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hello! i have various aquariums, that house various community fish such as guppies, mollies, platties, endlers livebearers, dwarf neon rainbowfish, checkered barbs, dwarf cichlids, harlequin rasboras, gouramis, etc....

i recently bought some spirulina flakes in order to ensure that everyone's getting enough plant matter in their diet (which i've read is important). i was just wondering whether it would be better to mix the spirulina flakes in with their tropical flake food and feed the mix every day, or would it be better to give them straight spirulina for a few feedings a week. or does it really make a difference at all?

i also have some platty fry that are between 1/4-1/2" long... should they get spirulina too, or would it be better to give them only high protein foods?

thanks!

I would only feed one or the other at one time. That way you know what exactly they are getting.

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I feed my omnivores pellets soaked in zoecon/zoe early in the day, then a spirulina meal later on. It doesnt hurt to feed spirulina, especially since the amount of protein/fish meal is relatively high in flakes/pellets - giving them more than they would recieve in the wild daily. Spirulina also increases the colors of the fish.

I wouldn't mix the spirulina flakes with other food & i would feed it 3 times a week & i would also feed the fry with it.


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I mix my foods anew every day as I myself would never eat the same food for a whole week in a row (not even 2 days in a row) .

About twice a week (I only feed my fish once a day) I mix some regular flakes with the spirulina flakes and give the fish this mixture. But all my fish (platies, neons, danios, rasboras) are omnivorous and could go without the spirulina anyway, I just feel that some additional vegetable (algae) matter in their diet can’t harm. And the Otos that I have wouldn’t eat the flakes at all as they would not even get a chance to reach them.

As to your Platy fry: give them a variety of food, I fed my platies regular flakes, spirulina, slivers of freeze dried tubifex worms, grinded freeze dried blood worms, and one more that I forgot the ingredient of (I am at work) basically a dried form of the tiny animals that live in the water (silly me), all very finely grained.

Now, that I have enough platies to last a lifetime, I don’t feed anything special at all and still some manage to grow up in the community tank.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I can get Spirulina Tablets from the health food store for a cheaper price.
It's like tablets for human consumption. Wonder if they'll eat them too?
I threw in half a tablet today, for the first 5 minutes, everyone ignored it.
I'll go and check again now, see if they are interested.

I mix mine all up (the assortment of foods I feed), and then feed it to them from this mixture. On occassion though they do get it straight from the can...but usually from the mix

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle