How to control waste food in predator tanks.

[jjohnwm]

Canister filters are wonderful for this; in your case they are functioning as they always do, i.e. collecting all the food and waste that is amassed over a 3-month period, hiding it from view, and circulating oxygenated water through it to maximize the growth of whatever organisms are ready to utilize and exploit it. Out of sight, out of mind...until the unwanted nasties overpopulate, become visible, and give rise to questions like this one. The classic complaint: "Everything I do is perfect, but this problem persists. How do I correct it...bearing in mind that everything I do is perfect, so I don't want to change anything?" It ranks right up there with everyone's favourite: "My fish died for no reason!"

The worms are reproducing rapidly because they have an abundant food supply. The amount of food being introduced exceeds that which the fish can utilize, either because they don't eat it all or because they consume it but can't fully digest it before more food comes pushing in. Either way, this is called overfeeding, plain and simple. Excess food...whether or not it has actually been through a fish...will not go unutilized. Something will move in to take advantage of the windfall...and something has.

So, I hate to say this, but you will have to change something. Removing sand would help...a prefilter that is cleaned frequently, say at least a couple times a week, would help...using a small granulation of food that can be swallowed without breaking into bits would help...but using less food is the easiest, most effective course open to you.

 

[rosslee]

Snails

Really...would that wo

Canister filters are wonderful for this; in your case they are functioning as they always do, i.e. collecting all the food and waste that is amassed over a 3-month period, hiding it from view, and circulating oxygenated water through it to maximize the growth of whatever organisms are ready to utilize and exploit it. Out of sight, out of mind...until the unwanted nasties overpopulate, become visible, and give rise to questions like this one. The classic complaint: "Everything I do is perfect, but this problem persists. How do I correct it...bearing in mind that everything I do is perfect, so I don't want to change anything?" It ranks right up there with everyone's favourite: "My fish died for no reason!"

The worms are reproducing rapidly because they have an abundant food supply. The amount of food being introduced exceeds that which the fish can utilize, either because they don't eat it all or because they consume it but can't fully digest it before more food comes pushing in. Either way, this is called overfeeding, plain and simple. Excess food...whether or not it has actually been through a fish...will not go unutilized. Something will move in to take advantage of the windfall...and something has.

So, I hate to say this, but you will have to change something. Removing sand would help...a prefilter that is cleaned frequently, say at least a couple times a week, would help...using a small granulation of food that can be swallowed without breaking into bits would help...but using less food is the easiest, most effective course open to you.

Why does nobody read the history and simply try to put someone down by saying your doing something wrong.....

The problem is not over feeding! When I feed them crunch their food up resulting in around 50% of what was fed ends up floating in the water. So this is the problem I am trying to overcome. But everyone can say the standard response which is OP Is doing something wrong or over feeding...I'm 45 and have kept fish since I was 13....

 

[jjohnwm]

Sorry, but...if you need to put in X+Y amount of food because you feel the fish need X, knowing that Y will be crushed up and wasted...you are still, by definition, overfeeding. Smaller pellets of food that require no crushing will allow you to feed less while still getting the same amount of food into the fish.

Honestly, I did read your post, and provided the best possible answer based upon my own experience. Not "putting you down". If you didn't want opinions...why ask?

 

[Matteus]

Hi rosslee , welcome to mfk. Looks like you have been here a while, but this is my first time seeing you.

sounds like you have a tricky situation on your hands. My immediate answer is to add 4-5 silver dollars, they are fast and hardy enough that in theory they would be able to evade the fh advances imo. But you already said you aren’t willing to do that.

I used to keep cherry shrimp and I would feed only 2-3 mini algae pellets every few days. Turns out that was still too much for 30+ shrimps. So I got planaria and they almost took over the tank. It was quite unsightly to see all the flatworms cruising around this little planted shrimp tank. I stopped feeding all together to let the shrimp just eat the natural algae and what not, I accompanied this with doing deep cleans in the tank that would pull any excess food out. Even after weeks of no feeding the planaria did not just go away, in fact it seemed as if they grew in population. so in my experience, just not feeding alone does not work to get rid of them.

I consulted other shrimp keepers, and it turns out there is a product that is called “no planaria” I want to say out of japan or something. The label is in mostly another language (possibly Japanese??) if you are able to get your hands on it, works like a dream. Look for it either at shrimp sites or possibly on amazon. But the tank needs to be cleaned up a bit before using it.

the unfortunate reality of a fish that can not have other tank mates is that if it is making a mess, it means we have to clean up after it. I hope this is helpful and not accusatory

 

[rosslee]

Hi rosslee , welcome to mfk. Looks like you have been here a while, but this is my first time seeing you.

sounds like you have a tricky situation on your hands. My immediate answer is to add 4-5 silver dollars, they are fast and hardy enough that in theory they would be able to evade the fh advances imo. But you already said you aren’t willing to do that.

