How Much For Feeding Time?

Hey guys I have 1 albino cory, 1 bronze cory and 5 male guppies and I was just wondering how much flaked food I should give them twice a day and know when to stop thanks.

And should I have my filter aeration high (10 Gal) or low and should the air stone aeration be high or low aswell thanks.

 

Besides flake food you need to be feeding the Corys Shrimp Pellets and Algae Wafers as these sink to the bottom for them. The guppies may get all the flakes. 1 Algae Wafer broke in half should be plenty for the Corys once a day. Next day you can drop in a few Shrimp Pellets. A varied diet is best. I feed my fish only once a day. A pinch of flake food that will be consumed in 3-4 minutes is plenty, some may fall to the Corys and they will clean that up.

As for the aeration/circulation you need to adjust by watching the guppies. If they are getting blown around then its too high.

 

Feeding is totally a trial and error thing and depends a lot on how aggressive eaters your fish are and what their diet requires. Some people only feed once a day, some feed twice a day and some will promote fasting the fish once a week. No mater how you set up your feeding schedule the only way to really know if you are doing things right is by watching the fish and doing tank testing.

I feed most of my fish once to twice a day and only feed a very small amount at any one time so that everything is eaten within a few minutes. On days that I only feed once I do not increase the amount of food I feed, I still only feed them what they can totally eat within a few minutes. Over feeding is bad for the fish in many ways, it can cause health problems and foul the tank water.

Varying the diet is very important. Every type of fish requires some variation in their diet so from time to time you need to treat with fresh or frozen foods. I try to treat my fish to something special every few days like fresh peas, fresh cucumber and frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms. This way the fish that need a good high quality veggie diet can get a good supplement as well as the fish that require higher proteins.

If you are unable to feed or have forgotten to feed don’t try to make up for it by overfeeding because it will only cause water quality problems. Fish are able to go several days without eating in the wild and in our tanks and it can be healthy for them to miss a meal now and then and it also helps with water quality in the tank.

When I leave town on vacation I have a friend come over and feed every other day. That way if he over feeds he isn’t going to totally destroy the water quality while I am gone. I have even used proportioned feedings by using pill boxes. You can pick up pill boxes a any pharmacy and they are great for this.

 

In nature fish eat whenever they are hungry and food is available. If food sources are plentiful, they will eat several times a day. On the other hand, if food sources are scarce, they might go for days between meals. As for how much food to feed, a good rule of thumb is to feed no more than the fish will consume completely in less than five minutes. When in doubt, underfeed! You can always give them another small feeding if necessary. However, if you overfeed the uneaten food will produce by-products which can be harmful to the fish. In the event you do overfeed, promptly remove the uneaten food using a siphon or net.



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In nature fish eat whenever they are hungry and food is available. If food sources are plentiful, they will eat several times a day. On the other hand, if food sources are scarce, they might go for days between meals. As for how much food to feed, a good rule of thumb is to feed no more than the fish will consume completely in less than five minutes. When in doubt, underfeed! You can always give them another small feeding if necessary. However, if you overfeed the uneaten food will produce by-products which can be harmful to the fish. In the event you do overfeed, promptly remove the uneaten food using a siphon or net.

For a newbie to the site that was very well put-great first post.....and btw welcome to FishLore AlanYoung

 

Good morning,

I'm not fond of the guideline feed enough that the fish can devour it all within three to five minutes. In my opinion, this may be way too much food. Over feeding can lead to a multitude of issues that you really do not want.

As long as everyone gets a bite or two, should suffice. If someone doesn't get a bite, more than likely he/she will be first in line for breakfast the next morning. For fry and juveniles you may want to feed two or three times a day, again sparingly. Older fish, (all of my fish are adults and elders) I feed once a day and a varied diet.

Too, keep in mind that a lot of food that has been swallowed may be expelled via the gills and will be floating around in the aquarium. Smaller fish will feed from what has been expelled and bottom feeders will feed from what sinks to the substrate. Too, bottom feeders will at times forage through the entire tank and not just the bottom.

Use caution and feed sparingly.

Ken:;co

 

I have 4 giant danios, 1 dwarf gourami, and 1 betta fish. When it comes to feeding time my danios are the only ones that eat as they eat up all the food the second it touches the surface! I have tried spot feeding but the danios just jet everywhere and eat everything until it's all finished. My betta isn't seeing the pellets that it's supposed to be eating and so the danios just eat them too. I'm thinking of getting them brine shrimp and sinking it so that my gourami can get some food too? How do I feed all my fish equally?

 

Good morning Renjs,

You may want to consider giving the Betta a heated filtered home of it's own. The combination of Bettas and Gouramis is not a very good one. Too, obviously the Danios are too rambunctious to be housed with the betta and Gourami in my opinion. (more so the betta than the Gourami).

Reconsidering your stock and making some changes is going to be your best bet.

Hold on for more responses.

Ken

 

Welcome to FishLore!

I agree totally with Aquarist48. The betta and the gourami will start to fight at some point. They are in the same family of fish and it's almost like putting 2 male betta's together. (BTW two Dwarf Gourami's will fight like Betta's also).

But also, maybe even more importantly, you really need to learn about the nitrogen cycle. It is probably the most important thing to understand when keeping fish. It really is a matter of live and death for your fish.

I do have a feeling that due to ammonia exposure (once you read about the nitrogen cycle you will understand why that may be) possibly that is why your Betta and Gorami are not eating. Healthy Dwarf Gourami's are pretty aggressive eaters and shoul be able to hold their own at feeding time against Danio's. The Betta may have a harder time due to being slowed a little by all those fins, but healthy Betta's are pretty aggressive also.

Any stress (elevated ammonia or nitrite levels, imcommpatable tank mates etc) can cause a fish to not eat.

Best of luck!

 

Thanks for all the replies, yes it seems like I should reconsider what fish I have in the tank.
My DG and Betta are both active and look normal but when it comes to eating time they become a bit shy.

 

I feed once a day for 2 or 3 minutes. I don't drop all the food in at once. Put a little bit in then wait till they are all gobbled up then put in some more. The instructions on the food containers are just going to end up giving you dirty water.