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Hello all.

Thanks to all of you for all your help so far. My new tank has finished cycling, my LFS has tested the water and proclaimed that all is well, and I am now using abreviations like "LFS". Ha ha!!

I've posted some concerns I have about two new severums on the cichlid page but since this question is more of a "newbie" order and concerns larger fish in general, I posted it here. Hope it's alright.

I have nicely stocked my 55g with 7 tiger barbs, 3 albino rainbow sharks, 5 danio zebras and two large severums. The two large fish were the last to come home. I have been feeding the smaller fish flakes for a while and it is delightful for me to see them rush to the surface and gobble up all that's floating. The fish store sold me pellets for the larger severums but I'm not too sure how to feed them. At the store, the two severums were alone in the tank and when the owner threw a pellet, they would gobble it up immediately. In my tank, I throw in a pellet and the other fish race to it and try to eat it but the chunks are too big for them and in all the commotion, the severums miss the pellet and it floats to the bottom. The sharks eventually peck at it and the severums sometimes find them and eat them but I am concerned that they are not eating enough. It is really hard to "launch" the pellets at the appropriate time and spot to get their attention, and as I mentioned in the cichlid forum, the female likes to hide because the male chases her so feeding her is also very difficult (though she does venture out to eat and he doesn't prevent her from eating... she just is a bit distracted and misses the food).

I would really appreciate some tips on how to feed the bigger fish. Should I just throw in a bunch of pellets and hope they'll find them on the ground? I am concerned with water quality if I throw too much food in there.

I appreciate all you members sharing your experience here on this site. You have been extremely helpful so far. Thanks a million!!

Daphnis

For a quick solution right now something that might work is just distracting the more active fish by feeding them on one side and dropping the pellets in the middle or on the opposite side of the tank. A feeding ring will help keep the flake (and consequently the fish) in one particular area.

In the long run though I suggest you train your fish. They need discipline. Start by developing a feeding schedule, feed the same time each day in the same way each day. This will teach the severum to wait in a certain spot for its food. Remember just like dogs they need routine in order to function well.

Over the years I have had greedy fish and the only way is to feed them first spread most of the at one end of the tank making sure it is not pushed towards the opposite end by the water flow. Then feed the slower fish once you start this you must continue doing this method and the slower fish will get used to going to the regular feeding area.

Another thing is to have all the food ready and close by for quick feeding.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Keith

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Yeah, either feed the flakes in one end of the tank and while they are distracted by those feed the severums.

Or just feed the larger pellets for a week, put them in for 2-3 minutes and if they havn't eaten them then remove them. This technique works fantastically for koi in a pond, so i presume it will work on tank fish.