Silver Dollars Eating all the food

Hey guys,

Quick question if anyone has the time to share their thoughts. I have 5 silver dollars in my 75G tank but they are food hogs! I drop all the food at once and drop pellets on the gravel for the corys, but the silver dollars still beat the corys to the food. Wafers, pellets, flakes, everything. They are better bottom feeders than my corys somehow.
Has anyone used the big algae wafers with silver dollars? They steal the smaller wafers. I need something that they can't grab and swim away with.
Any ideas?

 

Maybe a zucchini slice on a fork for the cories.

 

I tried some romaine but they didn't take it, but I shall try the zucchini!

 

I know a lot of people feed conservatively but I just feed my greedy fish until they're full and then they usually just lose interest and I can feed my bottom feeders separately

 

If I do that I risk high algae growth, so I want to avoid that. Plus I think the dollars will eat until they explode.

 

Might try Omega One large grain sinking Cichlid pellets.
I mix the small pellets with the large & feed the mixture to my African Cichlids.
When the Cichlids go into their feeding frenzy & chomp on the big pellets, crumbs fall to the bottom, providing food for the loaches.

 

That's true I do tend to feed heavy. And I do have algae lol. Its caused by other (worse) problems then overfeeding tho cus I underdose nitrogen

 

Most catfish have excellent sense of smell and feed at night. Maybe you can try feeding the cories after the lights go out.

 

Silver Dollars are great fish! Like puppies.
But they are voracious eaters. Generally vegetarians.

Here's how you do it. Break up some tubifex worms into little pieces, and small flake food too. Make it so small and so many pieces that the Silver Dollars can't grab it. Then add some kelp pellets. Drop it all in at once.

The silver dollars will go for the kelp balls. The rest of the food will spread out and there is no way they can get it all. Then it will sink and the Corys will find after the silver dollars go to sleep!

You are basically overwhelming the SDs so they can't get it all, while also satiating them.

 

I have cobalt algae grazers. Its a larger pellet and dissolves slow, even my food grubbing loaches give up on it long enough for my pleco to get some.

 

Thank you for all the replies! I may avoid the larger pellets since I have celebes rainbows in the tank as well, and their throats are narrow I hear. I will try each suggestion and report any success I have!

 

The cobalt algae grazers are too large for most fish to swallow, they are about the size of like 5 quarters stacked on top of each other. They do eventually soften into a mush that your rainbows might pick at, it should be fine.

 

I have silver dollars also and there notorious for trying to eat everything as fast as they can,I threw a few pellets in the tank a silver dollar had 3 in its mouth and try to eat a another you can tell by how they eat that there are in the piranha family heh. A trick I do is ill feed the fish on the top and while there eating I quickly shut the light and throw and few pellets on the other side make sure they sink and open the light and continue feeding the fish on the top while there focusing on the top eating, the pellets are already on the bottom on the other side so the catfish will get them,the silver dollars still might try to eat them later but by that time the catfish already ate some.somtimes I throw a few in after I shut the lights for the night if you put them in a few different places the catfish will find them since there like scavengers.

 

Most catfish have excellent sense of smell and feed at night. Maybe you can try feeding the cories after the lights go out.

I second this. feed cories at night. my community tank, the bettas started trying to eat cory food, so they get dinner at night now.

I have cories & SDF. I just never thought of them as tank mates.

 

I have 3 good sized silver dollars in my 55 gallon community which also houses a wide variety of different types of fish.

Maybe it's because I feed so much in the first feeding of just flakes so everyone has a chance to eat, or because the silver dollars have learned that more is coming that is more to their taste that I really don't have a problem with them taking more than their fair share, or at least everyone else remains fat and sassy.

And they do get extras for the simple reason, I'm trying to keep them from eating all my live plants although they still do and it's been a trying experience to convert their tank into a planted tank.

So anyhow, my silver dollars have learned to wait for their veggie skewers or dose of duckweed. They still munch on my plants, they just can't resist any more than I can resist chocolate, but far less once I learned to give them what they want.

Meanwhile, they are so into their treats, I'm able to throw in some shrimp pellets or algae wafers to feed my other fish who want more than flakes.

In short, condition them to wait for their special treats. Believe it or not, fish can and do learn, I even have some that next to sit and beg like a puppy dog

 

I found a middle ground that I am content with. I invested in 2 sizes of NLS pellets, and vibra bites. I went with the overwhelm approach. My dollars are focused on the worm-like vibra bites and bigger pellets while the smaller pellets sink to the bottom mostly unnoticed. Occasionally I will throw in an algae wafer to distract them since the silver dollars all chase each other for it.
The cories and my rainbow shark now have time to eat and seem happier/a bit more filled out.
Thanks again everyone!

 

Hey guys,

Quick question if anyone has the time to share their thoughts. I have 5 silver dollars in my 75G tank but they are food hogs! I drop all the food at once and drop pellets on the gravel for the corys, but the silver dollars still beat the corys to the food. Wafers, pellets, flakes, everything. They are better bottom feeders than my corys somehow.
Has anyone used the big algae wafers with silver dollars? They steal the smaller wafers. I need something that they can't grab and swim away with.
Any ideas?

I have 7 ginormous food hogs that grab ALL wafers regardless of size and I've seen my baby 1.5 in clown loach AND one of my rainbows just go up and take it out of their mouths hahaha. They seem to break the big ones (some have mastered eating off the edges as they somehow move it around with their mouth without dropping) but the pieces they drop seem to be easier for my bottom feeders to get. Silver dollars are PIGGIES for sure! This is them a year and a half ago.