Food

[emi-chan]

i already give my fish a varied diet, switching between flakes, tubifex, bloodworms, cucumber and peas but i was wondering if anyone would know any other easily obtained foods to give even more variety to the gang? or perhaps differnet ways of preparing vegies for them to nibble on??

[Diana]

I use food from this source:

www.AlmostNaturalTropicalFishFood.com

The ingredients are whole fish and shellfish, algae and vegetables in different portions, and some specialty foods like Earthworm flakes.

I also make my own frozen fish food similar to the recipe here at Laoches.

In season I feed them aphids and earthworms from the garden, and the larger Loaches will get a whole, live garden snail to work on once in a while. I clean out pond snails from the other tanks and drop them into any tanks with Loaches.

[emi-chan]

would weathers eat algae waffers?

[Diana]

Most Loaches are omnivores, and will eat both plant and animal based foods.

Some 'Algea' wafers are more animal based, with not much real algae in them. Others are lots of algae and just a little animal protein.

You might find that your Loaches prefer one brand or another. I try to avoid fish meal and grains in favor of whole fish and shellfish, and, in the case of algae flakes or wafers, lots of algae, and vegetables are fine, too. Read the label on the food, not the front label with the pretty fish, but the back label where the real info is.

[emi-chan]

thanks, i was wondering if i should buy some to vary the food going into the tank.
the size difference between the more dominant fish and the other 2 is getting greater. it weird cause the 2 golds and the 2 weathers were the same size when i got them but one of each kind is now alot bigger than its partner...

[Diana]

Fish grow at different rates, especially if one is the dominant fish, and the other is lower ranking. The boss fish gets the lion's share of the food.

I would definitely offer this tank of fish plenty of vegetables, and a good variety of vegies. Not a lot at any one feeding (don't want the vegies going bad in the tank), just feed vegies often.
Both species also need their protein, so rotating vegies with worms, shrimp and many other foods is a good way to round out their diet.

[emi-chan]

well currently i'm feeding them cucumber and peas (and my live plants!!)
i remove any uneaten bits of veggies the next day
i also feed them dried bloodworms, tubifex, flakes and soaked catfish pellets!
feeding usually goes in this sorta pattern:
monday- protein
tuesday- veggies
wednesday- protein
thursday - protein
friday- veggies
saturday- protein
sunday- veggies

is this the right thing to do??

[Diana]

Depends on the ingredients in the flakes and pellets, but that is about the same as I do. No two meals in a row are the same.

[emi-chan]

good! at least i know i'm doing something right! what other veggies would you suggest keeping in mind my loaches are still small and cant even eat sinking catfish pellets without them being soaked!
the goldfish absolutly adore the peas but the loaches prefer the cucumber (i peel thin slices off the cucumber with a potato peeler)

[millsn]

you could try spinach, my clowns like it, as does my silver shark

[emi-chan]

will do!!