"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .

"Elaine T" wrote in message
...
Derek Benson wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 23:32:59 GMT, Elaine T
wrote:


Derek Benson wrote:


They are Convict cichlids and White convicts as was mentioned. Feed
them as much as they can eat in about 2 minutes, twice a day or
three
times a day. If there comes a day when you are there only once, so
you
can feed them only once, do not increase the food amount so they're
eating for six minutes; still give them about 2 minute's worth of
food. I've owned a lot of Convict cichlids as I've bred them a
number
of times.

-Derek

Wow - that sounds like a lot of food! I've never kept convicts,
though.


Peter Hunnam writes in his book The Living Aquarium that fish should
be fed once or twice daily, the feeding period to last between 2 and
5
minutes with no food left uneaten in the tank at the end.

-Derek

Interesting. Thanks! I've been wondering if I'm a bit stingy with
the
food. I'm going to time my feedings and see where I fall. I know for
sure that none of my fish get to eat for 5 minutes! Can you imagine
how
much koi would eat in that time? ;-)

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

I also think I might be a little stingy with the food - I feed twice a
day
but it is usually gone within 30 secs - 1 minute maximum. However all
the
fish look healthy and happy - with some very sad exceptions where the
fish
have been algae eaters and would not accept any additional food - 2
ottos
and very sadly one Pl*c last night from my son's 30 gall :-( - lights
out
policy to reduce heat has massacared the algae....I actually find it
hard to
understand how a fish will just not eat rather than accepting
alternatives
knowing that it will result in death - I would have thought that nature
would have given them a more tuned survival mechanism - anything better
than
nothing....

Another thought that comes to mind is some mammals and especially
humans
will over eat - so why assume that fish won't do the same. Obesity is a
large problem in Western Society and I'm not convinced that it is all
down
to the wrong food - quantity perhaps rather than quality. The more you
feed
someone/something then the larger the stomach capacity....

Gill


Why feed fish? (rhetorical question) I think that most of the energy
people get from eating goes towards temperature regulation and
locomotion. Fish keep their internal temperature close to the ambient
water, so relatively little energy is required for that, and most fish
are 100% buoyant to the ambient water so relatively little energy is used
getting around. They really don't need as much food as most people
think (using themselves for comparison).

With less food, the water, gravel and filters will stay cleaner. Taken
to an extreme, the fish will have less reserve energy, colors not as
bright and may become aggressive towards tank-mates (could be an early
issue with a tank of convicts).

One of the most critical and hardest things to teach new employees at the
pet shop was how much (and what) to feed the fish. In a commercial tank,
you want to be closer to the overfeeding extreme, as you want fast
growth, fast color recovery, good energy reserves for fighting diseases,
and can compensate for the extra pollution by overfiltering and massive
frequent water changes.

In the home tank (lower filtration, less disease vectors, and no
employees to do your maintenance ;~), I think you want to be closer to
the underfeeding extreme, but use a greater variety of foods to
compensate for any potential nutrient deficiencies. jmo
--
www.NetMax.tk