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I have a fully stocked 65 gal community tank.
I have 40 little frozen cube of frozen Hikari brine shrimp.

Is feeding one cube at a time too much?
Should I halve it?
I was thinking it'd be a snack once a week.
Please help with your experience/advice.

THX

Depends entirely on the species of fish you have, and how many. Brineshrimp cubes should be part of a balanced diet, and can be given as perhaps a single or a couple of cubes along with a regular flake feed, or that once a week/fortnightly treat, in which case I can imagine say a stocked 65 gal full of rainbows could demolish 8-10 cubes or so with consummate ease.

You see , while obviously not wanting to overload the tank with waste, you still do have to feed your fish a good amount of food to keep them healthy. If your stocking limit is being pushed, you pretty much just have to feed your fish anyway and accept that large or frequent water changes will be part of your routine. You can be moderate on feedings, but you cant starve your fish over the long term to help your tank chemistry.

So basically, id need to ask you what fish you have and if they are adult or not.

Thx longhair;

Ok, as for fish........
some cory's, some tetras, burmese loach, one angel, one red tail shark, 2 pairs apistos, one pair ram, two ancistrus

None are fully mature.

It just seems the brine shrimp are tiny/plentiful and remain that way for quite a while.

Should I maitain the all gets eaten within a few minutes rule?

THX

With your level of stocking a couple of cubes rather than one should ensure everyone gets some, and its shouldnt cause pollution problems. The "As much food as you can eat in two minutes" rule doesnt really apply here, because you have scavengers like cories. You either have to drop enough food in so that the cories get some (especially if your other fish barely let most of the food hit the bottom.) or provide sinking pelllets that soften slowly, thus giving them a chance to feed.

You could easily go for the two minute rule again though, if you make sure the cories get sinking catfish wafers or pellets. Then the feeding of the cories and the surface fish are less connected. Using different types, wights and densities of food types is a good way to get around the problems of feeding different fish in community. Its also more likely that you will avoid overfeeding the surface fish by using pellets and wafers for the cories. I know when people buy scavenger fish that they dont really want to make a special provision for them, but how much food they get depends on other fish, and it is good practise to let them top up on nutrients with a special feed once in a while. Whether that means chucking in a bit more food than usual or giving them something specifically for them is really up to you, although I much prefer the latter option.

Feeding "rules" are really there to give a guideline to stop beginners overfeeding their fish, once you know the capabilities of your fish however, its easy to apply a little thought and work out a feeding plan that is much more effective than the two minute rule. Generally the more different bottom feeders you have in combination with midwater and surface fish, the more complicated it gets.

Just wondering, how much/how big are the cubes (much meaning how many BS/cube)? If they are large, then use only like 1-2 cubes. If they are small use 3-5 cubes. I think they are generally 1" by 1/3", and use the larger rule.

P.S.-How many tetras/cories do you have? EXACTLY please! if there are more than 5 tetras, use a little more, to ensure great health. THAT ALL DEPENDS ON WHICH TYPE OF TERTAS THOUGH! If its a neon, then use the lesser portion vs the latter of the matter. Obviously, the smaller fish wont eat as much as a larger tetra. Use specifics next time, just to be sure....Its still ok to not be specific, but if its a food or stocking problem, be sure to. Oh and dont try to be OVERLEY specific, as Callisea is sometimes. He uses only scientific names and its a pain as i have to look up the name of the species. No offense Cali! Good luck, i used to feed brine shrimp live, but the wastes that goes with the portion will ruin the anti cloudiness of the water. Have fun!

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lol goby, cal uses the latin names specifically so you can always look them up and find the correct species, its good that he does that! Petshop and common names cause confusion- remember your swordtail koi entry on the profiles? It saves such misidentification. Taxonomy is a great tool in fish identification, it crosses barriers of language and local culture, and if you can, you should make an effort to at least learn some of the latin names. Consider it the next step in your fishkeepers abilities! It is a good step to help you negiotiate the mass of information you will need to find out to become a true fish guru!

In addition knowing latin names gives you a good sense of the fish world generally, what is related to what, and what its similarities may be etc, it can teach you a hell of a lot about fish families, evolution, distribution etc.

Its also one of those things about internet use, if you type a common name into a search engine you get all sorts of irrelevant cack come up, but when you use latin names, more often than not- bang - straight to relevant info, and usually a keepers guide or biological info.

... and one other thing, just a decorum tip, dont use caps to highlight stuff too often, the odd word is fine , but overdoing makes people seem too impolite or demanding in the forums. I know you are youngster, and that you have the best of intentions, but others might not...I'm a bit forthright and surly myself sometimes, but then Im a much bigger boy, and I earned it. Plus I only stress things of dire importance.

GobyFan, go here and read this in full. You will find it illuminating.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Sorry if i offended you Calilasseia(couldnt spell your name right). I read it, and now i have a Huge headache from all the info, and a uber bright computer screen. And to LHG, i only meant to caps the "which type of terta" and i mean no harm. Sorry for unintended thoughts i included Alb. Yes, i am still young, so i have a lot to learn. And sorry for turning the topic arwy.

P.S. The biomeal nomenclature cant be searched in the search eingine!

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Size of cubes are about 1cm square, or 50g for all 40 cubes combined.

Fully stocked...1 inch adult fish/gallon rule.

10 tetras....neons and rummys.

I do try to feed a variety, bloodworms, flake, wafers and veggies.

Was just trying brine shrimp for the 1st time and didn't want to foul things up.

OK

cheers and thanks for your responses

Dont worry about polluting the water too much with brineshrimp, thousands of keepers use a hell of a lot of it, myself included. If you want things that really pollute your water, try tubifex, the slime often clogs filters and pipes and allows algae to get footholds on every surface. I think oddly enough , 4 8hour old pieces of pear for some reason seem to cause total bacterial hell. Beefheart is also pretty good for making a stink, and leftover shellfish like cockle can get positively foul. All the above foods are really in the "if it aint eaten , take it out again " category. Brineshrimp is a minor source of pollution next to that lot.