Need advice- some fish not getting food

Hi all,

Most of you probably know, i have mainly rainbows in my tank, but also have 2 Rams and 3 clown loaches and a few corries.
Rainbows are very aggressive feeders alongbwith a few torpido barbs, so im finding that whatever food i throw in the tank is disappearing way before the bottom feeders and rams get a chance to nibble.
My clowns and rams are getting very skinny and its worying me, even bottom feeder pallets get picked up by the rainbows and torpidoes.
Whatbi did now is dropped a weekend feeder block in there hoping all will get some of it.

Hope someone has an answer for me other than taking them out the tank

Ammar

 

A no from me for feeder blocks ... what about feeding at lights out ?

Alternative mix with sinking and floating food.

Later Ferdie

 

+1 on this, very handy at bypassing the top feeders.

You could also work on feeding stations - only feed your floating/semi-floating foods one side of the tank, and sinking foods on the other. Fish are quick to learn which are the easiest meals for them.

 

Ok ill remove the feeder blocks, they not even going near that thing.

Problem is not getting the food down to the bottom.

They finish the food at the top and then go for the bottom stuff.

Ill try the night feeds, not aure if tge clown are nocturnal, cause they disappear around 7 ish wvery evening and in only see them again the next morning.

Ill try scatter the pellets a bit more

 

@Ammar,

You going to have to try different tactics until you find something that works

Firstly, maybe you not feeding enough (no offense meant) for the number of fish?

Try feeding the rainbows on one side whilst with the other hand, take a handfull of sinking pellets and put them at he bottom on the other side
I dont bother with tubes... Im one of those that freely uses my hands in the tank and gets all the big fish to eat off my hand so i just reach to the bottom with my hand. The rainbows stay away from my hand

What I do with my little Irwini is switch off the lights and with my hand put food down for them

You can put down cucumber, red peppers, blanched broccoli, baby marrow.. for your clowns and corries, they will love it and the rainbows dont touch it or at least mine dont
You can also put down at the bottom 3 or 4 small pieces of hake, pangassius or shrimp, the clowns love it mine pig out on it and they as fat as little piggies and the rams will also eat it. This combined with a piece if veggie in the tank will sort them out

Lastly, and this is just as a matter of interest but worth knowing
Once you get the clown eating keep an eye that they do start getting fat and dont remain skinny
I often see people post tanks with clown loaches that look quite skinny, most clown loaches are wild caught and often get what they call 'skinny disease' which is simply parasites that they carry
If you see they remain skinny after they start eating, dose them or actually the whole tank with Prazipro, you will not believe the difference.

 

Thank u so much @MariaS, inwillntry the different foods and merhods, my clowns are super skinny, i will keep am eye on them and see where i can get prazipro if needed.

Thanks again for the detailed explanation

 

Its a pleasure... Good luck

We managed to convince Wazeer's to get the suppliers to bring Prazipo in because of the rays so I know he stocks it now but,first see how it goes by trying the different methods and foods, maybe it wont be needed

 

I usually drop different food all over the tank and by rotating it all fish get food.

 

Hi @Ammar. I had the same problem in my community tank. I simply made 3 feeding spots for the top feeders and everyone got food. For the mid-level and bottom feeders I used sinking pellets and they also got food. Remember to feed the top feeders first and while they are eating feed the rest. Hope this helps. Good luck

 

LOL, you have to see Rainbows eating to understand what I mean.you can do 20 feeding spots, and they will still go after the bottom feeder pellets.

I tried the night feed last night, and increase the number of pellets dropped, i will monitor over the next few weeks and report back

 

Small update, things are looking a bit better, i beed using flake food instead of the tetra bits, so there is a much wider spread for everyone to eat, only issue is the water gets a bit oily.

Now i have something else that happened... this rainbow decided to turn half black only on 1 side.. i have never seen this before.. anyone seen this?

 

I have never heard or seen a Rainbow changing colour. I have seen with my own eyes that Parrot fish do change colour, but definitly not rainbows. What flakes are you feeding them?

 

@Ammar, I use the Tetra flakes as one of the foods in the pup tank, mainly for the rainbows and the two gouramis

It doesnt make my water oily..

What are you using?

 

Just a heads up on dry foods - like flakes - causing an oily surface on your water. While these foods may have great nutritional content (fats and oils play big roles in breeding, body condition, and energetics), they spoil very, very quickly. It's why dry foods typically don't have a high fat content. Keep a close eye on the expiration date, and sniff the food before you use it.

Has the rainbow's colour returned to normal?

 

sorry, been a ruff week i couldn't get onto the forum. @Maria I also use tetra flakes, for some reason i get this slight oilu layer at the top after i feed, not too bad but it is there.
@SalmonAfrica the rainbow is back to normal, was very weird, only 1 half on 1 side went black.

update on the feeding issue, the flakes are making a big difference, seem like all are getting something to eat, as the flakes break into smaller bit when the rainbows attack them, different from he pellets which they swallow whole. also i think feeding more bottom feeder pallets helped a lot.

 

@Ammar ,

Glad its better and you have found a way to resolve it
I haven't had the greasy layer with the Tetra flakes but maybe its also because I don't feed much of it

 

thank you for your help it might be yes im having to put in a decent pinch, when i throw it in i get a big surface spread so all get.
the oil is not too bad it does eventually clear up

 

Post some pics of the feeding frenzy - sounds super cool.

Later Ferdie

 

sure thing!! i'll do a gif tonight. last night one of my LEDs exploded!! i crapped myself because I thought it was the tank that broke.. not sure if everyone is familiar with the sound of a car window exploding when you are being smash and grabbed at a robbot( this for south african members only )
that is what it sounded like!!