flakes when they sink - the problem is that at the moment they hide as soon as the tank is opened since I've been planting recently, and as a result the flakes have often sunk by the time they emerge! I don't give them any more though, my Darwinian logic is that if they're hungry, they won't hide!
 
It's funny, I keep wild discus, scalare angels, cardinals and rummy nose tetras in my 4x2x2. All of the fish in there are really bold, constantly following me along the tank and they feed like crazy but they simply won't feed from the surface. Surprising from such bold fish...

It may not be possible without removing the arcylic lid but to combat this when feeding flake food, I take a pinch with two fingers, then put my two fingers in the water and then release the food. This works well. Most of the time I have to shake off a massive discus off the end of my finger before I can have my hand back LOL
 
My Denisonni barbs will go up to the surface, turn around and flip their caudal fin, causing a big splash and making the flakes sink 🙂 It's the only intelligent thing they seem capable of though. Because all my fish are medium size, I find that flakes break up into tiny particles and the fish don't seem to see them. The tiny particles also stay on the surface rotting away, helping to cause milky surface film. For this reason I mainly use Tetra Prima, floats for a while then sinks, doesn't break up and it's red so the fish can see it easily. This allows it to all get eaten before it reaches the substrate.
 
I feed a mix of tetra min flakes amongst other foods, and all of my fish think its feeding time everytime i approach the tank, the rummy noses in particular swarm to the top right of the tank where i feed them. Cardinals, rummys, siamese 'algae' eater and harlequins all feed from the top immediately, even the shrimp seem to know and pick off pieces that sink.
 
i think i have a tank of pirhana as soon as i lift flap for feeding they know and are all waiting at the surface for it once i put the food in its gone in seconds. stick your hands in there and you get attacked as if they've never been fed and are starving.
 
I feed flake to distract the greedy Congo's so I can get the wafers down to the bottom for the plecs. Now these are fish that go crazy for surface food and more than once I have ended up with a wet face from them.

Andy
 
i use flakes for the livebeareres (spirulina) and tetra prima for the middle and bottom feeders plus frozen foods
i feed 2/3 times a day and its allgone almost instantly
oh i also use new era as its bloodworm based and sinks just before lights out for my plecs
 
dean said:
i use flakes for the livebeareres (spirulina) and tetra prima for the middle and bottom feeders plus frozen foods
i feed 2/3 times a day and its allgone almost instantly
oh i also use new era as its bloodworm based and sinks just before lights out for my plecs
Click to expand...

Hey Dean would you recommend the new era tabs? I have 7 plecs and I will need to buy some more food soon. Does it break down quickly? what sort of size are the tabs?
 
I've never tried the tabs as I've got a supplier for spirulina tabs
I use the granular new era as its soft and it's main ingredient is bloodworm and soft enough for any fish eat
I also use the cheap frozen shrimps (cheapest supermarket brand) as i believe most plecs eat more meat than we think and also shrimps will not just brake down if not eaten and can easily be removed you will find almost any fish will eat the frozen shrimps even our pet shrimps 🙂
 
Sorry mis understood originally I thought you were using a bloodworm based tab and not granules but I still may have to look into the granules though. They certainly like the meaty foods like mussel etc. What types of plec are you keeping?
 
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