Purposely sinking food?

One of my common goldfish all nut refuses to eat floating food at the
top of the tank. However, she's quite happy to scour food from the
gravel and eat food that sinks. It concerns me slightly that she eats
a fair amount less than all the others, even my small veiltail. Is it
at all common practice to sink food purposely into the gravel for fish
like her? Is there some way I can encourage her to feed at the top
with the others? She's fairly aggressive when it comes to sinking
food, and she'll push the other fish around, but she seems
uninterested in floating pellets or flakes.

JS

--
========================= ========================
Jan Sacharuk Member in Good Standing of The Discordian Solidarity
Turn on viewing of the X-Geek-Code header to see my Geek Code
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"This is a dumb world. In my world, there are people in chains,
and we can ride them like ponies." - Evil Willow, BtVS

Jan,

Either method is fine to use. Some prefer top feeders
so that food does not get into the substrate.
Some prefer bottom feeders as it encourages fish
to suck up all the find at the bottom and they tend
not to gulp in air.

If you want your fish to become top feeders, and they refuse to
do it, I would suggest 'fasting' them for a few days, then top
feed them - if they are hungry enough they will find the food.
Typically floating food is dry, I would suggest soaking
any dry food with tank water for at least 30 minutes
this will enable the food to still float, if you want it
to drop a bit squeeze any air out (a good idea some say).

I've got an oranda who just can't see food when it's floating on top of the
water due to poor eyesight. Perhaps this might be the case with your fish?
I have to aim perfectly so sinking food falls right in front of his face,
then he sees it and eats it if he's quick enough to grab it as it falls! Bit
of a hit and miss affair really but he's doing well so I'm not worried!
Mel.

"Jan Sacharuk" wrote in message
...
One of my common goldfish all nut refuses to eat floating food at the
top of the tank. However, she's quite happy to scour food from the
gravel and eat food that sinks. It concerns me slightly that she eats
a fair amount less than all the others, even my small veiltail. Is it
at all common practice to sink food purposely into the gravel for fish
like her? Is there some way I can encourage her to feed at the top
with the others? She's fairly aggressive when it comes to sinking
food, and she'll push the other fish around, but she seems
uninterested in floating pellets or flakes.

JS

--
========================= ========================
Jan Sacharuk Member in Good Standing of The Discordian Solidarity
Turn on viewing of the X-Geek-Code header to see my Geek Code
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"This is a dumb world. In my world, there are people in chains,
and we can ride them like ponies." - Evil Willow, BtVS

sinking food is recommended for fancy GF... less chance of developing floatiness from
floating food
gravel is not recommended for fancy GF.
Ingrid

Jan Sacharuk wrote:

One of my common goldfish all nut refuses to eat floating food at the
top of the tank. However, she's quite happy to scour food from the
gravel and eat food that sinks. It concerns me slightly that she eats
a fair amount less than all the others, even my small veiltail. Is it
at all common practice to sink food purposely into the gravel for fish
like her? Is there some way I can encourage her to feed at the top
with the others? She's fairly aggressive when it comes to sinking
food, and she'll push the other fish around, but she seems
uninterested in floating pellets or flakes.

JS



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.