Feeding.

[kandeecane]

So.... I have a few different fish (Dwarf cichlids, Betta, Tetra, Guppies, Bristlenoses and Cories...)

Would you recommend feeding my fish twice a day or once? I feed them once, currently... Giving my betta about 4 pellets (Hikari) and estimating for the rest of the fish (My betta also eat some flakes... Sneaky fish!)

They all look full for most the day... Soon I'll be switching to Frozen Brine Shrimp, Frozen Blood Worm and Freeze-dried Blackworm (For the cichlids as they can't have blood worm)

I know to fast them once a week and feed the betta (only ones that I can monitor them eating it) the insides of cooked peas once a week...

But with real meaty food... How often should I feed them? (Mind you, with the live food I'll be putting in flakes for the tetra in the betta sorority tank and community tank which aren't the cichlids of course and algae pellets for the corydoras and BN)

I figure 4-5 Brine shrimp/blood worm each feeding.... For each betta.

I just want to make sure my fish eat healthy. And pellets aren't too good for them at the moment coz they seem to be getting constipated easily.

[delyall]

I dont tend to go by certain numbers, I just feed them as much as they can eat in 3 minutes once a day.. I feed my bettas pellets and frozen bloodworm, and recently FD blackworm.. but then again, I dont know much about having a community tank ^^"

[Force Fed]

all of my fish (community wise) are fed on tetracolour flakes, i have granules aswell (tetracolour) but dont use them in my tanks... cardinals, rainbows, guarami, rams, female fighter...

my betta's i have tried to use freeze dried blood worms, but they seem to spit it out, my older fighters loved them! the latest 3 arent likign! so brine will be used as of tomorrow (freeze dried again)

my BN's and Flying Foxes get given hikari sinking wafers, but thats also eaten by everything else.....

ALL of my fish are in full colour at all time....

Edited May 14, 2010 by Force Fed

[kandeecane]

Yeah... I sorta wanted to diversify what i'm feeding them if that makes sense.

I might switch to the TetraColour Flakes for the cichlids.. At the moment they're getting Tetramin Flakes and some TetraColour granules.

[Force Fed]

oh and to answer the question of number of times to feed, I feed mine twice a day, sometimes even 3 times depending on how they are looking, when I wake up at 7am and when I get home at 5pm, no days breaks with feeding as they are in no way bloated... My betta's get fed 1 or 2 pieces at a time twice a day..

i put 5-6 sinking wafers in roughly twice a week (yes, 5-6 at a time) which is good for the bottom feeders/cleaners as they do munch a heap of stuff anyway!

[kandeecane]

Thanks honey. xD

Do remember at the moment I have 20 Corydoras and two large BN in one tank....

And in the other 10 Corydoras and 3 smaller BN...

Still 5 wafers twice a week?

[Force Fed]

whats the size of the BN's? I have a 2inch one and one thats probably pushing 3-4, they will both eat one themselves easily in a matter of minutes.... same with the flying foxes which are both a good 3+inch long now...

Remember though, my tank is heavily planted and has many piece of driftwood which they can get algae off etc.. (also note my tank has almost zero algae on the walls of it)

id probably go 4-5 wafers in the 10cory/3bn tank every 2-3 days depending on how much algae is growing through the tank for them to eat normally, they pick up scraps aswell thats left over from feeding the others.....

the other tank, probaly 8 or so on the same basis, as there are double the mouths to feed!

hope this helps.

[kandeecane]

That was great hun. Thanks.

Well I guess flakes for all. Including the Bettas are in order. xD

And I'll feed them flakes in the morning before I go to work and the frozen brine shrimp and bloodworm at night. :blush:

[kandeecane]

Something new and annoying has come to play.

The guy at the pet shop (Yeah I make a habit of NOT believing all I hear from them for a start) says that South American (I have Rams and Apistos which are South American Dwarf Cichlids) can't digest Brine Shrimp but can digest bloodworm and that African cichlids can't digest bloodworm and can brineshrimp.....

Makes me rather confused. Can I feed either/or? *confused look*

[Force Fed]

funny, my blue rams seem to be fine taking live brine shrimp over the past 3 days.

[kandeecane]

Live brineshrimp... Is that BBS?

[Chuckie]

no, BBS = baby brine shrimp. Live brine shrimp are usually adults.

[Force Fed]

Lilli is correct, adult BS, no issues with them in either my community tank or the betta's that are getting fed them.

[fishbites]

A large proportion of African cichlids are vegetarians but like all hungry fish will eat anything put in front of it - too much meat is bad for their digestive tracts and can cause bloat. Lettuce leaves and zuchinni is good for most vegetarian fish along with the occasional adult frozen brine shrimp and staple diet of pellets / algae wafers / vegie flakes, etc.

American cichlids tend to be more omnivorous and can easily be fed meaty foods (blood worms, brine shrimp, earth worms, etc) without problems.

Most of my fish are on a staple diet of pellets with each tank getting treats of their own special foods - vegies for the african cichlids, bloodworms/blackworms for the bettas, earthworms for the larger american cichlids, etc...

BN are garbage disposal units and will go for blood worms, dead fish and anything else that drops to the bottom of the tank - corys will have a go at most foods too. They are normally vegetarians though and algae wafers and vegies are best for them. You can also buy a frozen vegie mix that they will eat readily.

[kandeecane]

:P Thanks for that.

So seeing as I removed the Kribensis and am left with Angelfish, Apistogramma Agassizi, Bolivian Butterflies and Blue Rams with Danios and Rasboras in the tank too.... I should be fine to feed them a staple of TetraColour flakes and treats of frozen brine shrrimp and blood worm?

And all my other fish should be fine with both? Betta, Neon tetras, BN and Cories... And guppies... Though they only get crushed snails and flakes. xD

[fishbites]

Sorry didn't mean to confuse re African cichlids - its the rift lakes (Malawi and Tanganyika) that have a lot of small size vegetarians - The kribensis is from Western Africa. Cichlid-forum.com has some really good profile information on cichlids if you have a look there.

All of the cichlids you have mentioned in your tank - Kribensis (West Africa), Angels (S America), Apistogramma (S. America) and (S. America) - are omnivores (eat meat and vegies) and prefer soft to neutral water conditions. Keep the PH between 6.0 and 7.0 and temps around the 26C mark and all could be happy in the same conditions. Just keep an eye out if any cichlids form pairs and try to breed as they will become aggressive towards their tank mates so you will need to consider feeding in two different locations to accommodate the situation.

Don't forget to drop algae wafers to the bottom for the BN's and corys and give the BN's some driftwood to chew on to help their digestion.