Food and Floating Fantails

Hey guys:

It's been a long time since my last post. Due to your guidance, I've
made it through my first 18 months or so of fishkeeping, and my two
lovelies are generally thriving.

I've got two, a fantail and an oranda, in a 20-gallon, long, rather
than tall, type of tank. Overfiltered, lots of aeration, no gravel,
good water parameters, weekly treated water changes, heater set at
78--all of the basic, mostly "general consensus" stuff.

The problem is my pop-eye fantail. Man, does she get floaty. I've read
elsewhere that this is common. She has grown a lot in the last year,
and has the nice wide bodied, egg-shape. But the second I give her ANY
sinking pellet food, she floats like crazy. I have used Hikari,
BioBlend, and even recently tried Pro Gold. And soaking doesn't help!
It doesn't matter how much I spend on food, she is up and floating in
no time. Last night she had trouble staying right-side up. I gave peas
and today she is better, but I can't stand seeing her that way, ever!

Okay, so I am thinking I need to forgo pellets altogether, despite
their convenience. So now what? I used to use the SF Bay Brand frozen
bloodwoorm, brine shrimp and veggie "gumdrops." I wonder if this is
okay as a standard diet? The different flavors give them plenty of
variety, but I seem to understand that most people serve bloodworms
and brine shrimp as an occasional treat!? I even bought some of that
"fake" crab meat, but I've yet to serve it.

I am willing to make my own food with that "gel" stuff that is sold in
various places on the web, or even, if this is the case, to make my
own with store-bought gelatin. I just don't want to feed them
improperly. What are some of you more experienced folks doing to
ensure good nutrition if you forgo pellets?

Thanks, as always. . .
Jenn

The problem is my pop-eye fantail. Man, does she get floaty. I've read
elsewhere that this is common. She has grown a lot in the last year,
and has the nice wide bodied, egg-shape. But the second I give her ANY
sinking pellet food, she floats like crazy. I have used Hikari,
BioBlend, and even recently tried Pro Gold. And soaking doesn't help!

I have the exact same problem with my oranda - he floats for hours after I feed
him soaked ProGold pellets. I hate seeing him try to swim around normally and
just shooting back up to the surface. I've heard pinching the pellets after
soaking can help eliminate floatiness (gets rid of air), but I haven't tried
it. I also feed them peas - no visible effect, he still floats after feeding.

Feel free to share if you come up with a solution!

it isnt just what kind of food, but how much. she may need to only get a single
pellet of soaked sinking food per feeding. but you could try small amounts of
chopped cooked shrimp (like for shrimp cocktail) or that fake crab meat. it is cheap
and easily available and is human quality (clean). Ingrid

(Darth Jenn) wrote:

Hey guys:

It's been a long time since my last post. Due to your guidance, I've
made it through my first 18 months or so of fishkeeping, and my two
lovelies are generally thriving.

I've got two, a fantail and an oranda, in a 20-gallon, long, rather
than tall, type of tank. Overfiltered, lots of aeration, no gravel,
good water parameters, weekly treated water changes, heater set at
78--all of the basic, mostly "general consensus" stuff.

The problem is my pop-eye fantail. Man, does she get floaty. I've read
elsewhere that this is common. She has grown a lot in the last year,
and has the nice wide bodied, egg-shape. But the second I give her ANY
sinking pellet food, she floats like crazy. I have used Hikari,
BioBlend, and even recently tried Pro Gold. And soaking doesn't help!
It doesn't matter how much I spend on food, she is up and floating in
no time. Last night she had trouble staying right-side up. I gave peas
and today she is better, but I can't stand seeing her that way, ever!

Okay, so I am thinking I need to forgo pellets altogether, despite
their convenience. So now what? I used to use the SF Bay Brand frozen
bloodwoorm, brine shrimp and veggie "gumdrops." I wonder if this is
okay as a standard diet? The different flavors give them plenty of
variety, but I seem to understand that most people serve bloodworms
and brine shrimp as an occasional treat!? I even bought some of that
"fake" crab meat, but I've yet to serve it.

I am willing to make my own food with that "gel" stuff that is sold in
various places on the web, or even, if this is the case, to make my
own with store-bought gelatin. I just don't want to feed them
improperly. What are some of you more experienced folks doing to
ensure good nutrition if you forgo pellets?

Thanks, as always. . .
Jenn



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

Frozen bloodworm and brineshrimp would be nutritious and might help the
floating.Make sure you get the gamma radiated stuff though to avoid
introducing nasties to the tank.
Mel.

wrote in message
...
it isnt just what kind of food, but how much. she may need to only get a
single
pellet of soaked sinking food per feeding. but you could try small
amounts of
chopped cooked shrimp (like for shrimp cocktail) or that fake crab meat.
it is cheap
and easily available and is human quality (clean). Ingrid

(Darth Jenn) wrote:

Hey guys:

It's been a long time since my last post. Due to your guidance, I've
made it through my first 18 months or so of fishkeeping, and my two
lovelies are generally thriving.

