Food Questions

I've got 2 noobish questions. I feed my fish twice a day. In the morning and in the evening. I give them Flakes + 2 cubes of either bloodworms or brineshrimp each time. I try not to overfeed the with the flakes. My Display tanks sump needs repairs so all my fish are in one of the bigger new tanks. 7 convicts, 2 sun catfish 10cm, 2 striped Raphael catfish, 2 small gouramis. 2 10cm plecos.

Am I Over feeding with the cubes or not?

and The convicts look like they are eating all the bloodworms before it can even reach the bottom. The catfish all look rather fat but I feel like they are only getting the flakes. Is this still fine?

 

i'm also a noob but i think you might be overfeeding them,rather give them flakes in the morning and cubes/bloodworms at night after dinner.

 

Try and minimise the bloodworms to 2/3 times a week. Prof Dirk will tell you that BW are like chocolates and should be regarded as a treat!

 

I would agree with Stormer that feed one thing at one time? My fish tend to contentrate on one thing, and leave the other, where as if you feed seperately, they will eat the other!!

The other thing that usually works is to feed a little more often, than a lot less often. The only side problem with this is that you still have to make sure that ALL fish get some food!!

One point with Catfish... Most larger mouthed catfish will eat and eat until they look like they'll pop!! So they do not need to be fed until they stop feeding, as they won't stop!! Just so long as they are eating something should surfice!

If no bloodworm are getting to the bottom, then I would suggest put an extra block in so that they do get some!!

A quick question.... How big are your convicts?? This will affect greatly how much food you need to be putting in the tank!! Large convicts have large appetites!! They will require more food!! IF they are full grown, then 2 blocks probably isn't enough??

Unfortunately, your convicts are voracious eaters, and will gobble everything in sight!!

Hope that helps a little??
Cheers
G!

Sorry, I forgot to mention that part!! Nice one Gert!!

As mentioned before, try and get a variety of frozen foods like Artemia (Brine Shrimp), Mysis Shrimp, Mosquito Larvae, Daphnia, but avoid tubifex!!

Regards
G!

 

i mix a few foodstuffs together when feeding kinda like a buffet

 

the male convicts are about 5-6 cm and females about 3-4cm. at least that would also save me allot on fish food.

 

Here's a tip I learnt. Get a BIG syringe (Clicks sell them) and chuck the bloodworm cubes in. Next draw some tank water into the syringe and let the cubes disolve. This way you can squirt the bloodworm into the tank in various places to make sure all the inhabitants get some. Hope this will help.

 

And I am hoping that by seeing Big G's answer before your post you would see why this is wrong. If you feed your children a buffet of veg, chocolate, and cake every night, and let them pic whatever they wanted... they will obviously only go for the chocolate or cake, and ignore the nutrient rich veg. If you only feed them the veg in the morning, they will get the nutrients. Then TREAT them with the chocolate.

I have about 7 different types of dry foods, but I only feed them one type at a feeding. I feed mine at 7am, and then again at 7pm. Little bits at a time. I think you may be overfeeding... but it all depends on how many fish are in there. On a Tuesday morning I skip the morning feed and treat them with some flakes and Blood worm in the evening. And I do the same on a Saturday. The Blood worm is a treat. Skipping the 2 feeds is also a LOT more healthier for the fish than feeding them all the time. Betta's can eat even less. (Solex feeds his betta tank only 3 times a week!)

This also defrosts the bloodworm. I've heard that some fish's bodies cannot take the frozen bloodworm as the cold does damage.

 

Heres what i do.
I buy Flakes enriched with Vitamin c,High energy flakes,flakes with colour enhancing properties,freeze dried brine shrimp and freeze dried blood worms as well as a good quality ciclid pellets.
I mix then all in a ratio of 1:1.
I then feed my fish two times per day,as much as they will finish in three to five minutes.
Keep in mind that i have a community tank with livebearers,tetras and cichlids.

 

Be careful with frozen foods extremely dangerous as the cold chain might have been broken during transportation. Rather get yourself a good enrich flake. It will become costing buying different types foods. Rather stick one good flake.

 

i have 3 big oscars and 1 giraffe cichlid all with very very healthy appetites,with the buffet what the one fish dont eat another will,all that falls to the bottom is the crumbs.i have two plecs that eat the stick crumbs but the live food leftovers i think i need a syno to sort out