I used to keep cherry shrimp and I would feed only 2-3 mini algae pellets every few days. Turns out that was still too much for 30+ shrimps. So I got planaria and they almost took over the tank. It was quite unsightly to see all the flatworms cruising around this little planted shrimp tank. I stopped feeding all together to let the shrimp just eat the natural algae and what not, I accompanied this with doing deep cleans in the tank that would pull any excess food out. Even after weeks of no feeding the planaria did not just go away, in fact it seemed as if they grew in population. so in my experience, just not feeding alone does not work to get rid of them.

I consulted other shrimp keepers, and it turns out there is a product that is called “no planaria” I want to say out of japan or something. The label is in mostly another language (possibly Japanese??) if you are able to get your hands on it, works like a dream. Look for it either at shrimp sites or possibly on amazon. But the tank needs to be cleaned up a bit before using it.

the unfortunate reality of a fish that can not have other tank mates is that if it is making a mess, it means we have to clean up after it. I hope this is helpful and not accusatory

M8 thanks for this I had no idea I could buy something to help with this. I will start searching online to see if I can find it.

Good that you get the problem with single fish tanks and the mess they can make.

I have tried lots of things with this particular fish, but he simply crunches everything in hes mouth regardless how small the pellets are. I have another FH called bruce, now he has got good table manners he never leaves any mess at all, he directly swallows everything without crunching it up first.

 

[Nilsafeller]

Really...would that wo

Why does nobody read the history and simply try to put someone down by saying your doing something wrong.....

The problem is not over feeding! When I feed them crunch their food up resulting in around 50% of what was fed ends up floating in the water. So this is the problem I am trying to overcome. But everyone can say the standard response which is OP Is doing something wrong or over feeding...I'm 45 and have kept fish since I was 13....

Haha if I'm reading this right.. and your problem is leftover food... yes snails work wonders... I feed once a day but have many fish of different kinds in my tank.. there is always food here and there that is missed by the fish or from fish messy eating habits.... yes snails take care of that problem and quickly... but in my case I probably have a few hundred snails in my tank

 

[rosslee]

Haha if I'm reading this right.. and your problem is leftover food... yes snails work wonders... I feed once a day but have many fish of different kinds in my tank.. there is always food here and there that is missed by the fish or from fish messy eating habits.... yes snails take care of that problem and quickly... but in my case I probably have a few hundred snails in my tank

Wow two people in one day who can read english lol

Question would the FH not eat the snails. And how many would I need (best guess) for a 360 litre (uk litre) tank. And what breed of snail would be recommended.

Also if anyone has a single fish tank with snails would love to hear about it.

 

[Nilsafeller]

Wow two people in one day who can read english lol

Question would the FH not eat the snails. And how many would I need (best guess) for a 360 litre (uk litre) tank. And what breed of snail would be recommended.

Also if anyone has a single fish tank with snails would love to hear about it.

I've had cichlids eat snails... and I've had cichlids who wont... I find when their younger they will scavenge and eat very tiny ones... and that's fine... crustaceans are a part of their natural diet anyways!
I've never had problems with adult trumpet or ramshorn snails... fish dont bother them and they're nothing but beneficial to the aquarium... some of my fish get massivore pellets... if one were to be missed by a fish the snails are on it within a couple of minutes... and it doesnt last long... my 75 gallon has maybe a dozen snails in it with my grammodes... I dont even use mechanical filtration on that tank.. just alot of plants and the several snails in the tank

 

[Ruturaj]

Since you tried smaller pellets and fish still chews, try adding some more moisture to them, I use vitachem, may be your fish would eat moist pellets without chewing. Don't soak it in more water though, pellets will loose some nutrition, always try adding few drops on top of food.

For my fish, I also add one pellet at a time to the tank, so I get minimal waste.

What pellet size did you try? And how big is fish? Mine is around 7 inches and I feed 3mm pellets.

One more thing you can try as everyone else suggest is another fish or snails. I always went with plecos as they help with algae as well.

 

[Niki_up]

I’m pretty sure you FH will be able to eat bigger snails. My vieja slurps adult assassin snails out of their shells...the only surviving snails I have a minuscule trumpets that are too small to eat , they are now an unsightly mess that I am unable to control