Question for Black/Neon Tetra owners

[Guihuyn]

Hey guys, if I could ask u guys another question this would be it. How do you guys feed your black/neon tetras? The only way I can feed them with flake food appears to be crumbling the food into very tiny pieces, and since the fish are usually on the bottom only about 1/2 or maybe 1/3 gets eaten because either they dont see it because its too small, or its too big to fit in their mouths. This a big problem for me because of the leftover food. And my ghost shrimp i think can barely see the leftovers, so thats why i always put two pieces of whole flake which the neons completely ignore. Any feedback on this would be great, thanks.

[Cearbhaill]

My tetras really enjoy pecking leisurely at the sinking wafers/discs I put in for my bottom feeders. I feed them right in the front of the tank so any leftovers are easily removed. I don't usually have leftovers, but still...

They also love any and all of the frozen food choices I present from time to time. Have you tried some variety? If the flake food isn't cutting it, try something else!

[thom336]

I feed mine a small granular food made by Nutrafin, but they seem to prefer fighting over the tetraprima I put in for my angels.

And Cearbhaill, its my Mollies who seem to prefer the tablets I put in for my catfish...those things must be good. ;) .

[TKOS]

Though I don't have neons I have white clouds who are about the same size. I feed them crumbled tropical nutrfin flakes one day and then Betta flakes by tetra the next day. The Betta Flakes are already pretty small and they love them. Of course they also fight over the food and it is funny to see a small minnow swimming around the tank with a flake a little too big for it to eat as the others chase it. They also seem to love hanging out around the sinking shrimp pellets I put in for my cories. When the cories start to eat a cloud of shrimp particles starts flying around and the minnows just start eating away.

I'm not too concered about left over food as I have snails to eat a lot of it and I also use a gravel vacuum once a week.

[Guihuyn]

cool, thanks for the feedback. I think i'm going to try freeze dried brine shrimp and bloodworms

[caz]

are they younger tetras? mine seem to eat like mad. i do break some up, and try and get it to sink for my rams, but anything that the rams and the tetras miss, my cory gets

[ArkyLady]

My tetras are huge pigs! When I feed them flakes that float on the top their bellies get all full of air until they hafta fight to keep themselves down in the water. I'm near the bottom of my can of flakes so they're pretty crunched up I guess, but they don't seem to have a problem gobbling it up.

I also feed mine bloodworms a few times a week and they devour those so fast. I dissolve the frozen bloodworms in a small glass of tank water then pour it in a little at a time and a single piece never hits the bottom.

They even attack the plecos algae wafer and pick at it till it's gone. I've had to start feeding him more often since I'm not sure how much he's actually getting. He used to like to let it sit and dissolve a lot before eating it, but now he has to guard it or they'll have it gone in no time :)

[Guihuyn]

haha thats cool, hopefully my tetras will have that type of appetite =D

[twokats]

funny...i have 6 neons and 3 black neons, and they eat flake food like pirannahs (sp?). the black ones are especially greedy. they eat at the surface with everyone else.

[glittergirl]

My tetras are greedy pigs too! I feed them flake food which I break up a bit and they grab and gobble every bit they can get. They are in a community with danios and when I put the food in they all have a 'feeding frenzy'. I've noticed that my tetras get bloated too. I'm glad it's not a sign of something wrong. I've anxiously watched them a few times after feeding 'cos one or two seemed to have difficulty in getting down to the bottom of the tank. After a few minutes though, you can see little bubbles come from their mouths, then they are fine again!

[hitz2b]

I usually feed my neons flake food in the morning right when I turn on the light, so every time I turn on the light they come to the top thinking they are getting fed. I crumble up flakes for them.

[ArkyLady]

I've been worried about my cories not getting enough food since the tetras gobble everything up so darn fast. So I've started putting the flakes into a small glass of tank water and swishing it around so that it doesn't float, then when I dump it in quite a bit gets down to the bottom before the tetras hog it all up. The cories are becoming much more active at feeding time since I think they're now finally getting plenty to eat!

This has also helped with the tetras getting their bellies full of air and doing their strange little bobbing dance after they eat :)

[caz]

i used the shrimp pelletes for my cories. i know they are a little big for my cories, but i break them in half and they sink right to the bottom. the other fish try to eat it, but its too bigt for them, so when it hits the bottom, it disolves slowly, and the cory comes across it :)

[ChilDawg]

Psst...discussion of Cory feeding is in another thread...check it out, too... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10209