Feeding Advice

[Theresa_M]

Hello,

75 gal community tank with: Danios and 15 Bettas at top/middle, neon tetras in the middle/bottom, panda corydoras at the bottom, hillstream loaches and a snail. 

Any recommendations for mealtime? I have a variety of foods - a fridge full of different kinds, including Rapashy Community. (The only thing none of them seem to want to try yet is the Rapashy.)
 

I have never seen the loaches eat and I know they need more than just the tank algae. How do I know they’re getting enough? And the poor little tetras that are so tiny and slow! 😩 

What are your tips for feeding a community tank? 

[Dancing Matt]

How long have you had the loaches? If you have had them for a while and they are still alive you are prob okay. I have fed my hillstream hikari sinking algae tablets. I'm pretty sure it has eaten my repashi  community blend and I am fairly positive it eats baby brine shrimp. When ever I feed BBS it comes out and goes crazy. If you can I would say live baby brine shrimp is a good one for that tank, every one would go bananas for it (and it is fun to watch the bettas hunt them). Break up an algae wafer and put pieces in a few different parts of the tank so the loach can find a piece away from the cory cats if you are concerned about them not getting enough.

One thing  to think is maybe feed when they are most active so they are likely to get food.

[Dancing Matt]

I also feel like hillstream loaches get rounder in the "love handles" aria vs. the belly like other fish. If it looks happy...

[Colu]

Hikari algae wafers  repashy soilent green cucumber blanched spinach

[Theresa_M]

13 minutes ago, Dancing Matt said:

How long have you had the loaches? If you have had them for a while and they are still alive you are prob okay. I have fed my hillstream hikari sinking algae tablets. I'm pretty sure it has eaten my repashi  community blend and I am fairly positive it eats baby brine shrimp. When ever I feed BBS it comes out and goes crazy. If you can I would say live baby brine shrimp is a good one for that tank, every one would go bananas for it (and it is fun to watch the bettas hunt them). Break up an algae wafer and put pieces in a few different parts of the tank so the loach can find a piece away from the cory cats if you are concerned about them not getting enough.

One thing  to think is maybe feed when they are most active so they are likely to get food.

This is awesome advice. Thank you! Only had the loaches a few weeks. 

[Dancing Matt]

49 minutes ago, Theresa_M said:

This is awesome advice. Thank you! Only had the loaches a few weeks. 

I understand, I separated my loach and corydoras after a while concerned it was not getting enough though I did notice it on the glass after I turned out the lights. One thing is you can put food in a spot that is visible to you and watch (maybe from a distance) to see if they land on it.

Edited January 15, 2021 by Dancing Matt

[Theresa_M]

6 minutes ago, Dancing Matt said:

I understand, I separated my loach and corydoras after a while concerned it was not getting enough though I did notice it on the glass after I turned out the lights. One thing is you can put food in a spot that is visible to you and watch (maybe from a distance) to see if they land on it.

Look at that cutie!

[Dandy Pearl]

Have you tried frozen foods? I had not used them and just started this year. The fish LOVE THEM. I started with San Francisco Bay Brand Freshwater Frenzy and Baby Brine. I have added mini-bloodworms, brine (full size) and Freshwater-Multipack to the rotation.

For everything except the Baby Brine, I drop the cube in about a 1/2 cup of water until the cube sinks then drop it in the tank. I just drop in the baby brine.

The smaller fish love the smaller foods while the bigger fish like the bloodworm sized foods.

I like this mix as it covers the bases of carnivore and omnivore equally well as bottom feeders.

I also feed a combination of flake, algae pellets and Vibrabites.

It's a little pricy, but most if not all of my fish are what I call specimen quality photogenic a.k.a. they are beautiful with amazing fully developed color.

Pick one food, try it out for a while to see how it goes and repeat until you find something your tank likes.

Have fun with your fish!

[Theresa_M]

27 minutes ago, Dandy Pearl said:

Have you tried frozen foods? I had not used them and just started this year. The fish LOVE THEM. I started with San Francisco Bay Brand Freshwater Frenzy and Baby Brine. I have added mini-bloodworms, brine (full size) and Freshwater-Multipack to the rotation.

For everything except the Baby Brine, I drop the cube in about a 1/2 cup of water until the cube sinks then drop it in the tank. I just drop in the baby brine.

The smaller fish love the smaller foods while the bigger fish like the bloodworm sized foods.

I like this mix as it covers the bases of carnivore and omnivore equally well as bottom feeders.

I also feed a combination of flake, algae pellets and Vibrabites.

It's a little pricy, but most if not all of my fish are what I call specimen quality photogenic a.k.a. they are beautiful with amazing fully developed color.

Pick one food, try it out for a while to see how it goes and repeat until you find something your tank likes.

Have fun with your fish!

Hello, yes! I have frozen brine shrimp. I haven’t tried frozen bloodworms yet, but they’re on my list! I use Bug Bites, flakes, shrimp pellets, wafers... all kinds of stuff, lol. They’re quite spoiled when it comes to variety!! Just need to make sure those loaches and tetras get some too 🙂 Thank you!!