Need fast sinking pellet food recommendation for cardinal tetra

gagaliya

GNOME POWER!
Nov 20, 2005
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0
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NJ
www.happyreward.com
Hi fellas, need some help on food recommendation that are fast sinking. My tank has an overflow grill type setup so all the food that floats on top ended up going into the overflow/filter. The cardinal tetras never goto the top to feed, they only stay at lower half of the tank waiting for food to drop down.

Unfortunately all the food I tried all tend to float on top of the tank and refuse to sink! So they all ended up in the filter following the current.

So i want some small-sized pellet food that will sink immediately upon dropping into the tank. The only things i can find are algae waffles for bottomfeeders, but i want regular tropical fish food that will sink immediately. Can someone point me to a few? Thanks!
 
Hi
why not just draw a glass of tank water add the food to it when it sinks feed the fish.?? This also helps to prevent "gluttony" lol
Where they eat so much they can no longer swim lol. i use the method for all tetras but cardinals neons seem more prone to the problem . gary
 
Hi
why not just draw a glass of tank water add the food to it when it sinks feed the fish.?? This also helps to prevent "gluttony" lol
Where they eat so much they can no longer swim lol. i use the method for all tetras but cardinals neons seem more prone to the problem . gary

+1,

Just get flake food, put in a glass of tank water, swish it around, and then dump it in the tank near the cardinals or use a baster to put it near the tetras.
 
He's using an auto feeder, so I don't think those "wetting" solutions are going to work for him...

I've tried researching this for you, and other than most people just suggesting feeding rings or pre-soaking the food, I can't really find any regular community type, tropical fish food that sinks as quickly as you need it to. Like Mgamer, I have used the Micro Pellets and had them sink, but maybe not instantly. Hikari Micro Wafers and Hikari Fancy Guppy have sunk quickly, in my memory.

I think the problem you are running into is that since most community fish feed at the top to middle, the food is intentionally slow sinking or floating. I think your best bet is to look into New Life Spectrum - most of their foods are sinking:
http://nlsfishfood.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=60

You could email them, and see if they know which food sinks the fastest and would be the right size for your application. Cardinals are carnivores, but most NLS food has krill or herring meal as the first ingredient so I think that practically any formula will be palatable for them.
 
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sinks like a rock (almost)
 
Ugh, all my fish love those shrimp pellets but they are crap. Look at the ingredients:

Shrimp meal, wheat flour, soy protein concentrate, hydrolyzed fish protein, corn gluten meal, brewers dried yeast, dried beet pulp, wheat germ meal, plankton, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C).

All the wheat and corn are also why, if anything is left over from these pellets, it will look like your tank is full of sawdust!
 
Omega One makes a shrimp pellet that sinks nicely, and IMO that brand is good food.

another option is to make homemade gel food. it will sit in a little 'clump' on the tank bottom until the fish eat it up. you won't be able to use your auto-feeder with gel food, but with gel you could feed your tank every couple/few days instead, as the food may last longer.
 
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