FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I have a large tank with about 30 Rosy Barbs in it (along with Bala Sharks and other fish)and no matter how often or much I feed the barbs, they seem Frantic for More!

Don't they Ever slow down, or not act like they are starving???

Nope. Most cyprinids are bottomless pits.

Any ideas on how I get enough food to the other fish before these little gluttens get overfed and cloud the tank even more than it gets during their eating frenzy tearing the food into a cloud no other fish will go after?

(I feed mostly premium high protien flack and sinking pellets...have 3 very powerful filters on the tank, but it still gets cloudy!)

Most fish will continue to eat as long as food is present. This is a natural instinct; in the wild, the fish don't know when their next meal is coming. The exception is predatory fish that eat a huge meal all at once, similar to snakes, and then digest it over a few days or even a week or so.

Since you didn't give us a tank size, I have a feeling you might be overstocked.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I think you can fed some fish 24/7 and they would never get enough to eat. As mentioned it is an instinct eat to survive I have see wild fish so full they have food sticking out of their mouths yet will take a bait. Any fisher person will tell you tales what they have seen in fishes stomachs.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Shinigami,
It's my 6 foot, 125 gallon tank.

I realised that the best way to limit the mass feeding frenzy that takes so much food away for my other fish was to lessen the number of Rosy Barbs in the tank (to more "even the odds" of other fish getting what they need). So last night I moved about 12 Rosy Barbs over to an underpopulated community 55 gal. tank.

Now the number of frenzied eaters in the big tank is more managable (about 18), and the 8 large Bala Sharks, 1 Redtail Shark, 8 Congo Tetra and Stripefin Eartheater are able to get their share more easily to grow to their potential. I basically got the 6 foot long tank for the growing Bala Sharks to have room to swim, when grown.

There is Plenty of room to grow in this tank.