Chase J

My Cherry Barbs Won't Go To The Surface To Eat! Why They Have Been In The Tank For A Few Days Now and They Seem Comfy. ( They Are Still Eating But alot of The Food is Wasted When It Hits The Floor. I Only Feed Them Once A Day. Is That Too Much Or Too Little

dmm28

I've seen with my cherry barbs that they like to pick off the bottom quite a lot. No need to panic.

platy ben

Either feed them live or frozen food, or, if you are using flake food, hold it under water in your fingers for about 10 seconds then rub your fingers together, then your flake food will sink for them

Hope they eat for you

dmm28

After reading your post again, I'm a little confused. Is it that they don't eat at all? or that they just don't come to the surface to eat?

Chase J

No They Eat Its Just That They Miss Alot Of The Food And It Hits The Floor And They Never Gat It And Its Wasted And Turned To ammonia

dmm28

Not to worry my friend. More than likely they will pick off the bottom. If not I hope you have some corries or a plec to help you clean up. Although I even see my dwarf gourami clean the bottom too.

Quick edit: Maybe your over feeding......?

Mike19

Just remember a fish stomach is about the size of their eyes. no need to provide excess food.

Lucy

Chase, this ties in with your other thread about ammonia.
I agree, feed them less. Do a water change and vacuum your gravel to get the excess food out.

Chase J

how less once every other day or just a smalller pinch

Lucy

You can feed daily, but like Mike said, the fish's stomach is only the size of it's eye. So just a little pinch.

bluealuefish

you could do a smaller pinch. i feed my fish twice a day and they tend to eat everything before it hits the gravel. i had to buy special sinking food for my cory cat because he got nothing to eat. =)