Big Fish, Big Tank, How much food?

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ragin_cajun

ragin_cajun

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Sep 8, 2013
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I have 10-15 fish in a 540 gallon tank, I wanna feed them "less". They're all 10 inches or more--so they're full grown adult fish.

Right now, I feed the tank 2 teaspoons of 3mm NLS pellets daily. 3-4 days a week, I'll put some Freeze Dried Krill, in with the pellets, too. I used to fast them a day or two a week, but not anymore--now I just feed them everyday.

I'm also vacuuming the tank every 2-3 days now, too. I'd like to vacuum less, and feed less.

So how would YOU feed these fish? More? Or Less?

Could I do 2 Teaspoons of pellets 2-3 days a week, and nothing the other days?
 
If you lower temp a couple degrees they will need a little less food. Cant say how much food is needed. Whatever feeding regimen you go with keep it consistent. That way beneficial bacteria can stay stable and help do the cleaning for you.
 
I would say try it and see how the fish are.
The main problem I foresee is hungry veija can develop the unfortunate habit of scale nipping.
It's quite common amongst veija.
Once they develop this habit it's very hard to stop it.
I think I would be inclined to feed less food every day.
 
A 12 inch trimac weighs twice as much as a 10 inch trimac, as most of your fish should hit 13/14 inch I think there far from full grown. Feeding Parachromis sp 2/3 times a week is fine but with vieja sp I think the feeding regime you have now would work best
 
That brings up another good question--what is actually "full grown" with these fish? I see their growth slowing up at around 8-10 inches, and I think "full grown". But, that's not right.

so what, it takes Vieja 3-4 years to be "full grown"? 2 of these fish are Argentea, and they aren't full grown at all--but that's slow growing Argentea. What about the Synspilum, Zonatus, Bifa's?

they're all 10-12 inches, but none of them are really thick yet. None of them I'd call "huge"....so I guess they're still kinda juvenile?
 
Fish grow all their lives, but IMO most won't have much noticeable growth once they get to about 6 years old,
 
I feed 4-5 times per week and I feed until the bellies are full but not bloated. I err on the side of under feeding if need be. Usually the snail population is a good indicator if I'm over feeding.
 
I would never go to every other day unless a serious predator. I'd even go twice a day if time permits - just smaller doses that gets consumed very quickly, assuming everyone is getting some. That said, I've had to go to gorging a little bit since I have several very greedy amphilophus. If I don't put a ton of food in there, everyone doesn't get to eat, except for the scraps when the amphilophus stop gulping and start chewing their food. With the size tank you have, assuming you are not gorging and feeding junk food, they should not get unhealthy/fat.
 
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