Another question on feeding

Hi all,

Can anyone help me with this: I've been unexpectantly given the job of
fish-feeder during a holiday, and the owners aren't reachable. Now I have
little knowledge about fish, and how to take care of them. Can anyone
identify the 2 types of fish swimming in this tank (see url's below), and
give me some clues as to how much to feed them? Today I took some food
between my fingers, and 'crushed' the food into the tank. I did that about
4 - 5 times.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis1.JPG
http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis2.JPG

Any help is much appreciated, especially by those fish.

JP wrote:
Can anyone help me with this: I've been unexpectantly given the job of
fish-feeder during a holiday, and the owners aren't reachable. Now I have
little knowledge about fish, and how to take care of them. Can anyone
identify the 2 types of fish swimming in this tank (see url's below)

One important thing to know about feeding fish is that it is more
dangerous to feed them too much rather than too little. Uneaten
food decays and turns into ammonia which is very toxic to fish. So
always err on the side of too little. A fish can go a day or two
without food with minimal ill-effects so don't be afraid to be miserly.

give me some clues as to how much to feed them? Today I took some food
between my fingers, and 'crushed' the food into the tank. I did that about
4 - 5 times.

I think they look like African cichlids. I have a tank with 10
cichlids and I give them about 1 teaspoon or so of dry flakes once
per day.

Generally you need to feed them what they consume in 3-5 minutes.
Next time put in one teaspoon (one generous pinch of food) and look
at your watch. If they've eaten it all in 2 minutes or less, put in
another teaspoon. Oh yea, no need to crumble the flakes, they eat
'em big or little.

Any help is much appreciated, especially by those fish.

Remember LESS is BETTER in regards to food.

Good luck. I hope you can enjoy these fish as well as feed 'em. :-)

coolchinchilla

JP wrote:
Hi all,

Can anyone help me with this: I've been unexpectantly given the job of
fish-feeder during a holiday, and the owners aren't reachable. Now I have
little knowledge about fish, and how to take care of them. Can anyone
identify the 2 types of fish swimming in this tank (see url's below), and
give me some clues as to how much to feed them? Today I took some food
between my fingers, and 'crushed' the food into the tank. I did that about
4 - 5 times.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis1.JPG
http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis2.JPG

Any help is much appreciated, especially by those fish.


As Coolchinchilla said, less is more. I agree that they're cichlids but
I'm also not sure which species. Those big, fat chichlids are in no
danger of starvation, but they'll likely try to fool you into thinking
otherwise. When you approach the tank, I bet you see a mad dash for
food, as if the fish have been starved for *months*.

I usually let a tank aggressive feeders eat for maybe 30 seconds;
sometimes less. So...put a small pinch of food in the tank and start
timing. If it's gone sooner, keep adding food, as long as they can eat
it in the rest of the 30 seconds. By the end of the 30 seconds, you
want no food left. That may be somewhat less than their usual owner
feeds, but it's better to go easy and keep the water good and clean.
Also, the fish will be fine fed once a day, or even every other day.

Good luck, and have fun watching them some!

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

the large black and grey ones are convict cichlids..look to be all male from
the pictures - females have red/orange tinged abdomen..not sure about the
white guys. If the convicts are all indeed all males, you may need to make
separate "drops areas" in the tank to ensure everybody gets a fighting
chance at the food. IME convicts like most cichlids appear ravenous and can
be aggressive feeders; subdominant males and the smaller white cichlids may
be unwilling/unable to swim into a throng of feeding convicts. They'll eat
whole flakes, no reason to "crumble" them up
HTH

lila pilamaya

white guys may be pink convicts? same story as the other post.


JP wrote in message ...
Hi all,

Can anyone help me with this: I've been unexpectantly given the job of
fish-feeder during a holiday, and the owners aren't reachable. Now I have
little knowledge about fish, and how to take care of them. Can anyone
identify the 2 types of fish swimming in this tank (see url's below), and
give me some clues as to how much to feed them? Today I took some food
between my fingers, and 'crushed' the food into the tank. I did that about
4 - 5 times.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis1.JPG
http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis2.JPG

Any help is much appreciated, especially by those fish.

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 17:32:58 +0200, JP wrote:

Hi all,

Can anyone help me with this: I've been unexpectantly given the job of
fish-feeder during a holiday, and the owners aren't reachable. Now I have
little knowledge about fish, and how to take care of them. Can anyone
identify the 2 types of fish swimming in this tank (see url's below), and
give me some clues as to how much to feed them? Today I took some food
between my fingers, and 'crushed' the food into the tank. I did that about
4 - 5 times.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis1.JPG
http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis2.JPG

Any help is much appreciated, especially by those fish.

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

Derek Benson wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 17:32:58 +0200, JP wrote:


Hi all,

Can anyone help me with this: I've been unexpectantly given the job of
fish-feeder during a holiday, and the owners aren't reachable. Now I have
little knowledge about fish, and how to take care of them. Can anyone
identify the 2 types of fish swimming in this tank (see url's below), and
give me some clues as to how much to feed them? Today I took some food
between my fingers, and 'crushed' the food into the tank. I did that about
4 - 5 times.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis1.JPG
http://www.xs4all.nl/~lindir/vis2.JPG

Any help is much appreciated, especially by those fish.


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.

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

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

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

"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