Adding same type of schooling fish, feeding questions

[aquamate]

A few newbie questions.

1. I have two Silver Dollars in a tank. I wish to increase the size of their school by adding a couple more. Would the existing ones accept the newcomers or would they be attacked/ rejected?

2. We always see people advise not to overfeed our fish. What are the signs of UNDERFEEDING fish. How would I know if they are being fed adequately? I have read that we should feed them as much as they can finish within 3-5 minutes, only once a day. But I notice that even if I feed them 2 or even 3 times a day, they are able to consume the same amount within 3-5 minutes. So should I feed them 2-3 times a day or only once?
I am a bit confused about the different opinions about timings and amount of food to be fed. Also, does feeding vary with type of fish and age of the fish?

I have juvenile angels, silver dollars, swordtails, fantail goldfish, mollies in my tanks.

Thanks in advance...

 

[just1moretank]

Under normal circumstances, Silver Dollars will welcome the addition of more of their kind with very little trouble. I have been adding to my school, one SD at a time, for year and a half. I am now up to ten, or eleven (haha I've lost count). However, this is a small tank that you've got them in, and SDs are fin nippers with the best of them. They've got little teeth! I worry that if you continue to add more, this will only aggravate their tendency to nip as they feel more and more crowded and have less room to move, which is not only bad news for your SDs, it's very bad news for your Angels. Depending on what type of SD you have, they've got the ability to reach four or five inches in length, or more. So, it might be wise to increase tank size in order to keep a good-sized group of these fish, since the ones you have now will outgrow the tank they're currently in, anyway.

The other problem with SDs is that they're skittish, especially when kept in low numbers, and, like with many other Charcins, their "run away!" instinct is completely intact. The problem with this is that they're so fast that they quickly reach the glass walls in the confines of a small tank way before they run out of steam, so to speak, leading to busted up noses and missing scales. This is going to be inevitable to some degree, but more frequent and a bigger problem in a small tank.

Feeding does vary with age of the fish. Juveniles should be fed more often than adults, but a good rule of thumb is to feed two or three smaller meals, rather than the one larger one you'd feed an adult.

I would stick to feeding once, possibly twice, per day. There are quite a few fish in this tank, and you want to control the amount of waste being produced as much as possible. You're right that SDs and Angels both will never, ever appear full! SDs are pretty much just stomachs with fins. Angels are bad about begging, also. So, you'll need to make sure that you're not overfeeding.

 

[Kuhlifan]

There's nothing wrong with feeding more than once a day, so long as you don't allow waste to accumulate. If you had a dog or cat, there is not problem with putting out a lot of food in the morning for them to eat on all day. For a fish, it would be the same principle, only leftover food will rot and foul the water. They would most definitely like to eat more than once a day, but the food simply cannot be sitting there.

In nature, fish eat by opportunity. If they are herbivores, they graze constantly in search of enough vegetable matter to survive on. If they are predators, they are constantly on the search for more food. If they are scavengers, they are constantly looking for something to feed on. However, when they are full, they will stop eating. Sooooo, mimicking that natural behavior by providing little bits of food more frequently is great, if you have the time.

 

[RDTigger]

There's nothing wrong with feeding more than once a day, so long as you don't allow waste to accumulate. If you had a dog or cat, there is not problem with putting out a lot of food in the morning for them to eat on all day. For a fish, it would be the same principle, only leftover food will rot and foul the water. They would most definitely like to eat more than once a day, but the food simply cannot be sitting there.
In nature, fish eat by opportunity. If they are herbivores, they graze constantly in search of enough vegetable matter to survive on. If they are predators, they are constantly on the search for more food. If they are scavengers, they are constantly looking for something to feed on. However, when they are full, they will stop eating. Sooooo, mimicking that natural behavior by providing little bits of food more frequently is great, if you have the time.

Very important... Like a dog they will eat what you give them...until they POP. They are used to finding little bits of food throughout the day, not HUGE meals 1-2 times.

They may go days, weeks without food in the wild. That is why they will eat until they are engorged. Remember that a fish's stomach is about the size of their eyeball and you quickly realize how much might be just enough.... Feed 1-2 times aday 12 hours apart and let them go without feeding 1-2 days a week...

I skip days to make sure they are eating well and will accept all kinds of food.

 

[just1moretank]

I agree that holding off feeding one day per week is a good thing. My larger fish only eat every other day, anyway. They certainly haven't had any problem with growth as a result! You have to control the amount of food they eat in order to control the amount of waste they produce; otherwise, they'll be be affected by high concentrations of waste products in the water, and it won't matter how often they eat, their growth will slow.

 

[Kuhlifan]

Someone in my office has a large tank in their personal office...about 50-60 gallons. One of their subordinates feeds their fish for them. Every so often I'll stop in to look at the tank...an hour or two after feeding there is more uneaten flakes sitting on the gravel than I feed all three of my tanks in a week or more. Fish have been steadily dieing out in that tank for months.

Just a pinch will do you.

 

[RDTigger]

Someone in my office has a large tank in their personal office...about 50-60 gallons. One of their subordinates feeds their fish for them. Every so often I'll stop in to look at the tank...an hour or two after feeding there is more uneaten flakes sitting on the gravel than I feed all three of my tanks in a week or more. Fish have been steadily dieing out in that tank for months.

Just a pinch will do you.

Yes...

Error on ths side of too little. Your fish and WChange schedule will be much happier..

If they can't finish it in 2-3 minutes.. It's too much..