Keeping Fish8

This article started as a few hints and tips but now seems to be turning into a book !. The more I type the more comes into my head to type.
I suppose one of the main reasons fledgling fishkeepers run into trouble, usually early on in their hobby, is OVERFEEDING.
I have many books on fishkeeping and the majority of them give the same sort of advice. "Feed as much as they will eat in 1/2/3/4/5 mins etc".
I disagree with this approach, you could shovel an awful lot of food in, in this time and the fish would keep eating!. Fish have the capability to pass food though the gut without "using it" and will eat while there is food available. This excess intake is of course excreted and fouls the tank all that faster. I have always worked on the principle of keeping them hungry. You need to see whether or not all the food is eaten, so a good idea is to bend a piece if air tubing in a circle about 3 inches in diameter and join the two ends with a piping connector. This can be floated at the front of the tank were you feed them and you can see when all the food is consumed. Food should not get to the bottom of the tank. They should be that hungry they dont give it the chance !. If you have "bottom feeders" ie, corys, catfish etc, buy them the correct sinking food. Do not feed a mixed tank, ie, top, middle and bottom feeders with just one food type, as you will either overfeed the inmates or undernourish the bottom dwellers. I love to watch the top feeders competing with the corys for their food !. For example, in my 3 foot tank I have 12 White cloud minnows, 4 platies, 6 guppies, 4 corys, 6 zebra danios, 4 leopard danios and 4 dwarf gouramies. Twice a day these get between them one pinch, (not a large pinch !) of flake food and 6 "JMC Pellets". The flake food is consumed within 30 seconds and the melee begins on the bottom for the pellets. Whilst this is going on I am watching for fish that dont join in, except for the white clouds who are a bit timid. This usually shows fish that are not too well. During the day, most of the fish can be seen eating the algea and bits of soft plant, which is good for them being a "natural" food. This shows that they are still hungry and gives them something to do. The two exceptions to this rule are when you intend to breed the fish, when feeding is important as a natural stimulant to breeding, (you take the girl-friend out for a meal, dont you ?), or when you are "growing on" young fry, when you need to present food almost continuously for fast and healthy growth. Like most youngsters this entails cleaning up after them , to keep the fry tank healthy. A feeding ring also stops food spreading round the surface of the tank, where it can get to places the fish cant. It doesnt take many days for the fish to learn to congregate at the ring to be fed and I have a tank of young guppies and platies at the moment about two weeks old that will come to the ring immediatly to a light tap on the glass, what a feeling of power!. If you feed unusual foods such as peas, worms, (Cleaned and finely chopped) etc, feed only in small amounts and remove any that is not immedialy eaten as these cause more pollution to the tank than uneaten commercially made foods. There are of course specialist fish that need specialist feeding, but these tips and hints are aimed at the beginner, who should ALWAYS start with "easy" fish, white clouds, guppies, platies, danios, gouramies etc. Gouramies have the capability to breath air directly from the surface of the water, as well as intake it from the water via the gills. Even in a "perfect" tank they will still do this occasionally but if they are seen to be doing this often, it can be a good sign to check your water quality. Many years ago, an aquarist friend, an elderly chap told me to take a glass and half fill it with tank water, place your hand over the top and shake it vigourously, then smell the contents. If you would not care to drink it, ie, it smells bad, you have a water problem and you should not expect your pets to have to live in it!. I dont think you will ever see a fish that is starving whilst there are plants in the tank, and what is often taken for "starving", ie thin wasted body, is usually a sign of disease. If you are going to let someone else feed your fish while you are away, DONT give them the food pot !. Make up portions for a daily feed to the amounts you require and hide the rest of the food !. Your tank can be polluted in less than a couple of weeks. Cant think of much else on this subject at the moment except possibly that I like to give the fish some variation in their food and not stick to just one type. You wouldnt like chips for every meal, would you ?. More later. (24/10/01)