feeding staple only???

[eklikewhoa]

i just wanted to know if there are any of you guys that just feed staple foods to your zebras.


i have been meaning to make some shrimp mix for my little ones but have been pretty busy with work and being sick so i havent got around to it yet and have just been feeding a variety of staple foods. im sure they would love having some shrimp mix but do you think its limiting their growth or health with just staple? i feed them a variety of dry foods, hikari carnivore bites,NLS h20 tablets, NLS growth formula, hikari algae wafers, omega one shrimp pellets, omega one veggie tablets and sometime NLS thera+a.

i feed them once a day before the lights go out and by the morning the food is gone and all of them have full stomachs. i have H.rasboras in the tank with them and i feed them NLS growth and when the zebras smell it they start to come out as well.

just wanted to see what everyone thought about a staple only diet and what's everyone's recipe for their shrimp mix? im thinking about using shrimp deshelled and deveined with peas, spirulina and maybe some zucchini.

[dave]

I feed mine small amounts of the following up to 5 times a day

I feed mine Tetra Cichlid Sticks (I break these up) at least twice a day.

Tetra Prima (Once the fish are over 4 weeks old). Frozen Foods, Brine Shrimp, Bloodworm, Marine Mix and Discus Mix.

Initially I was using flake foods, but these were filtered away too quickly.

I did get them to breed initially on a diet of dried foods.

Dave

[andrewcoxon]

i use mostly tetra prime and catfish pelets, and i also add frozen & live bloodworm now and then.... and a little cucumber!

[snr69]

I've used tetra prima and catfish pellets and some frozen bloodworm, I'm just started to feed a bit more self prep'ed food.... mussel / cockle, spinage, bloodworm prima mix... ( with a little garlic ... just as a test )...

[eklikewhoa]

to those that feed more than once a day do they actually eat it all?

i put one little pellet per fish and they seem to find it fine cause the next morning all their bellies are bulging full! i only feed once a day along with the little bits that get by the H. rasbora's. everything i feed them is either pellet or wafer form since i think flakes is just dirty.

i think i will go shopping this weekend to buy some fresh foods for their mix. anyone using gelatin to bind the foods?

also those that feed frozen foods do you just throw a cube in the tank and hope the zebras eat it? i have pretty high water current in my tank with minimal dead spots so i think if i were to feed frozen foods the food would just get blown around all night. so how do you guys keep the food still?

[n00dl3]

also those that feed frozen foods do you just throw a cube in the tank and hope the zebras eat it? i have pretty high water current in my tank with minimal dead spots so i think if i were to feed frozen foods the food would just get blown around all night. so how do you guys keep the food still?

I use a timer in my tank setup. It is set to turn off my power head and filter for about 1 hour to stop the current flow as mine tank has high flow rate too. During that one hour, they know it is feeding time and put frozen food in (i.e. frozen brine shrimp, blood worm, diaphnia, baby brine, etc...). IMO, one hour with no current or flow doesn't hurt them as all of mine zebras are still alive.

I am same with ekikewhoa, how do you guys get them to eat more than once a day. I have tried but they only once a day.

[dave]

I have had the same problem in the past.

Thinking about this fish, it lives in rapids, and is nocturnal, hardly a fish that can go hunting for food. In my tanks it looks for sheltered places and usually lets the food come to it, also tends to stick to the same part of the tank.

So I have a substrate, a number of caves, and mopani wood laid over the top to form a canopy, Hence the top half of the tank has quite a current while under the canopy it is relatively still.

The food does accumulate in the gravel once settled and the fish can eat at will. There are some very small snails in my tanks, introduced by accident which eat the surplus (Not Malayan).

IMO the reason for this fish living in rapids is to avoid predators, and they have adapted to the high saturation of Oxygen. Their prefernce for the sheltered parts of the tank make me think that a very high current is not necessary in aquaria, I reduce mine by the use of spray bars.

My tanks turn over from 5 to 10 times per hour and I have never had a problem with dead spots. Where undergravel is not in place my substrate is never more than half a cm for sand, or a cm for gravel.

The disadvantage of this set up, is that providing so many hiding places in the wood, you never see the fish when they are juveniles, but they do eat. When you have adults this is not a problem.

I also do a 50% water change every 2 days, combine this with the high filtration a bit of food left in the tank is not a problem.

Hope this helps.

Dave

[cichlid_baby]

I use a timer in my tank setup. It is set to turn off my power head and filter for about 1 hour to stop the current flow as mine tank has high flow rate too. During that one hour, they know it is feeding time and put frozen food in (i.e. frozen brine shrimp, blood worm, diaphnia, baby brine, etc...). IMO, one hour with no current or flow doesn't hurt them as all of mine zebras are still alive.

Talk about high current.. I have my pairs now in 20H's each with an AC110 and a HOT Magnum so I too have to deal with the issues of feeding with this over-filtration. Needless to say.. I have very clear water.

I have been using the timer thing for some time now.. and my fishes know its feeding time as soon as the current stops in the tank and they start to come out to forage... even before I put in any food. As soon as the frozen blood worms or frozen brine shrimp hits the bottom of the tank.. the zebras are on top of it right away.. In a way.. I guess they are trained now to this routine since my set-up is also on a timer. I give them about 1 hour and a half to eat the frozen foods before the timer kicks back on.. then I place some leafy greens for overnight consumption.. which gets eaten at their own pace and then it's removed the following morning.

[eklikewhoa]

i dont think i want to turn the filters off, i am pretty forgetful so that might turn into a disaster.

[madmoroccan]

I too have a tank with MEGA turn over per hour...

I use a Fluval FX5, but because the filter has valve taps on the input and output the flow can be regulated.

That means that at feeding time the filter doesn't have to be switched off but merely turned down till the food can settle at the bottom.

Do your filters not have some sort of flow regulation?

[eklikewhoa]

im running an eheim on my tank and it has shutoff ball valves that i could mess with to reg flow if need to.

for some reason i didnt even think about that.

[eklikewhoa]

im running an eheim on my tank and it has shutoff ball valves that i could mess with to reg flow if need to.

for some reason i didnt even think about that.

[John]

@ eklikewhoa:

put an eheim valve in your hose (output side, never intake side!)

i mean this one:

http://www.cosh.ag/pics/thumbs/wakuz53.jpg

[eklikewhoa]

@ eklikewhoa:

put an eheim valve in your hose (output side, never intake side!)

i mean this one:

http://www.cosh.ag/pics/thumbs/wakuz53.jpg

i have those already, thats what came with the filter for both sides. they are quick disconnects with a ball valve in it. i guess i can turn it down for feeding time, it would be better than completely shutting it off i guess.

[John]

Yes, but only turn down the output side, not the input side, otherwise you ruin your pump.