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My son's fish still gather at the front of the tank in the mornings, waiting to eat... but after my son drops the food in there, the fish all seem to wait for the flakes to drop, rather than swim up to the top to get them.

It used to be a feeding frenzy, any idea why the fish are all of a sudden acting so casual about food?? They all seem to appear healthy, I'm just curious about their change in behavior.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

They either aren't that hungry and may possibly be getting overfed or some change in their environment(both in the tank and out) may have scared them and caused them to act more shy about feeding.

Did you recently change foods? Try something like bloodworms as a treat. . . (very small portion to start), see if they will swim to the top for those. IF that is the case, it may be the food.

What kind of fish are they?

---

"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

We're thinking it could be overfeeding... we haven't changed foods, and they didn't seem too excited about the bloodworms when we gave those as a treat. We haven't changed the food.

We're going to stop feeding them for a couple of days and see how they react then.

Otherwise they all seem fine, not lethargic and none of them show signs of illness or injury. We just changed the water as well.

I'll report back in a few days, after they've been "starved" a little.


P.S. They're all tetras.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

Well we tried giving them just a little bit of bloodworms this morning, they were definitely more active. When we dropped a few algae wafer bits into the water they started picking at those too!!

Seems like it was a case of overfeeding, we'll feed them a little less each day and try to give them some variety in food as well.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

Hi,
One thing you might keep in the back of your mind, and
train the kids too... As a rule, the stomach of a fish
is roughly the size of its eye. Humans generally feed
way too much to fish when they (the humans) first start
feeding fish.
How fast that stomach empties, depends upon the metabolism
of that fish. That is why many feed their fish a small
amount, only once or twice a day, max.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Well we bought some Tetra "Crisps" over the weekend, the fish seem to love them!! So we'll start alternating between teh crisps and the flakes every few days, to give them a little variety and keep them interested.

An interesting note, when we cleaned out the tank this weekend my husband remarked on how there wasn't any food in the filter. He said the last time he swooshed it in the water, a lot of food came out. Yeah, we were definitely giving them too much.

Thanks for the advice, Frank. When my son complains we're not feeding the fish enough we remind him that their stomachs are only about the size of their eyes.

They do seem to be enjoying the different food and are defintely more active at feeding time.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

Ah, you've discovered that variety is the spice of life wiht fishes as well as people!

My Panda Fun palace receives no less than six different Tetra foods, in addition to Hikari wafers for the Otocinclus (or a substitute until they become available here in the UK again!) and freeze dried Tubifex, interspersed with live foods in midweek. One of the reasons, along with the twice weekly water changes and gravel vacs, that my Pandas have acquired an infamous reputation on this Board for their spawning antics.

Plus, they're fed small amounts often. Usually, no more than they can fully eat in around 2 minutes, five times per day or so. Which, as mentioned in the venerable book on tropical fishkeeping by William T. Innes (this book first hit the bookstands back in the late 1930s, but STILL contains good advice today!) is closer to the wild state than one big banquet per day. Shoaling fishes such as Tetras, for example, are adapted to pick and browse on the go on a more or less continuous basis - it's usually big predators that have a well-defined distinction between 'mealtime' and 'rest' - and so, feeding them a small amount of food more closely approximates the wild condition for fishes such as Tetras. Plus, feeding small amounts often limits the possibility of overfeeding, allows you to monitor more closely whether or not you are overfeeding (because, quite simply, you're checking the tank more often!) and works out cheaper in the long run because your cans of food last longer!

Oh, and yes, filters need to be cleaned periodically. Bob Wesolowski posted in another thread about this (namely here) and it makes amusing reading.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

We've been feeding them once a day, in the morning. Are you saying it's better to feed them two small meals every day??

EDIT: I actually just tried giving them some bloodworms. When I went up to the tank, some fish started swimming towards the top. When I opened the flap, they became a little more excited. I dropped in two worms, the frenzy began!! Gave them a few more after that...

We've been feeding them a little less during the past week, maybe we'll try feeding one small meal in the morning and one small meal at night. Thanks!!

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

Well, the venerable Innes book has as one of its maxims, feed small amounts often. Precisely because this approximates to the wild condition for many fishes more closely than one big meal per day. My fishes are fed up to five time per day, but then with 12 Cardinals and 14 Panda Corys in there, food doesn't get chance to hang around rotting! Any food that does, by some miracle, escape the fishes, eventually ends up being eaten by the snails ...

I've just fed the occupants of the Panda Fun Palace ... and it's fun watching them. 14 Panda Corys all beetling about the gravel, waggling their tails like underwater versions of Labrador puppies, all choming away merrily. The Cardinals tend to be more 'stealth' feeders in my aquarium, you have to watch them fairly closely to tell that they're eating, but judging by the amount of body mass the've piled on since I bought them as tiny juveniles, I'd say they're eating quite well.

The Panda Corys are the star turns at the moment though ... the gravel is seething with their activity ... and as if that wasn't enough, three of them are clambering all over the Amazon Swordplant just in case there's eomething nice and tasty on the leaves too. I'm going to have to shoot some video footage of them in action for you to see, because they are amazingly active little fishes once they smell lunch!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Yes our Cardinals are a little more stealth as well... they seem to prefer to wait for the food to fall, although once in a while a couple of them (we have four) will go to the top to feed. So far everyone seems fine.

I'm wondering if we should buy some sinking granules to make sure they're eating, but I'm sure they're doing just fine. Any food the other fish miss they seem to get, since we never see any extra food laying about.

It is fun to watch them feed... we love it.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys