Food - how much is too much?

[magpie]

My young (CB) senegal is a huge pig, which sounds normal. But I worry that he takes too much food when I feed the entire tank. I could totally see him eating himself to death. I have put in veggie wafers for my BN plec and goby, and he has run off with an entire one, which is too large for his mouth. It really worries me. So I've been breaking them up into small pieces in case he makes off with one. I also have been feeding zucchini a little more, which he won't touch.

So with a senegal maybe 5-6 inches (he has grown a decent amount), how many pieces of silversides would you feed? How many hikari carnivore pellets? How many broken up chunks of massivore, etc? I want him to be full but not kill himself. I try not to feed daily to give a break. I actually like that he takes the veggie wafers because I know some veggies are good to keep things moving through them. I also recently read in here about feeding catfish for the same reason.

I am just really attached to him already, and I don't want to screw it up.

Also, since he and my cteno are the only ones that eat massivore and it is a huge bag, should I freeze them to keep them fresh? Has anyone done that?

What about soaking pellets or the veggie wafers to make them easier to digest?

Thanks.

 

[Polyaddict86]

For the 5"-6" sen i would do half of the siverside every other day, and massivore 5 every other day.
Use massivore as a staple and silverside as treats.

 

[magpie]

5 chunks of massivore? I cut it up into thirds or so to make it easier to eat.

Thanks.

 

[Polyaddict86]

I meant 5 small cut, so like two massivore. Have you tried to feed it frozen tilapia fillet?

 

[Coryloach]

lso, since he and my cteno are the only ones that eat massivore and it is a huge bag, should I freeze them to keep them fresh? Has anyone done that?

Yes, I freeze all my food and only keep outside a small amount that lasts a few weeks.

I haven't kept this type of fish to be able to accurately answer but in my opinion fish do have a natural stop. I used to powerfeed one baby clown loach once just to see if he can take it and I happened to have the time to spend on him alone. He'd fill his belly with bloodworms for example, to the point it would round up very well visually, and then he'd stop eating more. In normal circumstances, when not given that amount of food each time, they keep eating because they never get to the point of feeling as full as when I dropped a cube of blood worms for the one tiny clown loach to gorge himself in peace without other fish pulling them....

The only worry with feeding as much is water quality but a growing fish can eat a lot and should eat a lot to get all vitamins and minerals needed for proper development....If the food is excessive or inappropriate, it will just come out the other end not very well digested...So far, I've never had a fish dying from overeating...And it is more often than not people starving fish and depriving them of proper amount of "goodies" to save on the water quality. But its better to have a hungry fish and healthy water than the other way round...

On a side note, I am not a fan of the content of hikari food....I don't think its the best thing to feed your growing fish, not much worth to the fish bar getting it fat...

 

[magpie]

Bichirs can get some constipation and bloat, and I've read of them getting food kind of stuck, so that is my main concern. He might just stop, I am probably being a worry wart.

Thanks for the freezer info- I'll do that.

What would you use instead of hikari? From what I've read on this forum, most people are using massivore and carnivore pellets as a staple along with tilapia (which I haven't used) or silversides.

I also switch it out with frozen krill & tubifex, and veggie wafers, and cichlid and shrimp pellets. I just assumed the more variety the better...

 

[magpie]

I meant 5 small cut, so like two massivore. Have you tried to feed it frozen tilapia fillet?

Thanks!

I haven't done tilapia because I have silversides. Someone mentioned that they were better because it was the whole fish...

 

[moe214]

Feed till a bulge in the belly and let it go down then feed again. That's a general rule.

 

[Polyaddict86]

Thanks!

I haven't done tilapia because I have silversides. Someone mentioned that they were better because it was the whole fish...

Try not to feed everyday, skip atleast a day. I schedule mines every other day on feeding, i staple with tilapia and pellet twice a week. Now im going to try catfish fillet once a week, they said that catfish has a oil in them that can prevent polys from bloating.

 

[Coryloach]

What would you use instead of hikari?

Dry food wise: New Life Spectrum, Fluval food is also not bad quality wise but I came across it only recently. You'd have to shop around to find bigger size pellets of those brands if that's what you'll need but they do different sizes and types of each kind. Ingredient wise these are the best I've come across and I've tested it for years. My fish have been long lived and looking their best in my opinion.

And I've never seen a bloated fish in my tanks as a result of overeating...or any sort of bloating....But one must feed high quality food and proper food for the fish species...