I've got two, a fantail and an oranda, in a 20-gallon, long, rather
than tall, type of tank. Overfiltered, lots of aeration, no gravel,
good water parameters, weekly treated water changes, heater set at
78--all of the basic, mostly "general consensus" stuff.

The problem is my pop-eye fantail. Man, does she get floaty. I've read
elsewhere that this is common. She has grown a lot in the last year,
and has the nice wide bodied, egg-shape. But the second I give her ANY
sinking pellet food, she floats like crazy. I have used Hikari,
BioBlend, and even recently tried Pro Gold. And soaking doesn't help!
It doesn't matter how much I spend on food, she is up and floating in
no time. Last night she had trouble staying right-side up. I gave peas
and today she is better, but I can't stand seeing her that way, ever!

Okay, so I am thinking I need to forgo pellets altogether, despite
their convenience. So now what? I used to use the SF Bay Brand frozen
bloodwoorm, brine shrimp and veggie "gumdrops." I wonder if this is
okay as a standard diet? The different flavors give them plenty of
variety, but I seem to understand that most people serve bloodworms
and brine shrimp as an occasional treat!? I even bought some of that
"fake" crab meat, but I've yet to serve it.

I am willing to make my own food with that "gel" stuff that is sold in
various places on the web, or even, if this is the case, to make my
own with store-bought gelatin. I just don't want to feed them
improperly. What are some of you more experienced folks doing to
ensure good nutrition if you forgo pellets?

Thanks, as always. . .
Jenn



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

compare the price of frozen bloodworms (which, BTW, many people find themselves
allergic to handling) and the price of brine shrimp to really clean sanitary human
food. why waste so much money on inferior food? Ingrid

"Mel" wrote:

Frozen bloodworm and brineshrimp would be nutritious and might help the
floating.Make sure you get the gamma radiated stuff though to avoid
introducing nasties to the tank.
Mel.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

You aren't kidding about the price of fish food vs. human-grade food.
I had no idea. The money I could have saved!!! The SF Bay Gumdrops are
ten bucks for a 100 pack, and most of that is water and veggies. I
made my own very small "gumdrops" today out of fake crab purchased for
$2.79, and I got much, much more than 100 servings. I just put it
through a well-rinsed food processor, balled it up, and popped it into
the freezer. It turns out I didn't need gelatin to make my own food.
(Unless there is a nutritional component there that I don't know
about!) I have fed the "crab" twice today and both fish went nuts with
happiness, and NO floating. Mrs. Fish has never looked better.

I am going to do the same homemade ball thing with some "human-grade"
bay shrimp as well. I like to feed the fish some veggies, too,
lettuce, broccoli, or peas a few times a week. (Although I know lots
of people don't, it has worked well for me, especially with the
chronic floating issues.)

Do I need to add anything else to their diets, or will shrimp, "crab"
and occasional veggies be sufficient, balanced nutrition? I really do
not want to risk even the smallest amount of pellets again. It's hard
on my fish. . .and perhaps even harder on me.

get seaweed for the veggies.. maybe kelp but spirulina is best. GF only incidently
eat "greens", they are going for the little animals living off the greens. the water
based veggies dont have the cellulose and are more digestible. what you can do is
put a couple grains of cooked white rice in the middle, a pinch of spirulina. that
will provide a "clearing" agent at the end of their meal and some nutrients. stick
with the inside of cooked peas to clean em out too. Ingrid

(Darth Jenn) wrote:

You aren't kidding about the price of fish food vs. human-grade food.
I had no idea. The money I could have saved!!! The SF Bay Gumdrops are
ten bucks for a 100 pack, and most of that is water and veggies. I
made my own very small "gumdrops" today out of fake crab purchased for
$2.79, and I got much, much more than 100 servings. I just put it
through a well-rinsed food processor, balled it up, and popped it into
the freezer. It turns out I didn't need gelatin to make my own food.
(Unless there is a nutritional component there that I don't know
about!) I have fed the "crab" twice today and both fish went nuts with
happiness, and NO floating. Mrs. Fish has never looked better.

I am going to do the same homemade ball thing with some "human-grade"
bay shrimp as well. I like to feed the fish some veggies, too,
lettuce, broccoli, or peas a few times a week. (Although I know lots
of people don't, it has worked well for me, especially with the
chronic floating issues.)

Do I need to add anything else to their diets, or will shrimp, "crab"
and occasional veggies be sufficient, balanced nutrition? I really do
not want to risk even the smallest amount of pellets again. It's hard
on my fish. . .and perhaps even harder on me.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

http://www.airamericaradio.com/
online streaming radio if out of range
the O'Franken Factor

Ingrid


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.