View Full Version : Tetra feeding preference
Telepath
01-12-2005, 6:07 PM
From the mouth position of Neon Tetra's I assumed they were top feeders but mine rarely come to the top prefering to feed from the middle or bottom on dropped pellets of Spirulina. Are they top feeders in nature? :confused:
They likely behave in nature the same way they do in tanks. In SC we have a fish called "crappie" (I have no idea how it got that name but they are good to eat!). Pomoxis nigrolineatus. They have a VERY upturned mouth and you'd think "surface feeder". Oddly, you only catch them in 10 feet of water or more (50 feet in the winter!). The trick is to get the bait just over their heads. They swim low, looking up for a meal swimming overhead. I'd assume that neons are a nano-version of this, feeding on planktonic stuff floating overhead.
LMOUTHBASS
01-14-2005, 1:21 PM
neons generally grab their food in the upper middle portion of the tank as the flakes float down - they might come to the top to peck at it but they'll get their share this way - a lot of tetras seem to feed this way
Harlock
01-14-2005, 3:51 PM
In SC we have a fish called "crappie" (I have no idea how it got that name but they are good to eat!).
We have crappie in Texas too. They are, by far, the best tasting fish I have ever eaten. Not fishy tasting at all, delicate, white flaky meat. I could eat crappie once a week and not grow tired of it. That's saying a lot, as I generally despise eating most fish.
As for the neons, I can tell you that their larger cousins, the Head and Tail light Tetra, likes to eat in much the same fashion. They will sweep through the upper middle of my 29 gallon and greedily snatch up even large flakes before another of their school does, leaviong the mollies to feed up top and the cories happily munching in their schools on the bottom.
My tetras seem to start eating the floating food, but quickly switch over to the food that begins to sink. Perhaps it is just easier to see once it is submerged.