Will fry eat themselves to death?

[Corbidorbidoodle]

So, I have 4 little Diamond Tetra fry with the grownups and a few other fish. I feed all my tanks fresh hatched brine shrimp a couple times a week.

So these little guys are getting fast. I dumped in a shot glass of shrimp water, and they were really zipping around gobbling up tons of shrimp.They ate so much they looked like they were going to burst. Like, really bad looking to me.

Will they stop eating when they are in danger of hurting themselves?

[Fish Folk]

I am not certain about these species… but there are some fry that can and will gorge themselves to death.

I use the free Walmart liquid medication syringe with airline on the end to feed BBS carefully measured amounts. 

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

Last time I bred Diamond Tetra, I found it best not to overfeed, just in case...

[Torrey]

On 5/8/2022 at 9:51 PM, Corbidorbidoodle said:

So, I have 4 little Diamond Tetra fry with the grownups and a few other fish. I feed all my tanks fresh hatched brine shrimp a couple times a week.

So these little guys are getting fast. I dumped in a shot glass of shrimp water, and they were really zipping around gobbling up tons of shrimp.They ate so much they looked like they were going to burst. Like, really bad looking to me.

Will they stop eating when they are in danger of hurting themselves?

My experience has been that seeding tanks with microflora allows best fry growth and reduces disordered eating in fish.

Example: seed a 10 gallon tank with snails, and get lots of plant growth for hiding. Allow snails time to breed in tank (4 to 6 weeks of heavy feeding to maximize breeding, keep testing water parameters & keep stable).

Add pea puffers.

Very rarely will they gorge themselves to death, or even to constipation. 

However, set up the same tank, and add the murder beans first, they will hunt down every snail added even when full.

Bettas are the same way...

My fry go into smaller, floating containers for the first few weeks, and get fed every 2 hours around the clock the first week (like babies) and water changes *if* I don't have a well prepared tank with tiny microfauna already established and waiting. 

My fry who are able to go straight into a container with microfauna don't do the gorge thing.

The fry who I feed every 2 hours won't [generally] do the gorge thing, until I miss a feeding. Then scarcity mindset kicks in, and they become more competitive over food and will eat more than they actually need.