I feel like im starving my fish

[ballinhawaiian]

Hi all,
I just had a concern about how much I am feeding my fish. I know that I should be feeding them sparingly, but I feel like it's not enough. I guess it's just because I see how much my friend feeds his fish and I always tell him it's too much, but I can't seem to get the info across to him. I have 3 platies and a common pleco, and I usually feed them only once a day , maybe once every two days and they get about a good size flake each. I sometimes give them about 3 teeny tiny wafer pelets (for tropical fish) during a feeding and not the flake food. They also have plenty of elodea to munch on in the tank, and they do. Just wondering if I should up the dosage of food or what? All of the tests come back normal (PH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and are in good standings according to what platys need. Thanks for your time. Oh, I am just starting to learn that the pleco needs veggies and i'm working on what kind he likes best. For now he gets a full wafer every 3 days.

[Mgamer20o0]

my platies always act like they are hungry. when ever i go close to the tank they swim up ready for food. if they dont finish the food in 5 mins your prob over feeding. if they are fat feed them less. if they are super thin feed them more. just a heads up common pleocs get up to 20inch or so. they grow fast. i would find him a new home before he out grows the tank.

[tmtpowers]

I would feed what they can eat in about a minute give or take a little. Just put a little in, if they eat all of that, add a little more, and so on. Do that until a minute or so is up or they loose interest in eating.

As for your pleco...
He needs to go. 10G is not near enough for a fish that will get up to 24". On top of that plecos poop a lot and put a heavy load on your bio load. I suggest just avoiding the algae eaters seeing that you just have a 10G. As for feeding him for the time being, my rescue pleco (which even with me having a 55G was rehomed as IMO thats just too much fish in a 55G even at just 10"!) really enjoyed zucchini.

[plah831]

your feeding schedule is just fine. Fish can go for weeks without eating, because they don't have to spend energy on producing body heat. I tend to lean towards underfeeding rather than overfeeding. I used to only feed once very two or three days, and only enough for them to eat in 1 minute! My fish did just fine. I now feed more like 5 times a week, but I also have to clean the tank more often. I vacuum the gravel at least twice a week.

It's good that you're monitoring nitrogenous waste products (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) because those are the ones that will increase if you overfeed. Either the extra food starts to rot, or your fish will just produce more waste.

yes, as Mgamer said, you know you're underfeeding if your fish are thin.

[ballinhawaiian]

i would find him a new home before he out grows the tank.

I totally agree with you on this one. I don't have anyone that will take him and I think i'm going to use craigslist to find a new home, but I will probably just take him to my local pet store and see if they will take him. I just don't trust craigs list for any real knowledgeable fish enthusiasts so I don't know what to do if the store won't take him. I'm hoping that a bigger tank will be in my possession soon for a low cost because i'm a little behind in debt. Thanks again for the reinforced methods of feeding and i will surely put it to good use.