Oh, my bad. Might as well throw in the pics I got of him yesterday. First time I've taken any of him recently.
Bichir feeding times
- Thread starter dlobom
- Start date
Wait, you mean the algae and flies? Well, the algae is probably from the crazy bright light I have on top of the tank. And the fly tubes happen in pretty much all my basement tanks. I've never fought them since they don't seem to be hurting anything and lots of my fry go nuts eating them. Is it abnormal to have those flies in a tank? I feed this tank once a day, usually one massivore pellet (or equivalent mass is smaller food) per fish. It's a 75 gallon with a Magnum HOT and a DIY powerhead filter. Gets a 50% water change once a week.Don't know why overfeeding would be the cause of my flies.
knifegill;4675285; said:
Cloudy water is almost always associated with something organic rotting in the tank, and most aquarists confronted by this problem need look no further for the source than that can of flake food on the shelf. In fact, a good test for the cause of cloudy water is simply to quit feeding the fish altogether for a couple of days (it's ok, very few fish are incapable of surviving a fast for a few days). If the water clears up, feeding habits (including size, timing and type of meal) need to be adjusted.
Algae growth takes a little longer to develop, but is probably even more common than cloudiness in overfed aquariums. Many algae, especially the slimy sheets of blue-green or red algae- impersonators (technically bacteria rather than true algae), thrive when there is an abundance of dissolved organics, nitrates and phosphates in the water. All of these are produced in quantity as uneaten food decays. A little algae growth is normal and fairly unavoidable, but if the tank needs scrubbing every few days, it's likely there is an excess of food or fish waste accumulating.
Little patches of fungus or mold will occasionally be seen growing on the gravel and plants. This is directly attributable to uneaten food. Where a flake or grain of fish food falls to the bottom or sticks to a plant, a little patch of white cottony stuff will sprout up, grow for a few days, and then disappear when its food source is used up. It may of course be replaced by others if overfeeding continues.
Tiny, hair thin worms will sometimes appear on the walls of an aquarium. These are almost always found in tanks of either young fry or large, pellet-munching fish like oscars, as they are generally eaten in tanks of more typically-sized community fish. They feed directly upon excess fry food or the "dust" that blows out of the gills of a large predator fish each time he gulps down a dry pellet or other soft food.
Low dissolved oxygen, high nitrates, declining pH, and other chemical problems are also common in the overfed aquarium. Many of the decay processes that "eat" uneaten food are aerobic - which means they utilize oxygen to break down the organic molecules. This is a good thing, because anaerobic decay produces some really disgusting compounds, like methane and hydrogen sulfide, that the aquarist would just as soon do without. There is still a price to pay, however, as the increased demand for oxygen by the decay processes mean less oxygen available to the fish. In addition, proteins in uneaten fish food are eventually broken down into nitrates and leftover hydrogen ions - just as fish waste is. The poor fish in the overfed tank have to deal with the pollution caused by the food without receiving the benefits of having eaten it!
