marty

feeding rings...good no good?

any thoughts or experiences?

CG <><

Gunnie

Butterfly uses them and likes them. She has her own rings though. The ones you buy are pretty small. I will point her to this thread for her input. I tried them but didn't really care for them.

Peter243243

What kind? I really have no idea what rings are.(for feeding fish anyway)

chickadee

I have one that I am using right now for a betta who is seriously weakened due to injury. He is not able to chase food all about the tank and he seems to appreciate having the food confined to a small area so he only has to come up from underneath to grab it and it does not run away from him. The healthy fish would not like them I am sure as they get their exercise by chasing their "prey" and hunting it down. It would bore them silly to have to go to a ring to get what is not moving.

You have to know your fish and consider what you want to use it for.

Rose

Butterfly

The feeding rings I have are much bigger than the ones you can buy and cheaper also- They are homemade Take the lid from a 3 pound margerine container, puncture the lid inside the rim.cut all the way around the rim until the middle falls out. float teh rim in the tank, if they want to float away anchor them to one spot by using a twist tie to hook over the edge of the tank and the rim of the ring. Now just add food. They can also be used the same way to keep floating plants from being thrown all over the tank. One of mine was a toy at one time and its purple. I first did this so all the left over food would fall in one spot and I vacuumed especially well in that spot.
Here are some pictures
Carol

Attached Images

	lid.jpg (61.5 KB, 171 views)
	cutting.jpg (62.3 KB, 162 views)
	ring and middle.jpg (56.2 KB, 162 views)
	ring floating.jpg (49.4 KB, 167 views)
	fish feeding 2.jpg (84.8 KB, 167 views)

Butterfly

Heres the purple one, it holds plants in one spot in one of the guppy tanks. The baby guppys love it.
Carol

Attached Images

purple ring.jpg (75.5 KB, 128 views)

Butterfly

Thanks I really don't like the bought ones their just too small. besides this one is free
Carol

atmmachine816

I'v used them and my fish won't eat from them, yet some do so it might depend on the fish.

atm

Isabella

Carol, you're so smart! What a great idea with the rings! I think I'll do that for my angels (I've never used any feeding rings before).

Butterfly

Most fish don't know what their for but soon learn where the food is at Their also good when you have certain fish eating all the food and others aren't getting any. Just feed at one end of the tank with the ring and then drop food in at the other end for the other fish.
Carol

tan.b

excellent idea rose! plus free home made beats lining the pockets of the commercial world!!!
Tan

rattyhatty

I use home made feeding rings also- But I cut a segment of a big coke bottle and the attach it to a rubber sucker pad to stick it to the tank, but seeing the margarine lid one and how simple it is I might swap and give them a trial because I need 2 suckers to hold up the coke one because it wont float. Great idea!

Bonochick

I think my fish enjoy the thrill of the hunt, so to speak, in getting their flakes. My tetras also don't usually come to the surface for food. They usually bunch together on the bottom between some plants and wait until the water from the filter starts pushing some down and swirling it around.

armadillo

I don't get it. So it's for floating food, right? To prevent it from scattering all over the tank?

COBettaCouple

yea, i think the feeding ring is to keep the food in a confined area of the surface until it's eaten or sinks.

rattyhatty

I dont have any problem with my fish feeding in the ring- My gold fish don't get so fussed now they have sinking food that goes everywhere and they have a bit of fun finding it. But when i gave them flakes they were always happy to come up and even waited for me to get home there. My platies and new dwarf gourami all come to the ring in excitement when the food is put in but unlike the gold fish don't wait for me lol.

Butterfly

I always have a lot of surface movement and flakes go every where. The feeding ring is great for keeping the food in one place
carol

COBettaCouple

i love how excited the platies get when they see the food container..