Feeding loaches

[sammy]

Im a very paranoid individual and so I find it hard to tell if my loaches have been fed enough as they always look hungry (typical of them I read) So I was wondering if you guys out there could give me a guideline - for ease of reference I have the following in my loach tank:

3 - hillstream loaches
4 - zebra loaches (3 small, 1 adult)
2 - adolescent ladder loaches
1 - adult ladder loach
1 - bristlenose pleco (small)
5 - danios
5 - emperor tetras

I feed them a pinch of flake and a pinch of dried food in the morning and at night 1 frozen block of bloodworm and more flake as well as 1-2 algae pellets. On a Friday its fasting day. Does that sound like adequate food?

[starsplitter7]

ARe they algae pellets or wafers? I am worried that the algae pellets may not be enough for a growing BN and everyone else who likes algae.

I would add a few shrimp pellets for the loaches. And maybe some frozen spirulina brine shrimp. And once in a while everyone could use some zucchini, maybe a slice or two a week.

[Gary Mck]

I have 6 small clowns about 3 inches, and 6 kubotais about 3 inches as well. I usually feed them 3 times a day. When they were younger I used to feed them 4 or 5 times a day, smaller portions of course, but they were still hungry for more. My guess is that they would feed more than happily 5 times a day and still appear to be hungry. They are ravenous beasts when it comes to food!

As an aside, because growth rates comes up all the time. When I got the kubs maybe 3 months ago, they were 2 inches, they have put on an inch in that time. I got the Clowns about 6 weeks ago, they have also put on an inch in length but have put on a lot of "girth", they are much taller and broader than the kubs. At this point both the kubs and clowns are out all the time, pretty much constantly out playing searching for food etc.